On Sunday morning, under a blue sky and a beating sun, Warren town officials and veterans from various military branches gathered at the Warren Vietnam Memorial at the intersection of Rt. 136 and Market Street to honor the life of Sgt. Ronald Wilkinson, a Warren native who lost his life during a Vietnamese offensive in February of 1969.

It was the fourth such dedication honoring a Warren resident who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Vietnam War, and kicked off the weekend of Memorial Day remembrance ceremonies held throughout the town to honor the lives of all those who have been lost throughout American history in various conflicts.

“What I try to do is not just think about and go through the motions of Memorial Day, but really sit and try to think about the sacrifice, the courage, the awfulness frankly, of what these men and sometimes women have gone through throughout the ages for the United States of America,” said Rep. Jason Knight, a Navy veteran, to the attendees.

Rep. Knight talked about how now, in his role as a politician, he vowed to make decisions and go about the business fo America always keeping in mind the sacrifices made by men and women who lost their lives protecting the ideals the country has tried to uphold.

“My pledge to the memories of these gentlemen and the memories of all who sacrificed so that I can stand here today is that I will honor that sacrifice by trying to reach with the best of our democracies when I have those conversations. To listen to the other side, and give respect where respect is due, to give the benefit of the doubt, and to always conduct myself in a way that honors their memory,” he said. “We have to go about the business of America and, because we’re a democracy, we’re going to have to fight a bit, but we can do it in a way that stands on the shoulders of those who made the ultimate sacrifice. And that is my pledge to you today and to the memories of these individuals.”

About Ronald Wilkinson
As part of the dedication, Dave McCarthy, a veteran of Vietnam with the Marine Corps and the chairman of the Warren Honor Roll Committee, delved into research about Sgt. Wilkinson. It proved difficult, but he was able to track down a number of people who went to high school with Wilkinson, a 1966 graduate of Warren High School who shortly afterwards enlisted in the Army.

“They all said the same thing: a really nice kid, but a quiet kid,” McCarthy said. “You’d pass him in the hall and he’d smile and wave and say hello, but he stayed to himself.”

Wilkinson had a natural love for cars, and could reportedly identify the makes and models of cars passing by his Benefit Street apartment when he was as young as three years old. He also loved tinkering with electronics, and that skill would serve him well in his role as a helicopter electronics mechanic with the 1st Cavalry Division in Vietnam. He was stationed at Bien Hoa Air Base in Bien Hoa Province when U.S. forces were attacked by North Vietnamese soldiers in February of 1969.

“It was a big base that would typically be a safe haven for those in the back doing repairs,” McCarthy said. “But on the night of the 23rd of February, 1969, during what was called a mini Tet Offensive, Communist North Vietnamese forces hit the base and broached the perimeter. Ronald James Wilkinson, then a corporal, was killed when leading a counteroffensive…He was killed just six days before his 21st birthday.”

During his research, McCarthy found a passage on the website The Wall of Faces, which catalogues soldiers lost during the Vietnam War and allows people to send remembrance messages. One message, posted by fellow Warren native Jeanne Marie Engels, caught his attention.

“Dear Ronnie, it’s Memorial Day weekend 2014,” the passage read. “I am 70 years old now, but my memories of you, of us, are so clear. We spent so many days playing in the dirt with our marbles and cars; you were so generous in letting me play with your toys, as if they belonged to both of us.”

The passage told about how Wilkinson had bonded with Engel’s dog, Blitzer, before he left for Vietnam. Remarkably, Blitzer would eventually be enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps as an explosives sniffing dog after Engels gave him up for adoption. The dog would serve in Vietnam at the same time as Wilkinson, and is estimated to have saved several hundreds of lives before perishing after stepping on a land mine.

“You met my dog Blitzer. He went to Vietnam too, and we lost him the same year as we lost you,” Engels wrote in the post. “Give him a big hug for me. Please Ronnie, I miss you and I love you. Your friend, Jean.”

McCarthy was able to track down Engels, now living in Lowell, Mass., and she was in attendance on Sunday at the ceremony. She, along with McCarthy and former Warren Fire Chief Al Galinelli, placed a wreath next to Wilkinson’s picture and memorial stone at the dedication site.