AL WYANT WAS A FRIEND BEFORE HE WAS A MARINE

I was a 16 year old long haired blond high school sophomore, when two seniors stopped me at my locker. They were boys and best friends, Ed, who was about my height, accompanied by his tall broad shouldered buddy, Al Wyant. The purpose of their mission was to support Ed, who had decided to meet me and ask me to the football game that Friday. Al was along for moral support. I hadn't met either of them before, but I liked them both immediately.

Al and Ed were inseparable, and after graduation, they meant to remain side by side. They had their future mapped out. They were joining the United States Marine Corp and going to Viet Nam to be mighty warriors. Side by side. I think I only went out one time with Ed, who carried my books for a week, and then had a new girlfriend, down the hall from my locker. Ed lived in town. I was a country girl.I think I looked a little puzzled as I walked to my locker alone. But Al made a point of still walking me to my locker from time to time. We became friends.

Al Wyant and I went out for a skyscraper icecream at the Isaly's drugstore the next weekend, and I pointed out that I couldn't, wouldn't, go out with Al, for fear that it would put something between him and Ed. He understood. Graduation was the last I saw of either of these fast friends. As the war went on, I occasionally received a letter from them, and I sent tape recorded messages back. Ed later told my brother that those tape recordings saved his life. Hyperbole,perhaps. When I heard that my dear Corporal Wyant had died, I was sad and proud of these 2 young men who signed up for their trip to beautiful Viet Nam in the killing season. I was sad Al got a one way ticket, and a life ended so soon. Worse, I knew Ed had suffered the ultimate loss of a friend who stuck to him, closer than a brother. You never get over that.

Wyant, Alfred Leroy (Butch), Cpl