In Memoriam
Pictured above, left to right, 'Doc' Michael Warm, 'Doc' John Collins,
'Doc' Tom Bogdas 'Doc' Bill Osmundson, 'Doc' Stan Milham
'Doc' Ken Blakely identified these members of 2/12's Medic group from a photo provided by Jim Bisson
Doc Bogdas, succumbed
to cancer on March 16th, 2002. Doc was well loved by the men who served
with him in A/2/12 during the
second half of 1967.
At
his funeral, Wayne Clark of our Association delivered the eulogy for his fallen
Brother of A/2/12.
“Tom was a Combat Medic who received 2 Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star, but that does no justice to this hero….”
He
read the following sentiments from some of the vets who served with Tom upon
hearing of Tom's death:
“The
Fighting Doc saved me with his pistol as we were being attacked by some
Vietcong”
“I
felt so confident knowing he was there for us in any situation”
Gary
Lawrence
“I
got him his first Purple Heart. I tripped a booby-trapped grenade and got us
both hit. Tom patched me up first then he took care of himself.”
“I
had total trust in him. We knew he would crawl through anything to get to us,
a
great friend.”
“Tom
was there for me when I got hit and even pulled shrapnel out of me.”
“He
was a great Medic, a great man.”
“Doc
always thought about us before his own safety.”
“He
put himself in Harm’s Way routinely for all of us.”
“Medics
were asked to do a lot. Doc went far beyond those expectations. He was a great
Brother.”
Finally
this E mail was sent to me by Ken Blakely, a fellow medic from Tom’s unit.