Friday, May 27th, 2016
Vet rides for those who didn't make it back
By Claire Giesige
Photo by Claire Giesige/The Daily Standard
Vietnam War veteran Bob Maurer of Mercer will participate in the American Legion's Rolling Thunder ride to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Maurer has attended past rides and said one of his favorite parts is when a bagpiper starts playing at the site. "Everybody's walking around, talking, but when they hear the first note from the bagpipe, nothing. Nobody has to be told to hush," he said. "You don't hear any voices. Everybody's quiet and contemplating."
MERCER - Bob Maurer, a proud Vietnam War veteran, knows he's lucky to have made it back home.
To honor those who didn't, he will travel to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Maurer, 69, Mercer, participates in Rolling Thunder, an annual Memorial Day weekend motorcycle ride organized by the American Legion. During the weekend, riders visit the wall as well as Arlington National Cemetery to lay a wreath at the tomb honoring unknown Civil War soldiers.
The Civil War soldiers' tomb interests Maurer, who had an ancestor serve in the war, but isn't his favorite stop on the trip.
"The Vietnam memorial is near and dear to me," he said.
The wall bears more than 58,000 names of servicemen and women who died during the war. Maurer first visited it as a chaperone for his daughter's class trip to Washington. Seeing the wall as a veteran was a moving experience.
"I remember we went in the spring. It was a sunny day. I remember standing with my back to that black granite, feeling the heat coming off of it. I almost felt like hands were reaching and touching my shoulder," he said.
After researching through sites such as thewall-usa.com and virtualwall.org, Maurer found the names of 45 men born the same day as he was. Half of them weren't even 21 at the time of their death, he said. He found more than 10,000 names of the deceased who were born the same year he was and even found a Robert Maurer.
A few names hold a special meaning for Maurer: Bill Miller, Benny Sapp and Carey Fosnaugh. Like Maurer, all three were Parkway graduates.
Maurer knew all three men. He even shared a locker with Miller for three years. Miller was killed a year before Maurer got in country, close to where Mauer was eventually stationed.
"Last year, I stood right in front of the wall panel that had Bill's name on it," Maurer said. "That's where I stood to watch the ceremony."
Maurer has made the Rolling Thunder trip before. Previously, he had taken laminated pictures of a Vietnam memorial at Willshire Cemetery honoring the three men and left a copy beneath each name. This year, he has approached family members to see if they want him to leave anything at the wall.
"I've lived a wonderful life. I want to get over there and honor them. It's my way of paying tribute," he said.
Maurer is retiring from the Rockford Carnegie Library where he has been the fiscal officer since 1989. He has also worked as a fiscal officer for Dublin Township and the St. Marys Community Public Library. He figures he's done about 1,100 payrolls in his various positions.
At the Rockford library, he had the pleasure of working with his wife, Rozann, the library director.
When asked if he enjoyed working with his wife, Maurer had a ready answer.
"I'm not going to say 'no,' " he said, laughing. "We had a good working relationship."
Maurer also co-owns a farm that's been in the family since 1834. Maurer's grandchildren are the seventh generation to live in the family home.
"I'm proud of that," he said. "You don't find very many people who can say that."
Although he's retiring from the library, Maurer still plans to help manage the farm.
"Once a farmer, always a farmer. You don't get out of the field," he said.
Maurer has lived a full life. However, he hasn't forgotten how differently things could have been. He still remembers his homecoming in 1969, waiting for his parents at the airport.
"I remember my mom running up, seeing me sitting there. She just about knocked my dad over because she was going to get to her little boy," he said. "If I wouldn't have made it home, one of those women visiting the wall to see their son's name would have been my mom."
This year as he rides his Honda Gold Wing toward the memorial wall, he said he'll think of the 45 men who shared his birthday. Though he said the feeling the wall gives him is hard to describe, he did offer one thought.
"If I stand back at a distance and look at it, I'm looking at 58,000 pairs of eyes looking back," he said. "That's the thing. Every name is a person."
