BETTER THAN HEARSAY - Brothers Forever

LEXINGTON - Christine Down had a quiet conversation with her husband Larry Dwon, last Saturday morning, a few hours before he was given the posthumous Greene County Veteran Memorial Award.

The tribute recognized Corporal Dwon’s service during the Vietnam War with the United States Marine Corp 5th Division, often engaged in the deepest deadly depths of combat. 

“My father never spoke to us about his time in the Marines,” said Dwon’s son Matthew, one of many speakers for the event, held at Catskill Point.

“My brother [Paul] and I didn’t even know about his decorations until after he passed away,” Matthew said, referring to his father’s breathtaking assemblage of military medals and citations.

Corporal Dwon received the National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic Vietnam Meritorious Unit Citation (Gallantry Cross) and Republic Vietnam Meritorious Unit Citation (Civil Action).

He was a decorated Rifle Marksman and was given the Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon, fighting with his comrades in hellish places such as the Quang Tin Province.

Corporal Dwon was enmeshed in Operation Union II, a particularly deathful search and destroy mission in the Que Son Valley.

Official reports say 110 Americans gave their lives and 241 were wounded while 701 were reportedly killed from the People’s Army of Vietnam,  between May 26 and June 5, 1967.

Laying down his weaponry upon returning stateside, Corporal Down transferred his national patriotic duty to community oriented deeds.

Private citizen Dwon belonged to the West Kill United Methodist Church, was fire chief for the Lexington Fire Company and a driver for the  

volunteer Lexington Rescue Squad.

He initiated the Junior Firefighting program, served as president of the Greene County Fire Investigation Team and was the no-nonsense, eminently fair code enforcement officer for his adopted town.

Cancer claimed Mr. Dwon in the autumn of 2005, spending his waning days in his home garden with Christine and their winged visitors, hummingbirds Matilda and Rupert who Mr. Dwon photographed elegantly.

Mrs. Dwon will tell you unflinchingly that the hummingbirds still serve as mystical messengers between she and her husband.

“I talked to Larry today,” Christine whispered in the minutes leading up to the respectful veteran’s award ceremony. “I told him ‘we did it.’”

She meant getting this solider the dignity he deserved - and that Corporal Dwon would sternly remind you it was nowhere near his alone.

“My father knew his country was greater than himself,” son Mathew said. “There is one day I will never forget. I was working with him when somebody walked up to him and said, ‘Happy Birthday.’

“I thought to myself, ‘it’s not my dad’s birthday,’ but he turned to me and said it’s the Marine Corp’s birthday. Marines never quit being brothers.”