Russell Dunn
I met Mike in 1968 in Viet Nam, we were both with the 73rd Engineers but I was originally assigned to the Asphalt platoon although my training was heavy equipment operator. Mike was in the equipment platoon and was able to use his influence with the Lieutenant to get me transferred to his platoon. The first day I was assigned to level a pad with a D7 dozer (I had never operated one before). After about an hour of pushing dirt back and forth the supposed to be level pad had more peaks and valleys than the Rocky Mountains. Mike watched me smiling and then said "let me help you". He not only leveled the pad for me but showed my the right way to do it. Mike and I were ultimately the two operators of the huge D9 dozers in the quarry. When I moved to the equipment platoon I moved into the bunker with Mike and Jay. In the asphalt platoon I was assigned to a 5 ton dump truck hauling dirt up and down QL1, the road we were improving and paving. When I transferred to the Equipment platoon my dump truck was reassigned to Ross Mandeville. A short time later Ross was killed in action while driving that truck when it was hit by a rocket. I can only think that if Mike was not successful in getting me transferred it would have been me driving that truck instead of Ross. I heard a lot about Jan from Mike and it was obvious she was the love of his life. Two years ago I had the opportunity to spend a few hours with Mike and Jan as they passed thru Texas on one of their road trips. I had not seen him since 1969 but the connection was like we had always been around each other. I will miss him very much.
