The Picture

I remember the first time Vern showed me this picture. It was many, many years before the book SOG by John Plaster was published. He pointed to each person in the picture and told me a little bit about each RT team member. Vern was a soft spoken man, and to talk about the picture was a struggle. I may have been the first person he had shared the picture with concerning the difficulty of the topic.

Dick Meadows, of course, was the experience and the leadership - a comfort for the rest, solid.

CL Chapman had been captured by the enemy. The team had split up and when they met back, Chapman was not at their meeting place. So the RT went looking for him, and they found him. He had been cut up, was hanging upside down, and was being used for bait. Chapman saw his team hiding in the bushes, but the enemy did not see the RT. Chapman died that day. Vern said his name is not on the wall. I remarked that I thought I should do something about that. Vern had been abused as a child, but Vern said Chapman had been very, VERY badly abused growing up and that no one cared.

I care.

I asked but why are you guys smiling so big? It was such a horrible place. I do not understand why you are smiling. Vern said because we had made it through another day.

Aloha Vern,
Chris G. Mock