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teacher at Mount Loreto back then. His name is the same as mine although he went
by Dick Lewis. He's a Marine and was activated and sent to Korea when I was 3.
When he took the job at the Mount he and Bernie Campbell and several others
started a cadet corps to help teach the guys something about military life and to
build a stronger sense of camaraderie. They used to take us up to Stokes State
Forest and Worthington State Forest in October and go camping. I remember going
on "patrol" with the guys, Angel and his brother among them, and getting so lost
we had no idea where we were. Bernie had to go out searching for us in his blue
Chevy with the tailfins. We all piled into the car and onto the trunk and the hood to
ride back because there was about 12 of us, maybe more. I also remember tin can
jam sessions at night around the campfire. When we finally stopped you could hear
the other campsites in the distance applauding.

My bother Mike and I had good times with those guys. A lot of them came to our
house over in Perth Amboy for dinner and such, Angel and his brother among them
as well. I felt like I had a bunch of cousins that lived over on the Island.

I was 14 when Angel was killed. It was the first time anything like that had ever
happened to me and I remember it really shook me up to know I would never see
Angel again. He was a good guy and treated my bother and me real well.

When I read he received the Navy Cross I was stunned. It figures though. He was
that type of guy. He was a hero. No surprise to me. As tragic as his death is, his
legacy is important as an example to all to be courageous and do good things and
not necessarily in war.

I am an Air Force Reserve Flight Surgeon now. I have been overseas to many
places and worked taking care of injured servicemen from all over the world. It
never ceases to amaze me how dedicated these young men and women are to the
cause of freedom from tyranny. Angel died for it. Many more have since. But they
keep going into harm's way because the cause is just. Keep the faith.

From a friend,
Lt Col (Dr.) Richard J. Lewis

Hero of another war is finally honored
by Chris Franz | Register

Medal of Honor is sought for Marine from Mount Loretto

In a quiet spot in the rear of Mt. Loretto there is a cemetery, a grassy field that
sweeps up to a small mausoleum where, over 100 years ago, the orphans of the
Mission of the Immaculate Virgin laid to rest Father John Christopher Drumgoole, a
gentle yet courageous man who spent his life caring for them.
In the shadow of that mausoleum is a humbler grave, but one that last week
finally received an appropriate marker, a headstone inscribed with the anchor,
globe and eagle of the United States Marine Corps, a cross of the Christian faith,

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