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Gone but not forgotten
Taken from a Hometown news paper .......Feb. 2002
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The site, with background music from the late
1960's, features photo's, maps and poignant
letter's home from the young soldier who
was Garzoni's big brother.
"The site is about Bern and 58,000 other
American's who died in South East Asia,"
Garzoni said. 'Fifty-eight thousand homes
had either a brother, a father, or a son killed
in Vietnam."
She said that all who went to Vietnam and fought
for their country are owed a debt of graditude.
"I think they are all heroes,"just to have gone to
Vietnam makes them heroes."
About one thousand people a month visit the
Amethyst heart Web Site, Garzoni said.There they
get a close look into the life of a young man who
died early but left a lasting impression.
Garzoni works on the site nearly every day from
her desk in the base-ment of her home.
The name, Amethyst heart, comes from
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Anita---after the Sept. 11th World Trade Center
attacks and the war in Afganastan, Mona Garzoni
said now more than ever, we need to remember those
who fought and died to protect their country.
That's part of the reason she designed a Web site
dedicated to her brother who died in Vietnam 34
years ago.
"I don't think we'll ever forget,"said Garzoni from
her two story home in Anita.
Mona's "we" includes not only friends and family
who remember a young Bernard M. Himes
enlisting in the Marines soon after graduating
from High School. It also encompasses the many
veterans and other visitors who have been to her
Web site and gotten to know something about her
brother and the way life was during the Vietnam
era for many families.
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the connections between the purple amethyst
stone and the Purple Heart medal her brother
was awarded posthumously.
Garzoni said that although the site won't bring
her brother back, it may help keep her
brother's memory alive.
"I think people need to know what it was like
in 1968." When they read Bern's letters and
see the photo's, they see what it was like
being 18 years old and ending up here, in the
cemetery."
"Gone at the age of 18."
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Bernard Himes died May 17,1968.
That morning he was assigned
as a fire-team leader
for Company I-- 3/27. As the Co. crossed
an open area, it found itself facing heavy
mortor and small-arms fire,according to
Garzoni. In a letter to his parent's,
Himes'commanding officer wrote that
Himes was killed by an "explosive
device "that detonated near by. Most
likely, he was killed by an enemy
mortor round, Garzoni said.
"I remember feeling sick to my
stomach, "Garzoni said."
"It hit my parent's really hard.They
never talked about it too much, but it
really effected them.
The father, Reed Himes,died in October and
was laid to rest beside his son in the Anita
Cemetery. Mother Phyllis Himes said that
the day she found out about her son was one
she'll never forget."It was aweful---it was just a
dreary old day."Himes said I was working at
Montgomery Wards and this Major came
into the office and told me he'd been killed.
"It's 34 years already;it don't seam that long."
"They trained him to be a mechanic, and
when he got off the plane, they handed him
a gun.
"I hope people never forget."
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Himes was being trained to be a tank
mechanic when the Tet Offensive
changed his plans.
"During the Tet Offensive, President
Johnson took every available Marine
from Camp Pendleton and put them into
the infantry."
Hand written letter's posted on the site
tell a poignant story of a young man
"just a kid"Garzoni called him, thrown
into the heat of the battle quickly
after arriving in
Vietnam.
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In a note to Mona, then his thirteen-year-old
kid-sister, Himes wrote to let her know
he'd soon be sending money home for a
1969 Mustang he was planning to buy.
"I'll give you a ride, I promise,"he wrote.
But even as he wrote a letter to his little
sister, the battles he faced daily were never
far away.
"I have a patrol tonight,"he wrote.
"These guys won't quit until we are all dead
or in the Hospital.There are twelve from my
company there already and two
dead."
"Dear Mom and Dad,"reads another letter,"
I am back in battalion after an operation,
it didn't turn out so good.We had five killed
and thirteen wounded."Later he wrote,"We've
had around 30 casulties this month, it better
slow down soon."
continued...........
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Monica Himes Garzoni
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Barry Johns on the left and Bern on the right. They inlisted into the United States Marine Corps on the buddy system and went through basic training together.
This photo taken in,
Paris Island, South Carolina, June 1967
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