Gene Cavanaugh, Bryan Dunigan and others have done a fine job of circulating the link to the online Monday, May 31, 2021 remembrance of fallen who include our classmates Bruce Heskett (from Spokane, WA) and Mike McCormick (from Honolulu, Hawaii).
John O’Connor sent a terrific story about Mike Cerre, the ND ’69 veteran who will host the program. Read that note below.
When you use the link, be sure to find and use the link to the biographies of the Notre Dame fallen.
- To join other alums, a “Premier” Showing” of the video will be held on Memorial Day (Monday May 31st) at 6:30PM EDT on both the NDAA Facebook page and the NDSA Facebook page. To watch the Premier Showing, go to: ND Senior Alumni Memorial Day Remembrance and select the “get reminder” button or tune in Monday night at 6:30pm EDT.
- To view at your leisure, the video is available on the NDSA YouTube channel. You can also view the trailer here.
Alumni Participating in the Video
- Capt. Richard Morrissey ’62 remembered by Denis Retoske ’61
- Capt. Joseph Adrian ’64 remembered by John Gillan ’64
- Maj. James Egan ’64 remembered by John Lalli ’64
- 1Lt. Robert Stork ’64 remembered by John Rahiya ’66
- 1Lt. Kevin Burke ’67 remembered by Dennis McCarthy ’67
- 1Lt. Bruce Heskett ’68 remembered by Bob Noonan ’68
- Lt. Michael McCormick ’68 remembered by Tom Gibbs ’68
Forty-one ND alumni and students were killed in action during the Vietnam War. You can read their bios and those twenty-six others who died of non-combat incidents here. Editor’s Note – Apologies for not including this info at the time of the original newsletter on May 24th.
John O’Connor’s story of Mike Cerre:
Mike Cerre, 69, is a good friend out here. Was a great friend of Duke Heskett and Rabbit Noonan. Funny story. Mike gets shot up in Vietnam after getting sent there for the crime of testifying in support of a Marine officer friend claiming conscientious objector status. Ok, so far, not funny. They shipped him to the hospital in Bethesda to rehab...a lot of metal in his legs. He was going stir crazy, so Bob Whitmore and he cooked up a scheme to get Mike to Georgetown bars. Bob would leave civvy clothes in a sandtrap on the adjacent golf course. Mike would sneak out and low crawl to the sandtrap to avoid detection, change into regular clothes and meet up with Bob for pub crawling. The staff continually asked Mike why there were grass stains on his gown. He said he was puzzled also. Hard to keep the ND boys down! Thanks to those who put together this tribute to the fallen.