2LT LAWRENCE F RUNEY

 

June 20, 2014 I served with 1st squad, 2nd platoon, Company A, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. The date of KIA approaches for members of our 3rd squad. The 3rd squad was wiped out on 'Ambush Purple' on June 28th, 1966. SGT Price and I came over from Hawaii together as well as some other members of his squad, Harry Dyer, Carl Fell, Sgt Sheidt (RTO and FO from our mortar platoon), including some early replacements from February 1966. There were 12 men killed that night. Once again as the anniversary date is near, the feeling of guilt is overwhelming. Thank you Megmer Moschkin 2/A/1/27 1965-66 On 28 June 1966 Company A, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry, lost twelve men in a firefight east of Bao Trai. They were: 2LT Lawrence F Runey, Bristol, Pennsylvania SGT Russell Lee Price, Baltimore, Maryland SP4 Harry Gordon Dyer, Portales, New Mexico SP4 Carl Eugene Fell, Bristol, Pennsylvania SP4 William Howard Scheidt, Concord, California PFC Manuel Alicea, New York, New York PFC Michael Francis Bingham, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania PFC Donald Edward Byrum, Wooster, Ohio PFC Gerald Lee Crosby, Rockville, Maryland PFC Pedro Luis Lamourt-Tosado, Camuy, Puerto Rico PFC Arthur G Mitchell, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma PFC James Allen Tazelaar, Muskegon, Michigan 6TH WAR FATALITY FROM LOWER BUCKS Levittown Father Killed In Viet On June 16, Second Lt. Lawrence F. Runey Jr. sent his mother and his wife each a dozen roses to mark their wedding anniversaries. Today they learned of his death in Viet Nam. Lieutenant Runey, 24, one of seven children of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Runey of 9 Rainbow Lane, Red Cedar Hill, Levittown, was hit by shell fragments while serving with the 25th Infantry at Cu Chi, about 20 miles northwest of Saigon. He was married on June 16, 1962 at St. Ann's Church, Bristol to Anna Man of 916 Jefferson St., Bristol, who resides there with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Man, and a daughter, Jane, age 3. Word Today Lieutenant Runey's mother said word of her son's death was received today by his wife from an Army representative who called at the Bristol home. A telegram was sent to the parents. Mrs. Runey said she did not know how her son sent the roses but that they did arrive on the combined anniversary. A letter from him was received only Tuesday, she added. A graduate of Bishop Egan High School in 1960, Lieutenant Runey went on to Penn State University where he joined the Army ROTC and pursued a major in business administration. At his graduation in December of 1964, he was named a distinguished military graduate. He then went to work at U. S. Steel Corporation's Fairless Works until he was called to duty in May 1965. He left for Viet Nam on his wife's birthday, April 17. The body of the young lieutenant, who would have been promoted to First Lieutenant on Aug. 1 and who would have celebrated his 25th birthday in September, will be returned home in about a week. Lieutenant Runey His father, a former petty officer in the Navy, retired in 1963 after 22 years in the service, having served aboard destroyers in World War II and the Korean conflict. He took part in the invasions of Africa, Salerno, Normandy and Southern France. Active in veteran's affairs, the elder Runey is a member of the Chester W. Terchon VFW Post. Other Survivors In addition to his parents, wife and daughter, Lieutenant Runey is survived by four sisters, Mrs. Geraldine Hayes of Levittown; Patricia, Roberta and Kathleen, at home, and two brothers, Michael and Kevin. During his high school and college years, Lieutenant Runey was employed part time and summers at Auto Boys in Bristol. Lieutenant Runey is the sixth resident of Lower Bucks County to lose his life in Viet Nam. Also killed from there were LT Joseph P. Yatsko, SP4 John W. Thomas, and Sgt Safford S Pye, all of Levittown; LT James B. Detrixhe of Fairless Hills and Pvt Hugh W Elmore of St. Francis Vocatonal School, Cornwells Heights. 2LT Runey is buried in Beverly National Cemetery, Beverly, Burlington County, New Jersey next to his father, Lawrence. It's unknown where his mother, Grace M Runey (August 25, 1922 - October 16, 1999) is buried. Both father and son are buried in same plot in Beverly, so it's unclear if Grace was eligible to also be interred with her husband and son. Grace was a past president of Chester W. Terchon VFW Post Ladies Auxiliary. 2LTLawrence F Runey and his father, CS1 Lawrence F Runey, Sr - - The Virtual Wall, June 20, 2014

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