A display at Morse Library honors Natick’s Allen Loane
By Charlie
Breitrose
Fri Dec 11, 2009,
02:04 PM EST
NATICK - When the Natick High School Class of
1959 celebrated its 50th reunion, one graduate could not attend — he did not
even make it to his 10th reunion.
Allen Loane, a 1959 graduate, was killed in action in 1967 while serving as a
lieutenant in the Marine Corps in Vietnam.
As the 50th reunion approached Allan Ross wanted to do something to remember
his friend. The pair had played on the 1959 Bay State League champion
basketball team, on which Loane played guard.
"He was really a star of the basketball team," Ross said.
Loane also played third base for NHS, and was elected sophomore class
president.
Ross and Loane sort of lost touch after high school.
"I had gone into the Army, and he'd gone to college (at Bowdoin), and when
I got out of the Army I went to college," Ross said. "The next time I
saw him was at the funeral home."
Loane was the only member of the Class of 1959 killed in Vietnam, Ross said,
and it hit his classmates hard.
"It was a horrible shock," Ross said. "People were distraught
over it."
Ross got help organizing the memorial for Loane from a fellow
member of the Class of 1959, Russell Barber. Barber knew Loane, but was
not a close friend in high school. He too joined the Marines after high school.
"In high school we would hang with different groups. I wasn't in his close
circle, but I had a friend closer to Allen than I was," Barber said.
Barber, who now lives in South Carolina, had not realized Loane was killed in
Vietnam until years later but he said Marines take care of each other.
"I found out because the class had a Web site and I found out he had been
killed," Barber said. "I was moved to make sure that something
special was done for him at a class reunion. I didn't know if anything been
done, I don't think anything had."
Barber, who became a master gunnery sergeant and served 31 years in the Corps —
10 years of active duty and 21 in the reserves. He served 10 months in Vietnam,
returning home in March 1967, while Loane went over in July of that year.
Barber gathered some items together so a display could be made in Loane's
honor. They are currently on display in the Morse Institute Library.
"I got set of dishes with his initials and the Marine Corps emblem on them
made," Barber said. "And I put together his medals."
The medals are not the ones Loane received, but exact replicas of his honors,
Ross said.
Also in the case are photos of Loane from the Natick High School yearbook and
from his time in the service, along with a uniform shirt from the Marines. A
rubbing of Loane's name from the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., also
sits in the case. Ross said the rubbing was collected by the daughter of a
Natick resident who knew he was on the wall.
Barber also found out about Loane's time overseas. He tracked down a Marine
named Buddy Moorehead, who went to bootcamp with Loane and also served in the
same battalion.
Moorehead wrote to Barber with some of his memories of Loane.
"I remember riding with him in the bed of a 6-by truck out to the base
camp in the Que Son Valley in July of ’67," Moorehead wrote. "He was
so motivated to finally become an infantry platoon commander."
Moorehead said Loane died only two months after arriving in Vietnam. His
company set in for the night near what Moorehead believes was the base camp for
the Second North Vietnamese Army Division.
"Delta Company suffered many casualties that night, Al being one of
them," Moorehead wrote. "That kicked off Operation Swift, which was
one of the biggest Vietnam combat operations that year."
Loane went for treatment to China Beach Naval Hospital, where Moorehead
visited.
"Although critically wounded, he spoke with me in the same positive manner
and talked about how soon he hoped to return to the Delta Company and his
platoon," Moorehead wrote. "Sadly, he died from his wounds shortly
thereafter."
According to a 1967 obituary from the Natick Herald, at the time, Loane was the
fourth Natick man killed in Vietnam.
During the Class of 1959's reunion, which took place from Sept. 11 to 13, a
ceremony was held for Loane.
"Some young Marines came in and led the class in the Pledge of Allegiance,
and we had a deacon from the Catholic Church to do the invocation," Barber
said.
Some former teachers were invited to the reunion, Ross said, including Emmett
Shea.
"He was a history teacher in Natick and he had been a Marine officer in
the Korean War," Ross said. "Allen had gone to him and asked him for
a letter of recommendation (to get into the Marines). He gave a stirring talk.
"At the time I knew Mr. Shea was a Marine officer, but I didn't know he
was the person that inspired Allen."
The display in honor of Allen Loane can be seen in a case on the first floor of
the Morse Institute Library, 14 East Central St. The library has other displays
from the Class of 1959 in the basement, including one honoring the basketball
team on which Loane and Ross played.
(Charlie Breitrose can be reached at 508-626-3964 or cbreitro@cnc.com.)