Robert Miranda

Private
523RD ENG CO (PC), 36TH ENG BN, 34TH ENG GRP, 20TH ENG BDE
Army of the United States
28 July 1951 - 02 August 1971
Plainville, Massachusetts
Panel 03W Line 121

20TH ENG BDE

34TH ENG GRP
National Defense, Vietnam Service, Vietnam Campaign

The database page for Robert Miranda

14 Feb 2004

Robert Miranda

When you go home, tell them of us and say,
"We gave our tomorrow, for your today."
- The Kohima Epitaph -

From someone who remembers.
25 Jul 2006

It is said we can die three times. The first is when we pass away. The second is when we are buried. The third is when we are forgotten. Bobby will not die the third time.

Bobby Miranda (The Empty Bed)
Medical Burn Ward, Yokota Air Base
Japan
Spring into Summer, 1971

I carry him in my heart wherever I go. It has been over three decades. And he is there still.

He will never die again. He has died two times. But never a third time. Never.

He is twenty years old, while I was twenty-five, looking down at him in his hospital bed.

He is twenty years old, while I was forty-six, rubbing his name on a piece of paper where I found him again - at The Wall, and telling my children who he is, crying all the while.

He is twenty years old today. And I am really getting old as I tell my grandchildren who he is, crying like it was then, not now. And so it should be - to keep him from dying the third time.

He will always be twenty years old.
And he will not die the third time.

From someone who was with him,
Barbara Hartman
E-mail address is not available.

11 Jan 2007

I served proudly with you on the 1890 Pile Driving Barge, 523rd Engineers (Port Construction).

You are not forgotten, I remember the day well when the stove blew up catching you on fire, and everything that happened after that. It is still fresh in my mind and my dreams, and very well when the news was received that you had passed on. You are a Brother of mine forever!

From a Brother in Arms,
Woodrow "Woody" Harris
(served 1970 - Nov 1971)
woodyharris@bellsouth.net

A Note from The Virtual Wall

Pvt Robert Miranda served aboard the 1890 Pile Driving barge of the 523rd Engineers (Port Construction).

Only about 7% of the Army's TAGCEN records contain the geographic coordinates of the place where the soldier was injured or died - but of course the fact that the records for two or more men with differing dates of death carry the same locational information isn't hard proof that they were injured in the same incident. Never the less, the TAGCEN records for two men from the 523rd Engineers who died in the summer of 1971 as the result of accidental injury say they were were injured at XR475985 ... perhaps in the same incident, perhaps in different ones. The two men were PFC Danny L. Lightsey of Valdosta, Georgia (died 07/25/1971) and PVT Robert Miranda of Plainville, Massachussetts (died 08/02/1971).

Update

Mr. Harris confirms that both PFC Lightsey and PVT Miranda were injured in the 22 July 1971 incident described above.




Top of Page

Virtual Wall icon
www.VirtualWall.org

Back to
To alpha index M
MA State Index . Panel 03W
34TH ENG GRP Index

Contact Us



With all respect
Jim Schueckler, former CW2, US Army
Ken Davis, Commander, United States Navy (Ret)
Memorial first published on 14 Feb 2004
Last updated 08/10/2009