Medal of Honor Sought for North Adams Vietnam War Hero
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Above, George Galli, left, Butch Ames and Kathleen Toohey Carbone at Tuesday's dedication. Ames is setting up a family picture of Foote and his sister, Paula Geary. Left, Ames said he's lobbying for Foote to get the Medal of Honor. |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Joseph "Butch" Ames has made it his mission to keep the memory of his childhood friend, Peter W. Foote, in the forefront.
So it was that more than two dozen friends and others stood around Foote's grave in Southview Cemetery on Tuesday as a chill wind blew the pines towering above it.
"I always said Pete was the wind beneath my wings," joked Ames. The Veterans Day services an hour before had been calm and sunny, "and we come out to Pete's grave and it's windy as hell."
The occasion was the rededication of a plaque for Foote, the city's only Vietnam War casualty. The previous bronze plaque has been moved to the foot of the flagpole at the Peter W. Foote Vietnam Veterans Skating Rink next door. The rink had been renamed for Foote in 2010.
It had taken about 18 months to get a new plaque for Foote's grave that listed the honors awarded him posthumously: The Silver Star, bronze star medal and Purple Heart.
Ames said he's begun reaching out the region's congressional delegation to lobby for Foote to receive the Medal of Honor, awarded to those whose actions went above and beyond the call of duty.
"If we could get him the Medal of Honor it would be the biggest thing that ever would have happened," he said. "Boy, that would make my life."
Foote, a 1965 graduate of Drury High School and star athlete, was killed in action in Jan. 30, 1968, in the opening hours of North Vietnam's Tet Offensive, possibly the first American casualty in that offensive.
"This battle that he fought was the Battle for Cemetery Hill," Ames said, reading from the official description of the action. His unit from the 173rd Airborne Division came under fire and, believing it was a sniper, coordinated a frontal assault only to run into a North Vietnamese company.
Foote spotted a wounded comrade crawling toward his position and ran forward to aid him. He was severely wounded in the leg but reached the soldier and began artificial respiration, while dragging him back to his position fully exposed to the enemy.
Ames recalled running down to the Foote home to watch "the living room war" on television. "We watched the 173rd Airborne in action and we looked for Pete but we didn't see him," he said.
George Galli, in giving a blessing at that ceremony, remembered Foote as one of his sports heroes.
"I went to Mark Hopkins and met both Peter and [his sister] Paula," he said. "I remember he was my hero — Kevin Bosley, Peter Foote and all that group that played at Drury High School."
The young man's death had had a crushing effect on the city and his family, Ames said. The Vietnam War had been a difficult for the country and for its returning soldiers. "We answered the bell and we did our job and all we asked is for a little respect."
That attitude has changed, he said, indicated by the turnout of the Veterans Day ceremonies and the dozen or more people who came to Foote's grave.
This spring, the 47th annual Peter W. Foote Scholarships will be presented at Drury High thanks to the support from businesses and friends of Foote, Ames said. He's trying to develop a foundation to continue those efforts.
"We're going to keep the scholarships going as long as I'm here and, hopefully, some day we'll have a foundation to give out other scholarships," he said.
"No one is ever going to forget Peter Foote as long as I'm alive."
Tags: veterans memorial, Vietnam,
