A STUDENT'S REFLECTION  

The following was written and recited by a student at Tottenville High School during the Vietnam Veterans Day ceremony at the school on April 5, 2014.  The speech reflected on Tottenville H.S. alumnus Kevin O'Brien who went Missing in Action on January 9, 1969 while serving in Vietnam.

"We  think that the only thing worse than losing your brother in Vietnam, --is living every day with the fact that your  brother is MISSING in the jungle and you have no idea what happened to him.  Staten Island student Kevin O’Brien who attended Tottenville High School  was an orphan and was raised with his sister Melissa at Mount Loretto orphanage. He had a great smile and looks like a very cheerful guy.  He went to Vietnam.  Before he signed up on his last tour, he said goodbye to his sister.  He went missing while an observer on a Cessna Bird Dog Observation O-1G plane that went down in the area of Phu Bai. Local refugees said later that they found plane wreckage in the jungle and buried the two Americans about a mile from the wreckage. They found the plane a few years ago, and when Kevin is found and brought home, only then will his sister and his community find peace."