Names of friends etched into wall

Most of my boyhood memories of Memorial Day involve a tiny cemetery set against a backdrop of the Badlands of eastern Montana.

So imagine my overwhelming awe last week while touring the national World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War memorials in Washington, D.C.

Instead of Badlands in the background, there was the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and the U.S. Capitol.

There were three of us: myself, my friend Ted Kratovil and his friend and tour guide retired Marine Corps Gen. P.X. Kelley, who was chairman of the American Battle Monuments Commission.

At the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, I looked up the names of two Montana friends etched into the 246-foot-long, black granite wall: Larry Naasz, panel 12E, line 104, and Richard Lillie, 5W, line 117.

Larry and I grew up together in Prairie County. For years, we walked to school together until he dropped out and joined the Army. He was 24 when he died with 33 other Americans on Nov. 21, 1966, in Kon Tum province.

When I first saw his name on the memorial wall in 1987, my first visit, I scribbled a stencil of his name. Later that day, when I boarded my plane back to Denver, I was pleased when my seat number, 12E, was the same as Larry's panel number.

I met Richard once, at a house party in Billings, Mont. He had just started a career as a radio deejay and was heading off to the Marines. He was 22 when he died in 1971.

On our way to the Korean War Memorial, we marveled at the hundreds of Korean visitors paying homage to the Americans who defended their freedom. Kelley, who led the last ground combat unit out of Vietnam and later headed the Marines from 1983 to 1987, recalled the first Marine he lost under his command.

"We were going up a hill in Quang Ngai. He was a member of the Hells Angels -- a kid from San Francisco -- and he stepped on a mine. The only thing he said was, 'Please hold me' and, 'Colonel, the hill is mined.'"

With those final words, the young man in Kelley's arms was carrying out what he had been trained to do: Think first of his fellow Marines.

Last Friday, at a ceremony honoring Ohio's hard-hit Lima Company outside the state Capitol in Columbus, I heard more stories of that selfless commitment.

The occasion was the unveiling of life-size oil portraits of the 23 mostly young Marine reservists who died in less than a week in Iraq in 2005.

Fourteen died in one day from an improvised explosive device, including my godson David Kreuter of Cincinnati, who spent his final weekend in the United States in Las Vegas.

A moment we'll long cherish: the sight of former U.S. Sen. John Glenn, one of the speakers and the first American to orbit the Earth, stopping at each portrait and studying the faces of the fallen.

They are among the many generations of men and women we salute today for their sacrifices.

To view one of the most passionate speechesby a mother, go to www.ohiochannel.org. A book, "Sword in the Lion's Den: Navy Doc with 3/25th Marines in Iraq" by Capt. Glenn F. Thibault M.D., chronicles the events of that summer.

SIGHTINGS

Shaquille O'Neal and his wife, Shaunie, who were in divorce mode last fall, having lunch at Simon at Palms Place on Saturday. ... Robin Williams, surprising Bobby "The Pitbull of Comedy" Slayton, with a bone-shaped birthday cake Saturday at Hooters Hotel. Sting, hanging out in the sky box VIP room at Sapphire Gentlemen's Club late Thursday, the night before The Police played MGM Grand.

THE PUNCH LINE

"Yes, Harrison, you're eligible for the senior citizen discount." -- From David Letterman's Top Ten Things Overheard in Line to See the New Indiana Jones movie.

Norm Clarke can be reached at (702) 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com.