I know many blog posts have been written today in honor of 9/11.
I wanted to write one in honor of a guy I went to high school with in Nampa, Idaho! Ron Vauk was killed while on watch in the Pentagon.
Ron was the editor of the school newspaper--the Nampa High Growl-- at the high school we both attended. He was a year older and about as pesky as an older brother would be to his younger sister....he loved to tease many of us in the 2 years we attended school together.
We had many long night "putting the paper to bed" I can't remember for sure but I think we published a school paper every other week. During these times we laughed a lot and we argued a lot as well!
We all rejoiced with Ron when he was accepted at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. I remember that the newspaper staff all gave him funny gag gifts as graduation gifts...including the one my friend and I gave him ---a rubiks cube with naked women on it...for the lonely nights he might have to spend on the ship!
Ron wrote to me for a few years after he graduated and was attending the academy. I loved getting the official Naval Academy Christmas cards he always sent...I am pretty sure I still have at least one of them.
The last time I saw Ron was over Thanksgiving in 1983. I was attending school in Long Beach California and he had flown out for the Army/Navy game. My boyfriend and I set him up on a blind date with a gal I was going to school with. We may have met up in Idaho at Christmas time that year or the next year for drinks...I can't remember for sure.
Life went on and I knew he had gotten married but we had lost touch. Then 9/11/2011 came...and we watched in horror the attack on the World Trade Center .....then the Pentagon. Later that day or maybe the next we heard on our local news that Ron was missing and then we found out he had died during the attack.
Ron was standing guard at the Pentagon....The last anyone saw him alive was when he was on the phone receiving instructions I believe due to the attack on the World Trade Center. Then the Pentagon was attacked.
Ironically ....and how life twists and turns....Ron was not supposed to have been working that day. His wife was expecting their second child to be born later that fall. He rearranged his schedule to work his duty so he could have time off when the baby was born.
I will always remember the young and proud handsome man that was in the picture all dressed in his official Naval uniform. He will remain perpetually young to me.
Remember all of those who perished in the attacks on 9/11 today and always.....
RIP Ron Vauk
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