Ronald David Goulet

Sergeant
A CO, 2ND BN, 12TH CAVALRY, 1 CAV DIV
Army of the United States
02 October 1947 - 03 January 1968
Garden City, Michigan
Panel 33E Line 028

1 CAV DIV

12TH CAV RGT
Combat Infantry

Purple Heart, National Defense, Vietnam Service, Vietnam Campaign

Airborne!

The database page for Ronald David Goulet

25 Jun 2003

Dear Ron: We only knew each other briefly from high school, but please know my thoughts and prayers are with you. I was in Nam too, so I can understand the hell you went through. Nobody has posted a tribute to you and I find it kind of hurtful. We lost quite a few guys from home to Nam, but none of you are lost to me. Not ever.

Keep your head down and your powder dry, Ron,

Mike Minch
mminch416@aol.com

12 Dec 2003

Ronnie

What a hunk you were! All the girls were goofy for you, including me! The day finally came when you called and asked me to go out with you. I thought my world was going to end because I was grounded and had to say no. From time to time something will happen in my life to trigger a memory of you. I also think of your brother from time to time. My prayer is that you are with your dad and your brother right now.

Love,
Pat Patterson
piquant900@msn.com

28 Jan 2004

Dear Ron:

Every one who knew you felt you were their best friend - you were surely mine. The night you died we recorded music, smoked, laughed and played casino. I think you sang every song out of Motown. I held you as you lay in the mud at sunrise. You are always with me...

Mike Remer
hapunamik@hotmail.com

16 Oct 2006

Ron: You and I played Little League baseball and hockey together as kids. We went to high school together, Garden City East. I finally found this website so as to pay tribute to a great guy that I knew while "growing up". You and I wrote a few letters to each other while we were both in Vietnam and then ... I was medevaced 3 Feb 68 and you were already gone! Very sad! I didn't find out until I reached stateside that this had happened. You are listed under "D" Company, 12th Cav. on the website www.thewall-usa.com. I will submit a picture of you to this website when you and I were around 11 or 12 years old. See you, friend, in a few years.

Van Scheurich (Spike) USMC 1966-69
Vietnam 1967-68
3rd Bn, 1st Marines
Battalion Landing Team 3/1
Machine gunner
wounded 3Feb68 and medivaced to the USS SANCTUARY
vcs745@aol.com

02 Jan 2007

Ron,

We all loved you and Armondo and we always talk about you and Mike all the time.

From a buddy,
Barry Shatoff
barryshatoff@yahoo.com

07 Jan 2007

Ronnie, you and I went to school from 1st grade through high school. You were never a boyfriend, but always a good friend. I remember all the good times we had as kids ... climbing the roof of Lathers ... going to your parents' store ... learning to dance to "rock & roll" in Mr. Thurston's 4th grade class ... teasing me because you rode the bus to Junior High and I had to walk ... watching you play baseball in high school ... oh, so many memories! Ronnie, you were one of kind, and proof that "only the good die young". Miss you....

Barbra Turek
bkcooper320@comcast.net

17 May 2007

Dear Ron......

I found this site by accident and memories flooded back. You were a year ahead of me in school and while we didn't know each other very well, we had many friends in common. You were always nice and while I agree that you were a "looker" it was your personality that struck me. It was so long ago now but when I think of the other guys lost to Nam from our little area I still feel the sadness of a teenager.

I am not sure but I had thought you had been drafted to play ball for the Detroit Tigers.

You will remain eternally young and never be forgotten for your sacrifice.

Catherine (Cathy) Braspennix Lehman
dxdoa@aol.com

12 Jul 2007

Hey Ron,

It has taken way too long to wait to write you. I will always remember your care and friendship for me during those black days together. I was at the opposite end of the perimeter from you that night when the stuff came down. That night is burned deep in my brain and it will never leave my brain. God knows I have tried everything to make it go away ... I just can't.

I cried like a small child when I learned that you were gone. The rage has stayed with me for too long now and I am trying to get help. I made it a few days more (until 7 January) ... then got kind of wacked and spent almost two years in various hospitals.

I just wanted to say hello and hope that I will someday soon find some the peace I have meen missing since those times. It has been for so long now I don't know if I ever will.

You were the best and a great loss to mankind.

Rest easy, my brother ... I'll see you soon enough.

From a friend and brother in arms,
Dick Tracy (Lawman)
1002 Forest Drive, Elgin, Illinois 60123



03 Jan 2008

Hey Ron,

I can hardly believe that forty years ago today we were together in hell. You and the others were taken and I was not. How can it be that all of that time has passed?

So today 40 years to the day from the day you and the others were taken I just wanted you to know that I have not forgotten you and the others. I wanted to tell you that you still matter to me and your friendship is something that I will never forget. You did then, and do now, matter to me.

Rest easy, my brother, I will never forget you!

From a friend and comrade-in-arms,
Dick "Lawman" Tracy
dicktracy613@aol.com

16 Aug 2007

I helped set up the Moving Wall today, and thought about you, bud. Found your name. Feel sad. Don't know what to say.

From a friend,
Dan Milne (Rat)
419 Edgewood Drive, Colorado Springs, Colo. 80907
slmilne@aol.com

13 Nov 2007

Ron,

Years later we have friends over in Iraq and just wanted you to know that what you did is still appreciated to this day by all of us over here in New York!

Just as you didn't know us ... We didn't know you, but this didn't seem to cross your mind once when you were helping to fight for freedom.

For whatever it's worth, we wanted to take a moment to say "Thank you" for all you had done! Thank you!

From a thankful citizen to this day,
Michael Smith
Long Island
michael_b_smith@adp.com

25 Dec 2007

My name is Robert (Butch) Wells and I was a PFC on LZ Leslie on January 3, 1968, when it was overrun by the NVA... A Co, 2/12, 2nd Pltn... My friend Darwin Ray was killed on 1/3/68... in his memory, also.

Robert (Butch) Wells
sargentbutcher@aol.com

02 Apr 2008

Ron,

When I found out about this site I had to look you up. You and my brother John Arena were best friends and you would hang out at our house every day. I had the biggest crush on you and thought you were the most gorgeous human being I had ever laid eyes on, and not only that you were funny too.

Of course being Johnnie's younger sister there was no way I was supposed to like you but over the years I have thought of you so many times and was heartbroken when I heard the news about your passing. You see, in my mind I thought "Hmmmm, I will be older when he gets home and maybe ... just maybe".

My parents thought of you as one of their own and were devastated at the loss but now they are up in Heaven with you.

You will always be my first love. I miss you!!!!

From a friend,
Cindy Arena (Rogers)
29668 Cambridge, Garden City, Mi 48135
cindy.rogers@lcecorp.com

02 Apr 2008

Ron, I love you, brother, and miss you still. The best friend I've had.

I still remember seeing you at the airport when you were leaving and I was on leave. You'll never forgotten, bro. I wish you could have met my children and I yours.

From a friend,
John Arena
tbirdbass@yahoo.com

28 Jul 2008

Dear Ron: I recently dicovered this Web site and I wanted to express a childhood memory I have of you. I also played baseball on your "Babe Ruth" team and ironically our team was named VFW. Our team was not very good but you were an all-star and head and shoulders above the rest of us in both ability and skill. In addition, I went to High School with you in Garden City and also served in Vietnam in the 1st Signal Brigade in 67-68. You made the ultimate sacrifice for the rest of us and you have my profound gratitude forever.

Don Woodside
E-5, Long Lines Battalion North
1st Signal Brigade
RVN 67-68
N726 Ridge Road, Walworth, Wisconsin 53184
donaldw@midwest-air.com

Notes from The Virtual Wall

On 2 Jan 1968, D Company, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry, was occupying Landing Zone Leslie at the southern end of the Que Son Valley. In addition to D/2/12 the LZ garrison included a single platoon from Alpha Company, 2/12; a 105mm howitzer battery; and a quad 50 and searchlight unit. The remainder of 2/12 was at Landing Zone Ross at the opposite (northern) end of the valley.

At about 1:30 AM, LZ Leslie was attacked by a reinforced battalion of the NVA 2nd Division. The NVA sappers managed to breach the defensive perimeter and overrun a part of the LZ. The defenders, supported by helicopter gunships, held out through the night and ejected the NVA force from the LZ at sunrise. However, 10 men from D Company and 2 from the A Company platoon were lost:

  • A Company:
    • SGT Ronald D Goulet, Garden City MI
    • PFC Robert R Lindbergh, Honolulu HI

  • D Company:
    • SGT Charles T Cooke, Covington VA
    • CPL Arnold L Coonrod, Orient OH
    • PFC Dennis D Dautremont, Riverside IA
    • SP4 Billy Joe Ellis, Johnson City TN (MIA/BNR)
    • SSG Juan A Guzman, Artesia CA
    • SSG Rodney A Price, New Enterprise PA
    • CPL Darwin E Ray, East Highlands CA
    • SGT Jesse E Rodriguez, Cutler CA
    • SGT Jerry L Smith, Newnan GA
    • CPL Melford W West, Fulton MS
SP4 Ellis was believed to have taken shelter in an ammunition bunker that was detonated by incoming rounds. No trace of his body could be found afterwards.


The point-of-contact for this memorial is
a friend,
Mike Minch
mminch416@aol.com



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With all respect
Jim Schueckler, former CW2, US Army
Ken Davis, Commander, United States Navy (Ret)
Memorial first published on 27 Jun 2003
Last updated 08/08/2008