Bob Kalsu

[Trader]

If Bob Kalsu the only known NFL player to be KIA in Vietnam is on the Buffalo area Vietnam Memorial Wall at the Naval and Serviceman's park at the Marina? I do know he was called up from a local unit and obviously lived here during his time of service but I have never looked for him on the wall.

[BillsVet]

I am not sure about his being on that memorial. However, there is a moving wall that will be at the Batavia VAMC from 6/24-6/28. It's a scaled down version of the actual wall in Washington, D.C.

 

Kalsu Location on Wall

 

A redleg forever.

[uforesircher]

If Bob Kalsu the only known NFL player to be KIA in Vietnam is on the Buffalo area Vietnam Memorial Wall at the Naval and Serviceman's park at the Marina? I do know he was called up from a local unit and obviously lived here during his time of service but I have never looked for him on the wall.

 

i've been to it several times and read the names on it, even though it is so very hard for me to do as my brother's name is on there, but i cannot remember if i saw bob kalsu's name on it or not.

[JohnC]

I am not sure about his being on that memorial. However, there is a moving wall that will be at the Batavia VAMC from 6/24-6/28. It's a scaled down version of the actual wall in Washington, D.C.

 

Kalsu Location on Wall

 

A redleg forever.

 

Thanks for the link.

[JohnC]

i've been to it several times and read the names on it, even though it is so very hard for me to do as my brother's name is on there, but i cannot remember if i saw bob kalsu's name on it or not.

 

I have been to the Wall on numerous occasions. It is very emotional to see family members, especially the now more elderly parents, still so very much affected by the loss of loved ones more than a generation or two later.

 

I'm very sorry for your loss.

[tennesseeboy]

I wrote this poem on my first visit to the wall. Conner was the scheduler who only had to fly one combat mission per month to get his flight pay, and at the last minute took me off the flight in which he lost his life. I always look at that name on the wall as the spot where I would have been.

 

Conner/Elegy at dawn

Nullus dolor est quem non longinquitas temporis minuat ac molliat.

There is no grief which time does not lessen and soften./Cicero

 

April 22, 1983

My morning run, leaving my hotel in Crystal City

starting out before the sun

Past the five sided building, haven for warriors

Over the Arlington Memorial Bridge connecting the dead with the deathmakers,

Running up the mall, in the dark

passing wheelchaired warriors bivouacked with their bottles and their dreams,

breathing in the cold night air,

The scent of cherry blossoms, the white flowers above me the hope of dawn soon to come.

The heady scent of spring. Alive.

Up the mall to the Capital, and turning, picking up speed, rushing back toward father Abraham.

father Abraham, who died in April as well, when lilacs bloomed,

April 22, 1970

Conner and Wall with the rest of us on the truck to the flight line

Preparing for our missions in Laos

“Their mission was ours”, said Porter,” Conner changed the schedule last night”

Six hours later we flew over the flame and the smoke, the helicopter lost in rescue.

Conner and Wall killed on the flight that should have been ours.

April 22, 1983

A bearded old man steps out from the Lincoln Memorial and beckons me.

“I was a nurse. I tended the sick” he said. He pointed me toward the Wall, and said…”Tend your dead.”

I was directed into the dawn by a white haired, homeless and hungry man who has seen war.

 

The sun is beginning to come up as I look up the names silvered into stone.

Nightengale, Cummings, Bowen, Wall…And Conner.

I pray. I touch their names. I run off into the day.

copyright 2009

[stuckincincy]

I wrote this poem on my first visit to the wall

 

That's lovely, tenny.

 

May they all rest in eternal peace.

[DC Tom]

I am not sure about his being on that memorial. However, there is a moving wall that will be at the Batavia VAMC from 6/24-6/28. It's a scaled down version of the actual wall in Washington, D.C.

 

Kalsu Location on Wall

 

A redleg forever.

 

I was going to go downtown Friday; I may have to look that up.

 

The Vietnam Memorial is my "favorite" (so to speak) - tastefully understated, simple and straightforward, and incredibly moving.

[JohnC]

I was going to go downtown Friday; I may have to look that up.

 

The Vietnam Memorial is my "favorite" (so to speak) - tastefully understated, simple and straightforward, and incredibly moving.

 

When the design for the Vietnam Memorial was selected there was a very vocal faction who were very opposed to the selection. Their argument was that it was too avant-garde. A compromise was made in which some realistic sculptures of soldiers were added to the perimeter of the VM.

 

As it has turned out the Memorial is probably the most visited monument and at least for me is the most moving Memorial on the Mall. I still get very touched when I see people sketch the names of loved ones and people they knew onto their pads as keepsakes.

 

DC Tom, as you smartly noted what makes this memorial special is its simplicity.

[Trader]

When the design for the Vietnam Memorial was selected there was a very vocal faction who were very opposed to the selection. Their argument was that it was too avant-garde. A compromise was made in which some realistic sculptures of soldiers were added to the perimeter of the VM.

 

As it has turned out the Memorial is probably the most visited monument and at least for me is the most moving Memorial on the Mall. I still get very touched when I see people sketch the names of loved ones and people they knew onto their pads as keepsakes.

 

DC Tom, as you smartly noted what makes this memorial special is its simplicity.

 

Please do. It occurred to me after a conversation with a friend who served with Kalsu that he belongs on our (Buffalo area) wall as well as the National one. He served in a local guard unit when he was called up and he did reside here during the time he played with the Bills.

[San Jose Bills Fan]

I wrote this poem on my first visit to the wall. Conner was the scheduler who only had to fly one combat mission per month to get his flight pay, and at the last minute took me off the flight in which he lost his life. I always look at that name on the wall as the spot where I would have been.

 

Conner/Elegy at dawn

Nullus dolor est quem non longinquitas temporis minuat ac molliat.

There is no grief which time does not lessen and soften./Cicero

 

April 22, 1983

My morning run, leaving my hotel in Crystal City

starting out before the sun

Past the five sided building, haven for warriors

Over the Arlington Memorial Bridge connecting the dead with the deathmakers,

Running up the mall, in the dark

passing wheelchaired warriors bivouacked with their bottles and their dreams,

breathing in the cold night air,

The scent of cherry blossoms, the white flowers above me the hope of dawn soon to come.

The heady scent of spring. Alive.

Up the mall to the Capital, and turning, picking up speed, rushing back toward father Abraham.

father Abraham, who died in April as well, when lilacs bloomed,

April 22, 1970

Conner and Wall with the rest of us on the truck to the flight line

Preparing for our missions in Laos

“Their mission was ours”, said Porter,” Conner changed the schedule last night”

Six hours later we flew over the flame and the smoke, the helicopter lost in rescue.

Conner and Wall killed on the flight that should have been ours.

April 22, 1983

A bearded old man steps out from the Lincoln Memorial and beckons me.

“I was a nurse. I tended the sick” he said. He pointed me toward the Wall, and said…”Tend your dead.”

I was directed into the dawn by a white haired, homeless and hungry man who has seen war.

 

The sun is beginning to come up as I look up the names silvered into stone.

Nightengale, Cummings, Bowen, Wall…And Conner.

I pray. I touch their names. I run off into the day.

copyright 2009

[CTBillsGuy]

41 years ago and sometimes it seems like yesterday

[JohnC]

Please do. It occurred to me after a conversation with a friend who served with Kalsu that he belongs on our (Buffalo area) wall as well as the National one. He served in a local guard unit when he was called up and he did reside here during the time he played with the Bills.

 

The taxpayer payed for stadium the Bills played in should be called the Bob Kalsu Stadium instead of the gauche Ralph Wilson Stadium. Not only would it be named after a more deserving person but his memory and the other Viet Nam casualties would be better remembered. I have always felt that way.

[BillsFanM.D.]

The taxpayer payed for stadium the Bills played in should be called the Bob Kalsu Stadium instead of the gauche Ralph Wilson Stadium. Not only would it be named after a more deserving person but his memory and the other Viet Nam casualties would be better remembered. I have always felt that way.

 

that would be awesome...

[BillsVet]

I was going to go downtown Friday; I may have to look that up.

 

The Vietnam Memorial is my "favorite" (so to speak) - tastefully understated, simple and straightforward, and incredibly moving.

 

It is a wonderful monument to men and women who weren't appreciated when they died. At least those left behind may remember them.

[Beerball]

The Vietnam Memorial is my "favorite" (so to speak) - tastefully understated, simple and straightforward, and incredibly moving.

Yes it is, all of those things and more.

[tennesseeboy]

I'll be there for a week in late June and I make it a point to visit and pay tribute. It makes me feel good to see how well the military returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have been received, although I'm a little shocked at the conditions some of the bases are in where they return. Can't do enough for those folks, especially those who suffered disabling wounds.