Veteran brothers meet for a reunion decades in the making

As he walked down a mountain with other U.S. Army soldiers ending their tour of duty, his younger brother, Ronny, watched him leave from atop the mountain.

Suddenly, Ronny saw puffs of smoke following his brother. He watched as enemy fire aimed for Fred, who was scrambling to get off the mountain safely.

“I was hollering ‘They are gonna get you!’ as loud as I could,” Ronny said. “Then, he got behind another mountain and I lost sight of him.”

Both brothers did eventually return home safely, but Fred said it was hard for him to leave knowing he would be leaving his brother behind.

“I probably cried,” Ronny said. “He was going home and I wasn’t.”

Ronny and Fred had fought together in the same tank company for about a month before Fred was ordered to return home.

“There were tough times, but there were also laughs,” Ronny said, after recounting a life-threatening moment that he now looks back with humor.

“One day, we were getting attacked, and everyone was trying to get into the hatch for safety,” Ronny said. “Fred jumped in head first, but he wasn't getting out of my way quick enough, so I just kept pushing him down in there. But we both made it through.”

Fred and Ronny’s three younger brothers — Bill, Des and Randy — followed suit by joining the Army. The younger brothers never saw combat but served in military bases in Büdingen, Germany; Busan, Korea; and Fort Sill, Oklahoma.  

“They set the stage for the rest of us, and it just became an expected duty to serve your country,” Randy said. “There was no second thought about it. You just did it.”

The brothers reunited in Randy’s home in Sarasota at the beginning of March. The last time all five of them were together was nearly 25 years ago, when they took a trip to Washington, D.C., to visit the Korean War Veterans Memorial.

While together in Florida, the brothers visited the Sarasota National Cemetery and Fantasy of Flight, a museum featuring vintage military planes in Polk City. 

“We do enjoy getting together and talking about our experiences,” said Bill. “We feel a special connection as brothers who all joined the service. I'm not sorry for going in. It was a good experience for all of us.”