Russell Rene Roulier

Here is a photo of him.



This photograph made my mind reach back fifty six years to 1954, when I was nine. Growing up in extreme western Massachusetts was wonderful. Right or wrong, all of our parents let us run pretty wild. Loose reins as my grandfather Frank would say. I was sort of the leader of a small band of boys, mostly because I was the oldest. There was Michael Burke, John Louis Lawson, my brother (three years younger) Mike Bacon, Bobby Gamache (called Little Bobby, as I was Big Bobby) and Russ Roulier.

As a teenager, Russell really looked a lot like Elvis.


(Left to right: John Louie, Russ, Michael Burke, Mike Bacon)

John Louis lived two houses north of us. They rented. Most people in Adams did. No one thought anything of it. His mother, who was from Belgium and spoke with an accent, would call out to him, “John Louie, come here, dinner!”

I remember my mother saying, “Go holler for your brother.” No one hollers for you any more.

They were the first family that I knew that had a television. I would go there occasionally -- climb to the second floor, knock on the door, and ask Mrs. Lawson if I could watch their TV. I thought nothing of it. She would always say yes.

We received our TV signal from Albany, New York, and we needed large outside antennas. I remember being hooked on the “Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color” television shows especially. The Lawsons’ TV was black and white -- and being in a valley, the reception was lousy. Remember SNOW and the picture going sideways?

“When Knighthood Was in Flower” was my favorite. By the time Superman came to television all the families had their own TVs. Or so it seemed. I have no idea how or why I remember that, but when I saw the photo of Elvis Presley everything came back to me clearly. Google will back me up that I have the years correct.



Now you have to wonder what my parents were thinking when I would disappear for hours at a time. I don't know. They would not think twice about letting us load up our gear and camp for the night in the foothills beyond Gamache's cow pastures, near the old Georgia Marble Company. You know where I mean -- off of old Columbia Street. People from Zylonite referred to it only as “the back road.” I wonder if the spring is still ther? Zylonite was a plastic that was produced there with the help of the Hoosac River, which ran through Adams. This part of town, full of mostly first- and second-generation Italian families, came to call this section Zylonite. It’s funny, but none of the small group of boys I ran with were Italian. But the boys my age had last names such as Bongiolatti, Smachetti, Ballardini, Dellagelffa, Volpe, Tomasini, Malioni, Monchecci, Carnazola, Chicceti, Sondrini, and Bianchi. These original families all came from north of Pisa to work the limestone quarries and they still do to this day.

We boys, all around the age of ten, would set up camp beyond Split Rock, to the north of the old quarry. We would return home in the morning and I do not remember anyone asking us anything about our night in the woods. I know for sure that they never checked on us. That’s just how it was.

After grade school, in the cold snowy winters of Berkshire county, we would cut through Gamache’s farm, past the haystacks, and walk up to Georgia Marble on the old white limestone road, then slide down it on our Flexible Flyer sleds. No one ever said after school, "I'll meet you there." We just did. It was a long walk up, and at the most you could only get in two slides. Then it was a long, snowy walk back in the dark, along the path that you cut earlier on the snow-covered pasture to Mom's warm kitchen for a nice hot supper.



There were no streetlights on the back road. It was a long, snow-lit walk past Gamache's farmhouse lights to finally reach home. It could be especially long if the wind was blowing down Mount Greylock via the Thunderbolt Trail. We would leave our wet clothes and boots on the front, unheated porch. If we forgot to bring them in later, they would be frozen as hard as boards in the morning. I recall that sometimes we couldn't get our boots off because of the ice-covered laces. Before supper Mom would always have a shot of grappa ready for her boys. OK, so I made that part up. I didn't know if you were still following the story or not.

We played pick up baseball. You would just show up in the summer at the ballfield behind the Howland Avenue school and play. It was always hardball. Boy did we have fun! We also played War.


(That's John Louie's house to the right.)

Adams is very much a fishing and hunting town. John Louis’s father and grandfather were French Canadien AYE! You could always tell when it was deer season. Dad put a picture window into the north side of our house and from it you could see the deer hanging off the clotheslines of the Lawsons’ yard, two houses away. Playing War, we would dress ourselves in the World War II helmets and canteens of our fathers and uncles, carry toy rifles and backpacks, and go at night to the swamp near the back road. We would crawl up the dry ditch that ran under Howland Avenue and pretend we were on patrol.

Forward to June 21 1967, Quang Nam, South Vietnam.

A message was left on the Vietnam Memorial Wall. It was from Wayne Gregory who called himself "A Marine Brother In Arms."

“Russell was an M-60 machine gunner. We were together on this hill in Quang Nam when he was killed in action. Russell was an outstanding Marine, handsome sort, quiet and intelligent. We were attacked in the early morning hours under the cover of darkness and Russell's gun hole was out on the flank. He is remembered and respectfully loved by his fellow Marines.”

When looking up Russell's name on the wall I found these additional facts.

The largest per capita loss of any town in the United States was Beallsville, Ohio --population 475. Six young men killed.

Highest state casualties: West Virginia with 711.

The Marines of Morena -- They led some of the scrappiest high school and basketball teams that the little copper town of Morena (population 5,058) had ever known and cheered, in the state of Arizona. They enjoyed roaring beer busts. In quieter moments, they rode horses along the Coronado Trail, stalked deer in the Apache National Forest and in the patriotic camaraderie typical of Morena's mining family; the nine graduates of Morena High School enlisted as a group in the Marine Corp. Their service began on Independence Day 1966. Only three returned home.

Robert Dale Draper, 19, was killed in an ambush.

Stan King, 21, was killed less than a week after he reached Vietnam.

Alfred Van Whitmer, 21, was killed while on patrol.

Larry J. West, 19, was shot and killed near Quang Nam.

Jose Moncayo, 22, was part of an entire platoon that was wiped out.

Clive Garcia, 22, was killed by a booby trap while leading a patrol.


The youngest American soldier killed was Dan Bullock at age 15.

The high school with the highest number of casualties: Thomas Edison High School in Philadelphia -- 54

The oldest, Dwaine McGriff at 63.

Killed on their very first day: 997

Killed on their last day: 1448

Most casualties in a single day: January 31, 1968 -- 245

Number of brother (pairs or more) killed: 38

Number of fathers and son pairs killed: 3


Chiseled on the Vietnam War Memorial is this:

RUSSELL RENE ROULIER MC CPL E4
BORN December 16, 1946.
DIED JUNE 21, 1967 QUANG NAM, SOUTH VIETNAM
HOSTILE, GROUND CASUALTY, EXPLOSIVE DEVICE
BODY WAS RECOVERED
PANEL 22E - LINE 33


And this is on the Virtual Wall at http://www.virtualwall.org

Russell Rene Roulier
Corporal

PERSONAL DATA
Home of Record: Adams, Massachusetts
Date of birth: Monday, 12/16/1946

MILITARY DATA
Service: Marine Corps (Regular)
Grade at loss: E4
Rank: Corporal
ID No: 2221013
MOS: 0351 Antitank Assaultman
LenSvc: Between 1 and 2 years
Unit: K CO, 3RD BN, 7TH MARINES, 1ST MARDIV

CASUALTY DATA
Start Tour: Not recorded
Cas Date: Wednesday, 06/21/1967
Age at Loss: 20
Remains: Body Recovered
Location: Quang Nam, South Vietnam
Type: Hostile, Died
Reason: Other Explosive Device - Ground Casualty

ON THE WALL Panel 22E Line 033

Sadly, there is no photo.

My boyhood friend, Russell, was the only young man from Adams, Massachusetts to die in Vietnam.

POST SCRIPT:

From Facebook: Lorraine sent you a message.

January 11, 2011 at 3:45pm

Subject: Bob from Adams, MA?

If you are the Bob bacon from Adams who has a blog then this will be relevant-if not please disregard. A friend who is in Africa right now came upon your blog and sent it to me-it was the one about Zepka's and then Russ Roulier. Russ was not the only young man to die in Vietnam from Adams. Here is a link to the town's veterans was dead.

http://www.facebook.com/l/6c3cfAz8kdTB9GrqiCYB5du6k8A;www.town.adams.ma.us/Public_Documents/AdamsMA_Veterans/warlist

The website lists two other Vietnam War casualties from Adams, Massachusetts:
Robert T Goyette
John R. Hartlage, III

I obtained the casualty information off THE WALL in Washington D.C. website and obviously according to Lorraine K. of Adams and the public records of Adams Massachusetts it is incorrect. So the story is even sadder.

From a friend in AFRICA ? You can't make this st ...... There has to be a connection with Joy Sylvester who just got there recently.

That Adams public records web site says 19 men from Adams died during the Civil War.