Honor your hero with thoughts, memories, images and stories.
42 years after we graduated from high school together, it is my humble honor to remember my classmate, teammate and friend Johnny Chavarria, killed only ten months after graduation. Johnny was the quintessential example of a man whom we should not have lost. He was a fine role model for those who watched his life-a man (how can I say that; he was only a boy!)of steady temperament, a teammate of courage and skill, a friend of dependable character. I remember him with a consistent smile and twinkling eye. And let's not forget, in his short military career he died an 18-year-old corporal. While I was enjoying my freshman spring at the University of New Mexico, fresh from wrestling season and ready to have fun the rest of the school year in a peaceful, prosperous and promising America, Johnny was dying in the jungle, fighting for the stated causes that made my life so very good. Rest well in eternity, John, at the feet of the Father. Well done, good and faithful servant.