PRESERVING A MILITARY LEGACY FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS
The following Reflection represents Sgt Jack Riley’s legacy of their military service from 1966 to 1972. If you are a Veteran, consider preserving a record of your own military service, including your memories and photographs, on Togetherweserved.com (TWS), the leading archive of living military history. The Service Reflections is an easy-to-complete self-interview, located on your TWS Military Service Page, which enables you to remember key people and events from your military service and the impact they made on your life.
What do you miss most about your time in the service and what made this especially significant to you?:
Marines are brothers for life.
We each grew up in neighborhoods or farming communities where life centered around family, church, and school. We developed friendships we thought would last forever, but everyone scattered all over the country after high school graduation. Some of us could not afford college away from home, so we went to work and attended local university centers. I completed my first two years of college and married my high school sweetheart.
Uncle Sam sent me a “Greeting” letter, and I joined the Corps, where I met more friends at Parris Island. I met even more at ITR, then on to Staging Battalion at Camp Pendleton, next to Vietnam, where the true meaning of brotherhood was learned. One of my officers with whom I was very close died last Wednesday in his sleep. This was my brother, Marine:
I received some heartbreaking news this morning that my lifelong friend and brother Marine, former Captain Dan Pultz, had died in his sleep this morning. Dan was my 2nd Platoon Leader in Vietnam, where we survived in many cases where our friends did not. We stayed in touch even after he was transferred to another battalion needing experienced combat officers. Then, after Vietnam, we spent much time together at reunions, visiting homes and sharing our knowledge with wounded Marines at the Semper Fi Odyssey program in the mountains of Eastern Pennsylvania. Dan’s wife, Holly, whom he married in Hawaii while on R&R from Vietnam, and their children and grandchildren are all shocked at Dan’s sudden passing. Please remember them in your comforting prayers.
Dan volunteered thousands of hours to prioritize returning veterans’ health in his community and nation. He was instrumental in getting the Veterans Administration to support the work at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Research Center’s work to develop brain scans to identify and treat Traumatic Brain Injury in returning Veterans from recent wars.
I will miss our long phone calls solving the world’s problems, laughing till we hurt, recalling funny events from our past, and listening to his words of wisdom.
I have never known a more caring and giving person than Daniel Pultz. The attached photo was taken of Dan and me at Camp Carroll on Vietnam’s DMZ the day I returned to the company after being wounded at Getlin’s Corner.
Semper Fidelis, Daniel
Jack
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I read this story and was overcome with emotion. It brought to mind close friends who have left this life ahead of me. Every day I recall a good friend with whom I have lost contact – only to learn from another source “oh, he passed away!” Jack Riley’s story touched a sensitive nerve in my service experience.
Served 30 + years in the Coast Guard (several tours of Vietnam 68–70