Mark Vanderheid - Vietnam 1968

Mark Vanderheid was a well-known young athlete in Tonawanda, New York. On this day, 46 years ago, his life ended in Vietnam.

Mark E. Vanderheid, the son of Mr. Edward and Mrs. Lillian Vanderheid, was born in Tonawanda, New York, on February 11, 1949. He played varisty football at Tonawanda High School and Little League baseball. 

A catcher, Vanderheid was with the VFW team that won the Tonawanda American Little League title in 1961. He went on to play for Tondisco and the Yankees Babe Ruth League teams.

Vanderheid graduated from high school in 1967 and was employed by Acme Markets in North Tonawanda and Walters Service Station in Tonawanda. He also continued his affiliation with the Tonawanda American Little League by umpiring games.

He was just 19 years old when he enlisted with the Marine Corps on July 31, 1967. He was stationed at Parris Island, South Carolina, and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, before being sent to Camp Pendleton, California at the start of the year. From California he was sent overseas to Vietnam on January 5, 1968, and served with B Company of the 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division.

On June 28, 1968, Lance Corporal Vanderheid was killed in action when he was hit by mortar shell fragments near Quang Tri, South Vietnam.

His body was returned to Tonawanda in July with services conducted by Reverand Lyle V. Newman at the John O. Roth Funeral Home. He was buried with military rites at Elmlawn Cemetery in that city.

On December 19, 1968, the following letter from the Vanderheid family appeared in the Tonawanda News:

Editor:
Recently there were two memorials given in memory of our son. Lance Corp. Mark Vanderheid who was
killed in Vietnam June 28, 1968. 

It has been very heart-warming for our family to know Mark has been
loved and remembered in such wonderful ways. 

In November, Terry West of the Tonawanda varsity football team was given the Mark Vanderheid award for the most spirited player. A family Mark spent many enjoyable hours with started the trophy fund, knowing his love of sports and others hearing of this memorial also contributed. 

Mark not only loved to play in sports but liked teaching other young boys the games. He coached Little League and also umpired the games. 

We talked of the war one day while he was home on leave (just a year ago) and. he said, "Mom, someone has to help those people over there. Those kids have never known anything but war and. if I can do even a small part to help them to some day just be kids and enjoy a childhood like I did, to be able to throw baseballs and footballs instead of hand grenades, I'll have
done my part."

Mark loved people. They didn't have to be young. He loved and respected all ages. We are pleased to know Mark will be remembered in that way.

The other memorial is the beautiful stained glass window in the Payne Avenue Christian Church. Words just
can't express the deep feeling within us as we sat in church listening to the memorial dedication service the young friends of Mark's had to dedicate the stained glass window that has been put in our church in memory of him. 

How very proud you parents of these young men and women should be. We're proud of them! Very proud to say they were friends of our son. 

In talking and listening to these young people you could hear them saying, "There is a God." They didn't carry banners or posters to proclaim this but worked on quietly remembering a friend in a very wonderful, beautiful way.

There is much to be said for these young people They have been thoughtful and kind and we are very
grateful to each and every one of them Many of them come to spend the day or evening with us. They will never know how much their visits have meant. We hope never to lose their friendships. 

We would like so much to say the names of each and every youth and adult that has given of their efforts, time and money to make these lovely memorials but, I wouldn't want to forget even one name in trying to remember them all but I'm sure you know our love and gratitude to each and every one of you.

May God bless you all.

Mr. and Mrs. William Vanderheid

In May 1969, Tonawanda American Little League renamed its ballfield Mark Vanderheid Field.

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Harmon Bove - Vietnam - 1970

Harmon J. Bove, Jr., a friend, a man, and a great marine who died fighting for America.
Gene R. Dark – The Brutality of War: A Memoir of Vietnam

Harmon J. Bove, Jr., was born on March 13, 1950 in Burlington, Vermont. At 5-foot-10 and 195 pounds, he was a standout athlete at Burlington High School, playing football as a linebacker on defense and as an all-state fullback on offense. In baseball – also all-state - he was a sensation behind the plate throwing out a succession of would-be base stealers with his rifle arm. In 1968, he was named to the Vermont Shrine football team for the 15th Annual Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl Game.

Bove turned down the opportunity to play football at Washburn University (KS) to sign with the Houston Astros upon graduation in 1968. The Astros sent the 18-year-old catcher to the Covington Astros of the Rookie Class Appalachian League. Under the guidance of veteran Cuban manager Tony Pacheco, and playing alongside future big leaguers Cesar Cedeno, Rich Chiles, Bill Greif, Buddy Harris and Juan Jimenez, Bove appeared in 24 games and mustered six hits in 34 at-bats for a .176 batting average. The summer of 1968 was to be Bove’s last on the professional ballfield. The United States was in the midst of the Vietnam War and Bove enlisted with the Marine Corps.

“At Camp Geiger [Jacksonville, NC), I met Harmon Bove,” recalled Gene Dark (son of all-star shortstop and major league manager Alvin Dark), in The Brutality of War: A Memoir of Vietnam. “I had seen him at Parris Island a few times. He was the platoon guide for Platoon 102, our sister company. He had the cocky tough-as-nails walk and the stocky, muscular build to go along with his title of guide. Bove was impressive looking. He was about five feet, eight inches or so and two hundred pounds and looked like he could bench press twice his weight or more. His shoulders were broad and his bulging neck muscles made it difficult to determine where his neck ended and began.

“Because of Bove’s interest in sports, I told him who my father was. He loved baseball, so the stories of growing up as Alvin dark’s son fascinated him. We would talk about baseball for hours after the day of training was done, and we eventually grew to be inseparable.

“One evening, I asked Bove why he had joined the Marines. 

““Well, Dark,” he said, reflecting, “I did a very stupid thing. I had a few strings pulled for me and went to sign up with the National Guard. When I went to enlist, to become one of those ninety-day wonders, this egotistical major in the Vermont Guard told me, ‘Cowards like you turn my stomach. Young men are dying on the battlefield of Vietnam, fighting for America, while you lie around taking it easy feeding off this great land. Well, the idiot made me so mad that I joined the marines the next day. He glanced at me with a big grin, ‘How’s that for being an imbecile?””

When training was completed at Camp Geiger, Bove was given 30 days leave to visit his family before reporting to Camp Pendleton, California. During 20 days staging at Camp Pendleton, Bove and his fellow Marines received shots, started on malaria pills, sat through first aid lectures and generally prepared for life in Vietnam.

During this time, Gene Dark, was feeling pretty concerned about what he was going to face in Vietnam and asked Bove how he felt he would cope. “How do you think you are going to react when those gooks start shooting at you, Bove? Do you think you will be brave or will you hide behind anything you can find, shaking and scared out of your mind?”

“Brave?” Bove asked. “Nope, I’ll be scared to death I’m sure, but I’ll do my job.”

It was at this time that Bove confessed his true fears. “The Nam is no joke,” he said to Dark. “It’s the real deal. It’s blood and guts and dying, man, and I ain’t going to make it back. I know I’m going to die in that lousy stinking country. I can just feel it. 

“I see myself blown to bits,” he continued, “lying in a rice paddy, sweating and dying under the steamy hot sun of Vietnam. I can see it as clear as day when I close my eyes, Dark.”

After Camp Pendleton, Bove flew to Okinawa, Japan and was assigned to E Company, Second Battalion, Fifth Marines of the First Marine Division. Gene Dark was assigned to F Company.

After arriving in Da Nang, Vietnam, Bove and Dark took a helicopter to An Hoa to join their respective companies. “Do me a favor, you dumb grunt,” Corporal Bove said to Dark, as they shook hands, perhaps, for the last time. “Try to keep your rear-end in one piece. I don’t want to have to go visit your mother.”

“Try to keep yourself together, too,” replied Dark. “I know how hard that’s going to be for a stupid catcher.”

Bove’s Vietnam tour started July 4, 1969, and he served as an anti-tank assaultman. After a month he contracted malaria during Operation Durham Peak in the Que Son Montains. He was evacuated to a military hospital in Da Nang for recuperation but was soon back in the frontline.

On March 3, 1970, while out on patrol in Quang Nam Province, Corporal Bove stepped on a booby trap and suffered multiple fragmentation wounds. He was flown to a hospital in Da Nang, where he died the following day. He would have turned 20 in nine days.

“He was as strong as an ox, defiant, proud, tough, and so full of life,” recalled Gene Dark. “Nothing could ever get him down. Every time I got dejected, he had been there to cheer me up. Now he was gone.”

Harmon Bove is buried at Lakeview Cemetery, which is located alongside Burlington High School’s baseball and football field. His headstone, made by the stonemasons in Burlington, resembles a bench in the dugout, with a baseball and glove etched into the stone.

In 1990, the Harmon Bove Memorial Scholarship was established by the Vermont Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association. 

The Bove family baseball spirit was kept alive by his older brother, Perry Bove, who was the head baseball coach at St. Michael's College (VT) from 1990 to 2005.

In March 2004, the following touching tribute was posted on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Virtual Wall by retired US Navy Radioman Donald Lytle:

I want to thank you Harmon Joseph Bove, Jr., for your courageous and valiant service, faithful contribution, and your most holy sacrifice given to this great country of ours!

Your Spirit is alive--and strong, therefore Marine, you shall never be forgotten, nor has your death been in vain!

Again, although we never met personally, thank you Corporal Harmon J. Bove, Jr., for a job well done!

It's Heroes like you, that made it possible for us to return and lead full and free lives.

REST IN ETERNAL PEACE MY MARINE FRIEND

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Thanks for dropping by. The Baseball's Greatest Sacrifice blog has been created to highlight stories that appear on my website www.baseballsgreatestsacrifice.com

I intend to feature biographies and stories of ballplayers who lost their lives while serving with the armed forces from the 1800s to the present day. Look out for the first blog entry over the next few days.