PFC Mauerman, USMC

"PFC Mauerman was a wireman with my artillery liaison team. He was from San Francisco, where his father was a florist. Mauerman was badly disguised as a Marine; I think he would have been much more at home at Berkeley rousing the rabble. He was naturally unkempt. He wore glasses and could not see well without them. His posture would no doubt have driven a drill instructor to new heights of verbal abuse, and he didn't clean his rifle as often or as meticulously as he should have. But Mauerman knew his job and accomplished it quite well; he could be depended upon when you needed him. He was a very good Marine." (Excerpted from Images from the Otherland.)

I always felt an affection for Mauerman, I think because I always felt I could rely on him. That was really brought home to me after he went home.

On Mauerman's last night in Vietnam with the liaison team, we had a small party. We had a few tins of smoked oysters, some cheese I think, and a bottle or so of local wine. We said our good-byes and the last thing I said to him was a request. I asked that after he returned to his father's florist shop in San Francisco that he send a dozen roses to my wife Angela in Rochester. He said he would. We were both a little drunk from the wine.

I had forgotten my request when I received a letter from Angela that confirmed that he had not forgotten. That was just the kind of person he was.

Years later, I had occasion to visit San Francisco on business. I remember trying to find a Mauerman's flower shop and scanning the listings in the telephone book for a Mauerman that sounded like the right one. Apparently I had waited too long to try to thank him for his kindness. And I had begun to wonder whether he would have wanted to be reminded after such a long time of his tour in Vietnam. I never found him and I still need to thank him.

I couldn't find Ben. But with the help of Jim Mazy, I did find out what happened to him. Ben died in 1996. I didn't try soon enough or hard enough to find him.