By Bob Staranomicz, Correspondent

"Hunting is just another excuse for taking a walk in the woods." Rich Quinn of Newtown served in Vietnam and his service was not just another walk in the woods.Rich was born and raised in New York City. He attended Holy Cross High School in Flushing and after working for a time at Eastman Kodak Company in the Sales Promotion Department, he was drafted into the US Army.

"I was drafted in October of 1965 and after basic training at Fort Hood, Texas, I was sent to Vietnam and assigned to the 11th Armored Calvary Regiment as a tank crewman."

The duties of a tank crewman were to prepare, operate and fire the weapons systems, establish and maintain radio communications and perform target engagement evaluations.
Other duties include driving and maintaining the vehicles, securing battle positions and route navigation. Discipline, leadership and the ability to work as part of a team are all essential qualities of a tank crewmember.

With the escalation of the conflict in Vietnam, the Blackhorse Regiment - so called because of its distinctive unit patch - was assigned to Southeast Asia on March 11, 1966.
The 11th Cav was the first regimental size unit in the entire Army that was permitted to design and wear its own shoulder patch.

The main emphasis of the 11th Cavalry was on the use of modified M-113 Armored Personnel Carriers (APGs).

Two M-60 machine guns were mounted at the rear of the vehicle and a gun shield was added around the 50-caliber machinegun located at the commander's hatch.
This produced a deadly ACAV (Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicle) that was extremely maneuverable and armor protected and was used in place of the main battle tanks and the M-114s that were found mainly in reconnaissance platoons.

Rich earned a purple heart in March of 1967 when his tank crew came under fire by what was believed to be NVA (North Vietnamese Army) troops in an ambush with machine guns, small arms and recoilless rifles.

Recoilless rifles are commonly used as anti-tank weapons. They are a lightweight form of weapon that allows the firing of a heavier projectile that would be impractical with a standard weapon.
When a round hit the fuel tank and leaked into the tank itself, a fire ignited that burned Rich and others in the crew. As a result of that ambush, the tank commander was awarded the Silver Star and the rest of the crew was awarded the Bronze Star for Valor.

"The worst part of my service was the lack of clean clothes, hot showers and electricity while in Vietnam." Rich did enjoy the discipline and teamwork of the military but was turned off by the everyday pettiness that he had experienced.

When Rich returned home from Vietnam, he had less than 90 days left to serve, so he was given an early release. "I stayed drunk for a couple of years at a local bar, hanging out with my friends."

In October of 1969, Rich joined the police force.
"When I joined the NYPD, I was the third generation of my family to do so. When I was promoted to the rank of Sergeant in 1984, I proudly wore my father's Sergeant's shield #740 and I retired with that rank."

Rich faced a real dilemma while serving in the NYPD. "I had to police several anti-Vietnam War demonstrations. During one demonstration, I became involved in an argument with a protestor who went a bit too far, pushing the wrong buttons. I threatened his life but fortunately one of my fellow officers pulled me away and calmed me down."
After that incident, whenever Rich had a bad day in the police department, he would say, "It could be worse. I could be back in Vietnam."

Rich looks forward to retirement and feels that his life has been satisfying. He spends his spare time as President of the Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 210. He is also a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 175, the American Legion, The Military Order of the Purple Heart and the 11th Armored Regiment Veterans of Vietnam and Cambodia.

Rich currently lives in Newtown with his wife, Elizabeth, of 36 years. He also has four daughters, Denise, Valerie, Patricia and Kimberly.

His brother, William, also served as a C-130 pilot.

By Daniel Brooks, BucksLocalNews.com

Although encompassing only two of Don Harris' 81 years, service in the U.S. Army had a major impact on his life and career. Stationed as a machine shop manager in Japan, Harris learned a great deal during the U.S. occupation of that country and particularly from the skills of Japanese Nationalists which were honed from centuries of tradition. Harris went on to teach those ways to many others as an instructor in vocational-technical education and engineering.

Born in West Philadelphia, Harris' family moved to Buckingham when he was nine months old and has been here ever since. The youngest of six - four of whom also served in the armed forces - Harris was a self-admitted hellion.

"I got away with a lot then simply because my parents were worn out from raising the five others!" he joked -- still with a devilish twinkle in his eyes. "I was always in trouble in school."

"Trouble," in those days, says Harris, was a propensity to prank and a general inattention to what was going on in school with a greater interest in what was happening after school. In 1943 the country was involved in World War II and Buckingham kids all went to the same four-room school house in a very under-populated township. "It was tough to get away with much because everyone knew you."

His hard-working parents worried that Harris was going down the maverick road a bit far and, when he was 15, they signed him into indentured apprenticeship at Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades in Media, Pa. In the more structured, "military" environment, Harris flourished by learning that while not academically motivated, "I'm a hands on guy."

The school not only taught him skills and replenished his self-esteem but it also helped him, very coincidentally, later in life, and 10,000 miles from Buckingham in the U.S. Army.

Unlike many stories from veterans who speak about patriotic enlistment motivation, Harris points out that when he graduated from Williamson in 1946 the war was over, many GIs had returned and there were few jobs in the area so he took a hike to the recruitment center. His hope for placement and further training in mechanics and staying stateside was not meant to be -- after basic training at Fort Lee in Virginia he was shipped off to Japan.

Japan had been ravished by WWII and was trying to rebuild while another conflict threatened borders in neighboring Korea. Once in Japan, Harris signed on to the 62nd Signal Battalion and found himself running a welding and machine shop. Later he was transferred to the 11th Airborne Division and he served at Saporo, the north island of Hokaitio until insured a parachuting position. By sheer coincidence, his First Sergeant was from Buckingham and he also had graduated from Williamson.

"They tell you at Williamson that wherever you go in the world you will find a Williamson graduate but this was extreme," he marveled. Although faced with an opportunity to go to officer's training school, Harris decided that he was far better off using the talents he had gleaned to the benefit of Japan's reconstruction.

"The Japanese people totally amazed me in their resilience and ability to forge onward," he said. "They were totally accepting of their defeat. They just wanted to get back to their old lives."

Observant Harris toured the island, carefully watching the ways in which Japanese had learned to farm and build using basic tools and what nature had endowed them with. "I watched how rice paddies were systemically harvested. They were tied to water elevations and planting done with the most primitive of instruments."

After his tour, Harris returned to civilian life and joined his brother's engineering business for a decade. Then in 1963 he moved to Tyrone, Pa. where he earned his master degree from nearby Penn State University, only to then become an Itinerant Teacher tat PSU for another decade. In State College, Harris settled with his wife of 55 years, Martha, and raised their two children: Tina, now 52 and living in Los Angeles; and John, 49, who lives in Nazareth. He now has two grandchildren.

As a "traveling professor," Harris was instrumental in setting up Penn State's cooperative teacher program in vocational-technical education and he recruited students for it from all over Pennsylvania. He took the average attendance from four to 225 in two years and influenced many who, like himself, found their interests and skills to be centered in what they could do with their hands. While doing this he earned his Doctorate (DED) degree.

Later, Harris had the opportunity to come full circle as Director of Education at the Williamson School and give back to the institution that had pulled him together years before. He served Williamson for ten years until swooped up by the Philadelphia School District where he served as both supervisor and trade coordinator for 26 schools. He retired in 1993.

In all those years, Harris never forgot the lessons he learned from the Japanese while serving in the military.

"Though dirt poor, they were educationally driven. They would starve themselves so that they could go to school. In using their time-tested methods, these folks are actually hydraulic engineers. They know how to be precise, using the topography that is indigenous."

Harris is the president of the Home Association at New Hope's American Legion Post 79, continues his work in education and advocacy with other veterans. He knows how to get them medical benefits and guide them through financing. He hopes that the post will grow and sees it as a potential community center for all, and particularly for disenfranchised veterans of Vietnam, Desert Storm and those currently returning from Iraq. "Not only can we help them reintegrate socially, we can guide them to services they may need."

He pointed out the many philanthropic endeavors of the Post, which include financial support of the Eagle Fire Company and the New Hope-Lambertville Rescue Squad as well as citizenship awards to local high school students. One of the scholarships awarded by the Post is for vocational-technical training.

True to his commitments in life, Harris is also still an advocate for his old Alma Mater, Williamson, and he heartily encourages exploration of what they can provide students by calling the Registrar, Anne Hayes, at 610 566.1776.

As for himself, like his father and grandfather, Harris plans "projects" everyday. Right now he is working on putting up a stone wall. Not a day goes by that he can't be seen in his Rabbit Run yard figuring or building something. "My grandfather died at 96. He always had a project going. Good Lord, willing, I am planning the same for myself."

By Matthew Fleishman, Bucks LocalNews.com

When your entire family is in the military, protecting your country and honoring those who served is in your blood, and for VFW Post 6393 Commander Christopher Desmond, it is how he has spend much of his adult life.Desmond, whose father was a career Naval officer, enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1985, and served as an Electronics Technician Second Class aboard the U.S.S. John F. Kennedy during Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

"After my cousin joined the Marines, my family has served in every branch of the military," said Desmond.

Desmond was deployed for the Middle East in September 1990, and aboard the U.S.S. Kennedy, which was stationed in the Red Sea, he was responsible for helping to maintain many shipboard systems, including the communication and radar systems.

During Operation Desert Shield, Desmond's carrier made several "tight squeezes" through the Suez Canal.

"Trying to take an aircraft carrier through the Suez Canal was an extremely tense operation," said Desmond.

The U.S.S. Kennedy was large enough to hold 90 airplanes, which sometimes ran around-the-clock missions, on its four-acres of flight decks.

"We didn't have any insight as to where they were going," said Desmond. "We just knew that they were leaving loaded and coming back empty."

Those airplanes were running bombing missions that took them across Saudi Arabia to drop their bombs over Iraq, and then would travel all the way back to the carrier.

"The most effective part of our campaign was that our planes had contributed to the neutralization of the Iraqi Air Force before the ground campaign even started," said Desmond.

Desmond left the Navy in 1991 after Operation Desert Shield succeeded, but since 2001, he has been a member of the VFW Post 6393 in Yardley, and has been elected Commander for the past two years.

"In my role, I just try to provide leadership and cohesion for our group," said Desmond. "It's not just about Veterans Day or Memorial Day, it is about honoring our veterans in any way that I can."

Part of the way that Desmond has helped honor the veterans of Yardley and Lower Makefield Township is by working on the committee that has renamed Pocket Park as "Veterans Square."
That committee will work to create a two-part monument in the park to honor the veterans who came home alive, and those who gave their lives while protecting the United States.

"The vision for the monument is to make it timeless, but significant," said Desmond.

As Post Commander at the VFW, Desmond said that he gets the most gratification by helping connect young citizens with the older veterans at the post by contributing to post events that bring the veterans and children together. Those projects include American Flag retirements, veteran cemetery grave-marker and Flag upkeep, Lower Bucks Lacrosse uniform-flag sponsorship, veteran home visits, essay contests and visits into the schools to share "living history" lessons.

"I get the most VFW-mission satisfaction from working to ensure that our veterans, especially our most senior veterans, get the recognition that they deserve for their service to our country," said Desmond. "Also that our veterans get the opportunity to share their experiences and knowledge with the community as often as possible."
During his time in the Navy, Desmond received the following awards and commendations:

*Good Conduct Medal
*Surface Warfare Specialist
*National Defense Medal
*Liberation of Kuwait Medal - awarded by the Kuwait government
*Southwest Asia Medal

By Peter Ciferri, BucksLocalNews.com

"The shells were coming in like rain. It's the kind of thing you just cannot imagine unless you go through it."

That was the feeling Washington Crossing resident Joe Agnello had moments before he was shot in the shoulder and declared missing in action during what he called "the very worst part of the war I experienced."

Agnello and his company in the 84th Army Infantry were fresh faces in the European theatre. The men landed at Omaha Beach shortly after D-Day to add reinforcements to the U.S. troops storming through western Europe.

"We saw all the horrible stuff that had happened," Agnello remembered of his landing at Omaha. "There was still a lot of debris and equipment that the men had dropped. Tanks were still in the water and landing barges were crippled We got our first taste of how bad it could be at that point."

Traveling through France, the men were greeted with parades and the smiling faces of liberated French, but as they neared the front, in Holland and Germany, moods were still combative.

"We entered the very worse combat conditions I experienced in the war," Agnello explained.

Those conditions came when along the Siegfried Line, where Agnello says Nazi troops were entrenched and setting a trap for the U.S. soldiers.

"Nobody knew what was going on," he remembered. "The shelling was so horrific that there was a complete panic."

At some point, Agnello said he remembers being forced to the ground by a bullet. He then jumped into a foxhole where he remained until the shooting stopped.

"There was no one alive around me," he said of the chilling silence that followed the fighting. "My whole squad was wiped out, either killed or wounded."

In all, two-thirds of his 200 man company were lost or wounded and to make matters worse, Agnello was reported missing in action due to a combination of being transported to the hospital by another company and faulty witness accounts said a shell hit him directly.

The MIA reports spread through his family and company. But when his mother received a telegram reporting her missing son, she had a vision of the Virgin Mary telling her to stay calm because Joe was being taken care of. She never lost hope.

About a month later, while recovering in a hospital outside Paris, a fellow company man also receiving care ran into Agnello. He reported back the false story of Joe being shelled and helped cleared the air on his disappearance.

With the Battle of the Bulge well underway, the Army needed reinforcements, so Agnello's wounded shoulder didn't keep him out of action for very long.

"They sent you back even though you weren't completely healed," he explained. "I didn't think it [his wound] should look so raw before you go back but when you need manpower, you need manpower."

Back in action, his company was coming through the tail end of the Battle of the Bulge. He ended up at the Elb River near Hanover and was amazed at the number of Germans surrendering unconditionally.

More afraid of the Russians than they were of the Americans, Agnello says the Nazi soldiers came in force, accepting surrender over death.

"You would never know that they were fearsome soldiers," he said. "Once there is no basis for continuing to fight, you give up and you become very docile."

But the surrenders didn't come with a feeling of victory for the U.S. troops, as they knew full-well what lay ahead in the Pacific theatre and occupation duty. Agnello saw occupation duty.

After the war, Joe came home and finished his long-delayed engineering education. Graduating in 1947, he also married Palma Agnello during his time at Lafayette. Sixty-one years later, the two are still a pair.

Working a couple of jobs in engineering, Agnello moved to Lower Makefield in 1959, and 1969 he became a face in the community when he opened the Bucks County Racquet Club in Washington Crossing.

A Bronze Star and Purple Heart recipient and successful businessman, Agnello has years of stories to look back on, but those days on the Siegfried Line changed his life.