20 Jun 2007 TO A BROTHER AND GOOD FRIEND It is my privilege to be able to call Walter Rudolph brother and friend. We met at Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY, becoming friends and Upsilon Gamma Alpha (now TKE) Fraternity brothers. He was a Dean's List student, fine athlete, and a gentle, quietly humorous guy. You knew that his life had great potential. It was all too short, but defined by sacrifice and honor. Walter gave this nation the sacred gift of his life while exposing himself to enemy fire in attempting to rescue one of his wounded men. He was awarded the Purple Heart and decorated for valor and gallantry in action. Hofstra University has memorialized two 1969 Hofstra war dead with The Stephen B Carlin & Walter W. Rudolph Endowed Memorial Scholarship Fund. This Fund is an eternal flame to provide young men and women of this and future generations with an opportunity which they would otherwise not have. More than 70 Scholarships have been awarded to children and grandchildren of Vietnam War Veterans. Family, friends and alumni work in various ways to help the Fund grow in its mission. Allow me to leave you with the words of Archibald MacLeish in his "The Young Dead Soldiers" poem: "They say: We leave you our deaths. Give them their meaning. "We were young, they say. We have died. Remember us." From a friend and college classmate, Gerard W. Lambert jerrylambert@hotmail.com

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall On 03 March 1969 1LT Walter W. Rudolph, assigned to Bravo Company, 3/7 Infantry, was killed by a boobytrap. On 17 August 1987 another soldier from Bravo 3/7 died as a direct result of wartime injuries - SP4 David J. Pugliesi of Quincy, Massachusetts. SP4 Pugliesi had been wounded on 03 March 1969 by a boobytrap. While The Virtual Wall cannot prove SP4 Pugliesi was injured by the same blast that killed 1LT Rudolph it seems likely. 1LT Stephen B. Carlin, assigned to C Company, 3rd Bn, 47th Infantry, was killed on 09 Jan 1969 in Kien Hoa Province - also by a boobytrap.

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