His name was Big Red, and he died for your country
Indian Hill memorial a tribute from friends
BY CHRISTINE WOLFFThe Cincinnati Enquirer
INDIAN HILL -- Five minutes after the rookie marines met Big Red Weaver in a medical tent in Vietnam, they were hit by a barrage of his this-is-reality lessons.
Blacken those metal identification tags, Big Red told them, and weave the chain through your boot laces -- so the glint and jangle don't attract attention. Bend down the hand grenade pins -- one snag on a tree branch and it's over.
Take malaria pills and salt tablets. Never light a cigarette at night. And, don't pull off leeches -- burn them off with a match.
That was 1968.
"I'd been in Vietnam 48 hours. I was 18. He was only 19, but he was an 'old salt.' He became like a brother to me." Johnnie Clark, 46, recalled Sunday before a dedication ceremony for a memorial to Mr. Weaver at Indian Hill High School.
Mr. Clark -- now a martial arts instructor in St. Petersburg, Fla. -- included Big Red as a central character in Guns Up! a nonfiction book he wrote about his Vietnam experience.
Sunday, Mr. Clark and 10 others who fought in Vietnam with Marine Pvt. Richard Michael Weaver were guests of honor at ceremonies honoring the only Indian Hill graduate to die in Vietnam.
On the school's front lawn stands a new brick monument and bronze plaque detailing Mr. Weaver's military service. It's the result of efforts by schoolmates of Mr. Weaver's from the '60s, who began about a year ago to research Mr. Weaver's death. A scholarship will be established at the school in Mr. Weaver's memory.
For most of the veterans, gathering to honor Mr. Weaver was their first time together since Vietnam. Sunday morning, they visited his grave near his Camp Dennison home and held a private ceremony, placing a machine gun, a soldier's helmet and boots near his headstone.
Today, Mr. Weaver's story will be shared with students -- emphasizing the courage and patriotism of someone who walked the same school halls.
"I look at some of these junior ROTC people (participating in the ceremony), and I realize they weren't even alive when Richard dies," said Indian Hill Superintendent David Quattrone.
Sunday, Mr. Weaver's comrades received a standing ovation from the crowd of about 90 people.
"There were a lot of feelings going through me when they got up and clapped," said Richard Chan, now 51 and a medical specialist in Oyster Bay, N.Y., and once a rookie learning from Big Red. "But I'd trade all the recognition if I could bring all my buddies back."
"At least once a month, I've though about Red Weaver," Mr. Chan said. "He was tough, confident, showed great courage and he wanted to help others. He taught me to survive . . . I use my memory of him as incentive."
Mr. Weaver, an infantry gunner, died May 20, 1968 -- 11 months and two wounds after his Indian Hill graduation -- in an ambush near Phu Loc, South Vietnam.
The veterans all know the story: The life expectancy of a gunner once a firefight started was 7 1/2 seconds. The steady flash of the firing gun pinpointed the enemy troops -- but "it was also a big golden arrow pointing back at (the gunner)," Mr. Clark said.
"The scream 'Guns Up!' came whenever you made contact (with the enemy), and the gunner ran to the front. Everybody else got down on the ground," Mr. Clark, also a gunner, said. "It took a lot of guts -- or craziness -- to do it. Red never hesitated to pull the trigger.
"That's why he is dead, and why we're honoring him."
