Robert Louis Gardner was the son of Leslie Gardner and Olive Lucier.
---------------
Fifty years after his death, the memory of Robert Gardner is literally etched in stone.
Tucked beneath a grove of trees, a granite memorial now stands in Gardner's honor on a Nashua field bearing his name.
Both the memorial and the man will draw renewed attention over the coming weeks as the community honors the 50th anniversary of Gardner's death.
On June 13, 1962, the Nashua native and U.S. Army sergeant became the fourth U.S. soldier, and the first from New Hampshire, to be killed in the Vietnam War.
"He really loved this country. You can tell; he gave his life for it," said Griffin Dalianis, chairman of the Mayor's Veterans Council, who worked 10 years ago to raise the memorial and rededicate the field on Crown Hill in Gardner's name.
"He was one of the only ones who served in three wars," Dalianis said of Gardner, who also served in World War II and the Korean War. "There's no question how much he loved this country."
Called to service
The Vietnam War wasn't a war yet when Gardner arrived in the far-off southeast Asian country in March 1962.
American troops had been in the region since the early 1950s. But in the early 1960s, President John F. Kennedy escalated the number of troops as tensions heightened with Communist North Vietnam, and Gardner was called to service once again.
Gardner spent two months in the country in spring 1962 as a military adviser, training South Vietnamese soldiers to shoot.
"This is a lonely, hot, dirty war over here," he wrote in a letter to his classmates from Nashua High School with whom he graduated in 1941. "I'm fine but will be glad when my tour of duty is over and the U.S. welcomes me back with all its wonderful, democratic and free way of life."
But Gardner never returned to American soil alive. On June 13, he was killed in an ambush – shot through the chest by a sniper.
"Sergeant Gardner had always set a valiant example until his death in our mission of defeating communism," a colonel from the South Vietnamese army wrote upon his death, according to letters collected by the Nashua Historical Society.
"At the time of your son's death, he was performing his task to the fullest," wrote Robert Olson, a lieutenant colonel who served with Gardner, to Gardner's parents, Lewlie and Olive Gardner, that month.
"He takes his place in the company of uncounted Americans who have given their lives in the defense of freedom."
Ready to retire
The honors and accolades flew in after Gardner's death. He was honored posthumously with a Purple Heart and an Army Commendation Medal, among more than a dozen other awards received during his military career, and city officials dedicated a park off Arlington Street in his honor.
"Please convey my warmest greetings to all who join in the dedication of Sergeant Gardner field," Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey wrote in a telegraph read aloud at the dedication on Dec. 3, 1967, according to Telegraph archives. "What a debt the world does owe to those who man the ramparts of embattled Vietnam against infiltration, terrorism and sabotage."
Still, none of the accolades could bring back the promise of the 19-year veteran who was ready to turn over his stripes.
Set to return home the following year, Gardner was ready to retire from the Army and move to Florida to enroll in school to become a baseball umpire, Gardner's brother, Rudolph, told The Telegraph for a 2000 story.
Sports had been a lifelong passion for Gardner, Rudolph Gardner said at the time.
"He loved basketball, football and baseball," Rudolph Gardner said.
As a student at Nashua High, Gardner had earned varsity letters in all three sports, according to the school yearbook, and he was part of Nashua High's state champion baseball team in 1939.
The 1941 yearbook describes Gardner as a "dependable second sacker who saw considerable service," and on the basketball team, he was a "scrappy forward of much ability."
Of his goals, Gardner wrote "To become a coach." But it may be the yearbook quote printed next to Gardner's picture that reveals more about his ambitions: "Lo, one who loved true honour more than fame."
Still a local hero
The attack on Pearl Harbor occurred midway through Gardner's final year of high school, and like many of his peers, as well as his two brothers, Raymond and Rudolph, Gardner put his personal ambitions on hold and signed up for the military.
During his first deployment, he crossed Europe as part of Gen. George Patton's famed "Hell on Wheels" division. And as the war came to a close, Gardner moved on to a stint in Korea in the 1950s before heading to Vietnam.
Over his 19 years of service, Gardner collected 17 awards and honors, and his name is etched, along with 70,000 others who died, on the national Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C.
"He's right at the top of the wall," Rudolph Gardner said in 2000. "I went to see it about 10 years ago. … I wanted to scratch his name on a piece of paper, but it was too high. But just touching the wall made me feel good."
Still, to others, it's the local monument dedicated in Gardner's honor that holds the most meaning.
In 2003, Mayor Bernie Streeter rededicated the field, located near Arlington Street and Dr. Norman W. Crisp Elementary School, in honor of Gardner and Armand Roussel, a former police chief who was killed in 1971 in a standoff.
Memorials honoring both men are located around the park.
"Kids play baseball and softball every night there in the spring and summer," Dalianis said. "I just like them to know about Robert Gardner and what he did so he can still be an influence. … He is a local hero."
- Published in the Nashua Telegraph, May 27, 2012
---------------
Fifty years after his death, the memory of Robert Gardner is literally etched in stone.
Tucked beneath a grove of trees, a granite memorial now stands in Gardner's honor on a Nashua field bearing his name.
Both the memorial and the man will draw renewed attention over the coming weeks as the community honors the 50th anniversary of Gardner's death.
On June 13, 1962, the Nashua native and U.S. Army sergeant became the fourth U.S. soldier, and the first from New Hampshire, to be killed in the Vietnam War.
"He really loved this country. You can tell; he gave his life for it," said Griffin Dalianis, chairman of the Mayor's Veterans Council, who worked 10 years ago to raise the memorial and rededicate the field on Crown Hill in Gardner's name.
"He was one of the only ones who served in three wars," Dalianis said of Gardner, who also served in World War II and the Korean War. "There's no question how much he loved this country."
Called to service
The Vietnam War wasn't a war yet when Gardner arrived in the far-off southeast Asian country in March 1962.
American troops had been in the region since the early 1950s. But in the early 1960s, President John F. Kennedy escalated the number of troops as tensions heightened with Communist North Vietnam, and Gardner was called to service once again.
Gardner spent two months in the country in spring 1962 as a military adviser, training South Vietnamese soldiers to shoot.
"This is a lonely, hot, dirty war over here," he wrote in a letter to his classmates from Nashua High School with whom he graduated in 1941. "I'm fine but will be glad when my tour of duty is over and the U.S. welcomes me back with all its wonderful, democratic and free way of life."
But Gardner never returned to American soil alive. On June 13, he was killed in an ambush – shot through the chest by a sniper.
"Sergeant Gardner had always set a valiant example until his death in our mission of defeating communism," a colonel from the South Vietnamese army wrote upon his death, according to letters collected by the Nashua Historical Society.
"At the time of your son's death, he was performing his task to the fullest," wrote Robert Olson, a lieutenant colonel who served with Gardner, to Gardner's parents, Lewlie and Olive Gardner, that month.
"He takes his place in the company of uncounted Americans who have given their lives in the defense of freedom."
Ready to retire
The honors and accolades flew in after Gardner's death. He was honored posthumously with a Purple Heart and an Army Commendation Medal, among more than a dozen other awards received during his military career, and city officials dedicated a park off Arlington Street in his honor.
"Please convey my warmest greetings to all who join in the dedication of Sergeant Gardner field," Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey wrote in a telegraph read aloud at the dedication on Dec. 3, 1967, according to Telegraph archives. "What a debt the world does owe to those who man the ramparts of embattled Vietnam against infiltration, terrorism and sabotage."
Still, none of the accolades could bring back the promise of the 19-year veteran who was ready to turn over his stripes.
Set to return home the following year, Gardner was ready to retire from the Army and move to Florida to enroll in school to become a baseball umpire, Gardner's brother, Rudolph, told The Telegraph for a 2000 story.
Sports had been a lifelong passion for Gardner, Rudolph Gardner said at the time.
"He loved basketball, football and baseball," Rudolph Gardner said.
As a student at Nashua High, Gardner had earned varsity letters in all three sports, according to the school yearbook, and he was part of Nashua High's state champion baseball team in 1939.
The 1941 yearbook describes Gardner as a "dependable second sacker who saw considerable service," and on the basketball team, he was a "scrappy forward of much ability."
Of his goals, Gardner wrote "To become a coach." But it may be the yearbook quote printed next to Gardner's picture that reveals more about his ambitions: "Lo, one who loved true honour more than fame."
Still a local hero
The attack on Pearl Harbor occurred midway through Gardner's final year of high school, and like many of his peers, as well as his two brothers, Raymond and Rudolph, Gardner put his personal ambitions on hold and signed up for the military.
During his first deployment, he crossed Europe as part of Gen. George Patton's famed "Hell on Wheels" division. And as the war came to a close, Gardner moved on to a stint in Korea in the 1950s before heading to Vietnam.
Over his 19 years of service, Gardner collected 17 awards and honors, and his name is etched, along with 70,000 others who died, on the national Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C.
"He's right at the top of the wall," Rudolph Gardner said in 2000. "I went to see it about 10 years ago. … I wanted to scratch his name on a piece of paper, but it was too high. But just touching the wall made me feel good."
Still, to others, it's the local monument dedicated in Gardner's honor that holds the most meaning.
In 2003, Mayor Bernie Streeter rededicated the field, located near Arlington Street and Dr. Norman W. Crisp Elementary School, in honor of Gardner and Armand Roussel, a former police chief who was killed in 1971 in a standoff.
Memorials honoring both men are located around the park.
"Kids play baseball and softball every night there in the spring and summer," Dalianis said. "I just like them to know about Robert Gardner and what he did so he can still be an influence. … He is a local hero."
- Published in the Nashua Telegraph, May 27, 2012
Robert Louis Gardner was the son of Leslie Gardner and Olive Lucier.
---------------
Fifty years after his death, the memory of Robert Gardner is literally etched in stone.
Tucked beneath a grove of trees, a granite memorial now stands in Gardner's honor on a Nashua field bearing his name.
Both the memorial and the man will draw renewed attention over the coming weeks as the community honors the 50th anniversary of Gardner's death.
On June 13, 1962, the Nashua native and U.S. Army sergeant became the fourth U.S. soldier, and the first from New Hampshire, to be killed in the Vietnam War.
"He really loved this country. You can tell; he gave his life for it," said Griffin Dalianis, chairman of the Mayor's Veterans Council, who worked 10 years ago to raise the memorial and rededicate the field on Crown Hill in Gardner's name.
"He was one of the only ones who served in three wars," Dalianis said of Gardner, who also served in World War II and the Korean War. "There's no question how much he loved this country."
Called to service
The Vietnam War wasn't a war yet when Gardner arrived in the far-off southeast Asian country in March 1962.
American troops had been in the region since the early 1950s. But in the early 1960s, President John F. Kennedy escalated the number of troops as tensions heightened with Communist North Vietnam, and Gardner was called to service once again.
Gardner spent two months in the country in spring 1962 as a military adviser, training South Vietnamese soldiers to shoot.
"This is a lonely, hot, dirty war over here," he wrote in a letter to his classmates from Nashua High School with whom he graduated in 1941. "I'm fine but will be glad when my tour of duty is over and the U.S. welcomes me back with all its wonderful, democratic and free way of life."
But Gardner never returned to American soil alive. On June 13, he was killed in an ambush – shot through the chest by a sniper.
"Sergeant Gardner had always set a valiant example until his death in our mission of defeating communism," a colonel from the South Vietnamese army wrote upon his death, according to letters collected by the Nashua Historical Society.
"At the time of your son's death, he was performing his task to the fullest," wrote Robert Olson, a lieutenant colonel who served with Gardner, to Gardner's parents, Lewlie and Olive Gardner, that month.
"He takes his place in the company of uncounted Americans who have given their lives in the defense of freedom."
Ready to retire
The honors and accolades flew in after Gardner's death. He was honored posthumously with a Purple Heart and an Army Commendation Medal, among more than a dozen other awards received during his military career, and city officials dedicated a park off Arlington Street in his honor.
"Please convey my warmest greetings to all who join in the dedication of Sergeant Gardner field," Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey wrote in a telegraph read aloud at the dedication on Dec. 3, 1967, according to Telegraph archives. "What a debt the world does owe to those who man the ramparts of embattled Vietnam against infiltration, terrorism and sabotage."
Still, none of the accolades could bring back the promise of the 19-year veteran who was ready to turn over his stripes.
Set to return home the following year, Gardner was ready to retire from the Army and move to Florida to enroll in school to become a baseball umpire, Gardner's brother, Rudolph, told The Telegraph for a 2000 story.
Sports had been a lifelong passion for Gardner, Rudolph Gardner said at the time.
"He loved basketball, football and baseball," Rudolph Gardner said.
As a student at Nashua High, Gardner had earned varsity letters in all three sports, according to the school yearbook, and he was part of Nashua High's state champion baseball team in 1939.
The 1941 yearbook describes Gardner as a "dependable second sacker who saw considerable service," and on the basketball team, he was a "scrappy forward of much ability."
Of his goals, Gardner wrote "To become a coach." But it may be the yearbook quote printed next to Gardner's picture that reveals more about his ambitions: "Lo, one who loved true honour more than fame."
Still a local hero
The attack on Pearl Harbor occurred midway through Gardner's final year of high school, and like many of his peers, as well as his two brothers, Raymond and Rudolph, Gardner put his personal ambitions on hold and signed up for the military.
During his first deployment, he crossed Europe as part of Gen. George Patton's famed "Hell on Wheels" division. And as the war came to a close, Gardner moved on to a stint in Korea in the 1950s before heading to Vietnam.
Over his 19 years of service, Gardner collected 17 awards and honors, and his name is etched, along with 70,000 others who died, on the national Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C.
"He's right at the top of the wall," Rudolph Gardner said in 2000. "I went to see it about 10 years ago. … I wanted to scratch his name on a piece of paper, but it was too high. But just touching the wall made me feel good."
Still, to others, it's the local monument dedicated in Gardner's honor that holds the most meaning.
In 2003, Mayor Bernie Streeter rededicated the field, located near Arlington Street and Dr. Norman W. Crisp Elementary School, in honor of Gardner and Armand Roussel, a former police chief who was killed in 1971 in a standoff.
Memorials honoring both men are located around the park.
"Kids play baseball and softball every night there in the spring and summer," Dalianis said. "I just like them to know about Robert Gardner and what he did so he can still be an influence. … He is a local hero."
- Published in the Nashua Telegraph, May 27, 2012
---------------
Fifty years after his death, the memory of Robert Gardner is literally etched in stone.
Tucked beneath a grove of trees, a granite memorial now stands in Gardner's honor on a Nashua field bearing his name.
Both the memorial and the man will draw renewed attention over the coming weeks as the community honors the 50th anniversary of Gardner's death.
On June 13, 1962, the Nashua native and U.S. Army sergeant became the fourth U.S. soldier, and the first from New Hampshire, to be killed in the Vietnam War.
"He really loved this country. You can tell; he gave his life for it," said Griffin Dalianis, chairman of the Mayor's Veterans Council, who worked 10 years ago to raise the memorial and rededicate the field on Crown Hill in Gardner's name.
"He was one of the only ones who served in three wars," Dalianis said of Gardner, who also served in World War II and the Korean War. "There's no question how much he loved this country."
Called to service
The Vietnam War wasn't a war yet when Gardner arrived in the far-off southeast Asian country in March 1962.
American troops had been in the region since the early 1950s. But in the early 1960s, President John F. Kennedy escalated the number of troops as tensions heightened with Communist North Vietnam, and Gardner was called to service once again.
Gardner spent two months in the country in spring 1962 as a military adviser, training South Vietnamese soldiers to shoot.
"This is a lonely, hot, dirty war over here," he wrote in a letter to his classmates from Nashua High School with whom he graduated in 1941. "I'm fine but will be glad when my tour of duty is over and the U.S. welcomes me back with all its wonderful, democratic and free way of life."
But Gardner never returned to American soil alive. On June 13, he was killed in an ambush – shot through the chest by a sniper.
"Sergeant Gardner had always set a valiant example until his death in our mission of defeating communism," a colonel from the South Vietnamese army wrote upon his death, according to letters collected by the Nashua Historical Society.
"At the time of your son's death, he was performing his task to the fullest," wrote Robert Olson, a lieutenant colonel who served with Gardner, to Gardner's parents, Lewlie and Olive Gardner, that month.
"He takes his place in the company of uncounted Americans who have given their lives in the defense of freedom."
Ready to retire
The honors and accolades flew in after Gardner's death. He was honored posthumously with a Purple Heart and an Army Commendation Medal, among more than a dozen other awards received during his military career, and city officials dedicated a park off Arlington Street in his honor.
"Please convey my warmest greetings to all who join in the dedication of Sergeant Gardner field," Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey wrote in a telegraph read aloud at the dedication on Dec. 3, 1967, according to Telegraph archives. "What a debt the world does owe to those who man the ramparts of embattled Vietnam against infiltration, terrorism and sabotage."
Still, none of the accolades could bring back the promise of the 19-year veteran who was ready to turn over his stripes.
Set to return home the following year, Gardner was ready to retire from the Army and move to Florida to enroll in school to become a baseball umpire, Gardner's brother, Rudolph, told The Telegraph for a 2000 story.
Sports had been a lifelong passion for Gardner, Rudolph Gardner said at the time.
"He loved basketball, football and baseball," Rudolph Gardner said.
As a student at Nashua High, Gardner had earned varsity letters in all three sports, according to the school yearbook, and he was part of Nashua High's state champion baseball team in 1939.
The 1941 yearbook describes Gardner as a "dependable second sacker who saw considerable service," and on the basketball team, he was a "scrappy forward of much ability."
Of his goals, Gardner wrote "To become a coach." But it may be the yearbook quote printed next to Gardner's picture that reveals more about his ambitions: "Lo, one who loved true honour more than fame."
Still a local hero
The attack on Pearl Harbor occurred midway through Gardner's final year of high school, and like many of his peers, as well as his two brothers, Raymond and Rudolph, Gardner put his personal ambitions on hold and signed up for the military.
During his first deployment, he crossed Europe as part of Gen. George Patton's famed "Hell on Wheels" division. And as the war came to a close, Gardner moved on to a stint in Korea in the 1950s before heading to Vietnam.
Over his 19 years of service, Gardner collected 17 awards and honors, and his name is etched, along with 70,000 others who died, on the national Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C.
"He's right at the top of the wall," Rudolph Gardner said in 2000. "I went to see it about 10 years ago. … I wanted to scratch his name on a piece of paper, but it was too high. But just touching the wall made me feel good."
Still, to others, it's the local monument dedicated in Gardner's honor that holds the most meaning.
In 2003, Mayor Bernie Streeter rededicated the field, located near Arlington Street and Dr. Norman W. Crisp Elementary School, in honor of Gardner and Armand Roussel, a former police chief who was killed in 1971 in a standoff.
Memorials honoring both men are located around the park.
"Kids play baseball and softball every night there in the spring and summer," Dalianis said. "I just like them to know about Robert Gardner and what he did so he can still be an influence. … He is a local hero."
- Published in the Nashua Telegraph, May 27, 2012
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