Robert Stanley Baird
Specialist Four
E CO, 2ND BN, 39TH INFANTRY, 9TH INF DIV, USARV Army of the United States Orinda, California January 02, 1947 to September 21, 1967 ROBERT S BAIRD is on the Wall at Panel 26E, Line 98 |
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REMEMBEREDbyDave McNown davdiane@goldrush.com |
ROBERT STANLEY BAIRD Bob was your average high school kid. I knew of him, but really didn't know him. He was a pretty good bowler down at Rheem Bowl. He even tried to teach his younger sister, Janet, to bowl one day. Even though the other guys would tease him. I also heard that he swung a mean golf club at the Carroll Country Club. Bob graduated in June of 1964, from Miramonte High School, Orinda, CA at the age of seventeen, and joined the Army. I was just a freshman then and knew little of where Bob was off to. Three years later, in the summer of 1967, I graduated from Miramonte High School. A few weeks later, on 6 July 1967, I joined the Marines. I did my tours in Vietnam, and in June of 1971 I came home. On 10 December 1988, the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Sacramento, CA. The next day, I visited the memorial and found the names of those honored were not placed chronologically, but by their hometowns. It hit home that day when listed from Orinda, California, was the name of that big brother, Robert S. Baird, US Army. Until that time, I had always believed, or at least prayed, that my hometown and high school had been spared the brutal facts of war. After looking closer at those names, I learned what might have been called "a California geography lesson". To this day, whenever I have one of those "rotten days", you know, those ones when you think the whole darn world has gone wrong. Well, I just think of Bob, pause for a moment... then promptly tell myself to "Shut-Up"! This is to all those cities and towns, whether large or small, who gave up their young in the name of freedom, and to you Bob... God Speed...
Paul D. Hosick, USMC, 1967-1977
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