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Bluebag Media
Dickey display to
include 1967 ceremony, interviews
GREENVILLE – On Easter Sunday, a teacher told his students there is no
greater love than to lay down your life for another… One of his
students said, “I believe I could do that.” And he did.
On March 26, 1967, during Operation Beacon Hill 1, Vietnam, Pfc Douglas
E. Dickey “valiantly gave his life in service of his country.” He was
awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism. During the presentation
ceremony Secretary of the Navy Paul Ignatius noted it was a “final
valiant act… he fell on the grenade and absorbed the full impact of the
explosion.”
David Mangas, an Army Ranger veteran and currently a volunteer for
Garst Museum, has been working (“sporadically”) on the idea of a
display for the Ansonia native for about two years. When he found out
six months ago they were going to get a display Medal of Honor from the
U.S. Department of the Navy, he began working “diligently.” A 1967 film
on the presentation of the medal to the Dickey family will be part of
the display.
Mangas noted the film’s “60s voice over” quality that was typical of
broadcast television at the time. The narrative and video moved from
the ceremony to interviews with the family…
“He’s unforgettable,” said Dickey’s brother Dennis. “He never lost his
temper hardly. If you’ve done something wrong, he never got mad. He
just said do it over until you get it right.” In his yearbook, Dickey
said “the only thing he didn’t like was sad people,” and that his
“weakness (was) food.” Dickey’s mom remembered her son was “very
affectionate and always complimentary. He was thoughtful and
considerate,” she said. “Just the kind of son any mother would
cherish...
Read the rest of the article with photos at Bluebag Media
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