My name is Gary Farris and I served in the United States Army from Nov. 65 to Nov. 68. Served in Vietnam 67-68 with the 19th Combat Engineer Battalion. I wanted to share my story with you.
About two months ago a friend of my son’s came to me with a pocket sized box containing several military ribbons and medals and wanted me to find the owner of the medals and return them. I told him to give me some time and I will see what I can find out. In July I went to work on the computer to see what I could find out, and find out is what I did. The medals belonged to a Vietnam Veteran that had been killed in Vietnam on Feb. 09, 1968 from friendly fire, from a Artillery round that fell short of it’s target and landed on 21 American Soldiers killing two and wounding 19, They belonged to “A” Company 1st BN 35th Infantry 4th Infantry Division US ARMY.
One of the medals, that was in the box was the Army Commendation Medal. On the back of the Army Commendation medal inscribed was the name James J. Brennan. I immediately went to the Vietnam Virtual Wall of Faces web site, typed in his name and found a lot of information about Brennan. On one of the entries was the name Dennis Callahan and his email address. He is the Nephew of James J. Brennan. I then emailed him, and the next day he answered my email and told me a lot of what had happened. Dennis was six years old when his Uncle James was killed. As you can see the little boy on the far right (photo above) is holding his Uncle James’s Commendation Certificate and James’s Mother in back of Dennis is holding the Commendation Medal.
The ceremony was held at Fort Hamilton, New York on Oct. 14, 1968 Brennan had one week left of his Tour of Duty when he was killed, February 14, 1968 “Valentine’s Day”. The Army notified the family that their Son had been killed.
Earlier in this article, I forgot to mention, that my son’s friend Chris, had bought a large box filled with different items at a yard sale in San Bernardino, California and later discovered the pocket sized box of Military Medals, on further research I found that James J. Brennan’s home of record at the time of death was New York City, New York.
On September 27th Thru September 30, 2018 at the Sheraton Portland Airport Hotel the 35th Infantry Regiment Reunion will be held. I’ve also contacted the Reunion Organizer and they will say a prayer and have a moment of silence for the family of Brennan during the reunion.
In September of 1966 James was drafted in to the United States Army
In February of 1968 James was killed in Vietnam
In July of 2018 a little over 50 years later I was the chosen one to retrace the footsteps of James J. Brennan from the past to the present. Myself, Gary L. Farris, James J. Brennan’s nephew Dennis Callahan and I know the spirit of James J. Brennan would be honored.
In closing, James J. Brennan’s Service medals were in New York City, New York and somehow mysteriously 50 years later they showed up at a yard sale in San Bernardino, California and no one knows how they got here.
I was hoping thru the power of the media that if someone read this article it may jog a memory as to how the medals traveled to California.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read my article…..Gary L. Farris Vietnam 67-68.