Daryl Meidinger was one of two Walla Walla College alumni who died in the Vietnam War. Shortly after his death on April 30, 1969, two soldiers in Daryl's platoon wrote to the Meidinger family to express their condolences and give their account of how Daryl died.

Tuesday, May 13

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Meidinger,

My name is Paul Bernard. I am the squad leader of the weapons squad of first platoon, Bravo company. Your son Daryl was only with us a short time, but we grew to be good friends. This letter is not an easy one to write but I believe you would like to know exactly what happened that last day, and I don't know how much the Dept. of Army told you.

Our platoon left our company perimeter in the morning on April 30th. We went about 300 meters before we reached the location where we were going to set up an ambush. Just as we reached that spot a group of North Vietnamese soldiers opened up on us with rockets, automatic rifles, and grenades. Daryl was up front and was hit by the first burst of rifle fire. He immediately fell to the ground unconscious. I believe that he never even knew what happened. Our Lt. and his radio man attempted to pull Daryl to safety but were unable to do so because of the intense fire. Our Lt. was killed, and the radio man was wounded and forced to pull back. The rest of our forward element managed to pull back to relative safety with 5 wounded. I moved my machine gun up to put our suppressive fire on the enemy while 2 more platoons came to our aid. When they arrived our platoon sergeant, another Lt., my assistant gunner, and 2, moved up to where Daryl and our Lt. were. As we reached that position the enemy opened up on us, killing my assistant gunner instantly. Somehow they missed the other three of us and we returned fire enough to enable others to pull Daryl back. We finally drove the enemy off killing three of them. Daryl had been Med-evac'ed into Quan Loi still unconscious. The following day we received word that he had ceased living shortly after his arrival there.

Daryl was truly an outstanding mentor and person. He was the best of both to come our way in a good while. Daryl insisted on being up front where he knew he would be needed and was ready to tend to even the smallest bother at any hour of the day or night. He possessed an uncommon devotedness to duty and a terrific desire to help people. The quality which really set Daryl apart from others was his complete faith in God, however. He was eager to experience life, but he had absolutely no fear of danger or death. This to me was a most amazing thing. Daryl had a great deal to live for, yet he was perfectly ready to meet his God. His religion was everything to him. For this reason I feel that no one need grieve for Daryl.

I have lost a good friend. You have lost a wonderful son. Carol's loss is more than anyone's. I hope in particular that I can do something for her. My thoughts will be with you all.

Sincerely Yours,
Paul Bernard

May 20, 1969

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Meidinger,

It is with deep sympathy that I am writing to you concerning the death of your son, Daryl. I was Daryl's platoon leader until April 25, when I became a member of the Company Command Post. As his platoon leader, I became close friends with Daryl as the position of platoon medic is a part of the platoon command post. Daryl quickly won the respect of the entire platoon not only as a medic, but set the example as an all-American Boy. He quickly became the confidant of many of the younger men as well as some of the older ones. He took a special interest in everyone, and when things looked bad and morale low, "Dinger" as everyone called him, always seem to perk them up in a very manner.

On April 30, our company was operating in Quan An Loc Province, Republic of Vietnam. At 0830 hours the 1st platoon left the Night Defensive Perimeter and moved out approximately 400 meters to set up an ambush. As the platoon was being placed in ambush posture, the enemy placed a heavy volume of B-40 rockets and automatic weapons fire on them. In the initial burst six individuals were wounded. Daryl immediately moved forward and began to treat the wounded. Because each of the wounded were in different positions, he moved from position to position under heavy enemy fire. He continued to do this, disregarding the extreme danger to his own life. The condition within which he had to work was placing him in vulnerable positions. When his platoon leader moved forward with a machine gun crew, an assistant gunner was shot and fell wounded. Again disregarding his own safety, Daryl rushed forward to aid the wounded man and exposed himself to the intense hostile fire. He immediately began to apply first aid but was struck down by grenade fragments and multiple gunshot wounds. When I arrived with another platoon to reinforce the 1st platoon, I found Daryl seriously wounded and unconscious. We suppressed the enemy fire, and Daryl was taken to Quan Loi Hospital by an Army Medivac helicopter. From there he was flown to a hospital in Long Binh, where he died that night.

Mr. and Mrs. Meidinger, your son was an extremely brave individual. Through his heroic actions in providing immediate medical attention to the wounded individuals, he prevented serious permanent injury to them.

With Deepest Regrets,
Charles F. James III
1Lt. U.S. Army

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