Date of this article is September 18, 2004 Murray's Oscar Turner, Jr., remembers the last time he saw his cousin Billy Lane Lauffer really well.
Though out of their teenage years by August of 1966, they still managed to do a lot of the things they enjoyed in much earlier times. They hunted and fished a lot in those three or four days, spending as much time with their grandparents as they could. They knew that with Bill soon heading to Vietnam with the United States Army, which he had joined three years earlier at the age of 17, they needed to relish this time.
They even talked about their standing with God.
"We knew, at that time, there were pretty good odds that something bad could happen. When he left here, he seemed to know that. That's why you could tell how much it meant to him to see everybody again," said Turner, whose family realized how good those odds were just six days after Lauffer began his first tour in Vietnam as he was killed during a Viet Cong ambush in South Vietnam's Binh Dinh Province on Sept. 21 of that year.
However, in death came hero status for Turner's cousin.
In dying, Lauffer had saved the lives of several of his fellow soldiers - some made easy targets by already being injured and lying on stretchers in the open - by charging a pair of Viet Cong machine gun nests and buying enough time for the injured and others to find safety. The act of bravery won Lauffer the top military honor his country can award, the Congressional Medal of Honor, that was presented to the family in 1968 and will be the basis for the re-dedication of Lauffer's grave next Saturday.
"I'm very proud for him," said Turner, who will be among many family members, military personnel and at least one Congressman for the ceremony that starts at noon at Murray Memorial Gardens, which was the brainchild of a committee of Murray's Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6921 that includes David Foley, a fellow member of Turner's at Memorial Baptist Church.
It was there several months ago that Foley learned of Turner's relation to Lauffer, whose name he had discovered while, on a whim, searching for names of Medal of Honor winners from Kentucky. Lauffer's was the first he saw.
"I think there is no doubt that God put this all together," said Turner. "David was talking with Mason Billington about what he had seen on the Internet and asked Mason if he knew that person, and I just said, 'I think you might be talking about my cousin."
Indeed, it was Turner's cousin that Foley saw on an Internet website that revealed 23 Kentuckians have achieved this honor. Private First Class Lauffer is one of only two to be buried in the Jackson Purchase Region.
"You just don't understand (why this is important), unless you're a veteran," said Foley, who, days after discovering Lauffer's honor, cast his eyes on the smallish, weathered memorial stone in the Murray Memorial Gardens and realized something bigger was required.
When the expected large crowd gathers there for next Saturday's service, a new larger and more distinguished stone will be in place, complete with a shiny bronze look that includes an impression of the medal. Plans are for the establishment to eventually include a large sign in recognition of Pfc. Lauffer's presence, along with signs in his honor at the north and south city limits.
Pfc. Lauffer's presence, though, already has earned attention from around the country.
"Ever since this was revealed (through a story in the Murray Ledger & Times), we've had nine or 10 veterans that have been here that say they have seen about it on the Internet and wanted to see it.
"I remember one guy from Virginia, in fact, said he made a special trip to see it. He was here for something like an hour and a half," said Brian Wilson, Murray Memorial Gardens maintenance supervisor. "This kind of makes you wonder who else we have here. When we're out here mowing and weed eating, we look down at these headstones, and the first thing you wonder is who was this person, what did he do? You just don't get to really know them."
Turner said his cousin was a selfless person with a big heart that he exhibited time and time again. This included everything from opening doors for ladies to making sure everybody had the same chance to have fun, even at a young age.
"This is one thing I'll always remember. When you were together with him, and I'm talking all of us who were around 11 or 12 years old, you might have a 5 or 6-year-old that wanted to tag along, too. He'd see to it that the younger one wasn't left out," said Turner, noting it was this attitude that led to Pfc. Lauffer putting himself in somebody's place when it came to Vietnam.
"This is still kind of tough for me, but he told me that he was in his second three-year period with the Army at a base in Germany, and one day, (a fellow soldier) came into the barracks just crying. He'd gotten his orders to go to Vietnam. So, Bill thought, 'Well, that doesn't sound so bad to me,' so he traded with that young man.
"That's the kind of person he was. He had a good heart."
For 1st District Congressman Ed Whitfield, Pfc. Lauffer's heart, along with his bravery, make it worth coming to next Saturday's service.
"This is a priority thing for me, I feel, and I feel honored to be asked to attend," Congressman R.E. Whitfield said Wednesday, noting it made sense to attend the service being he will already be in the Murray area at that time.
"I have been to many memorial services in my time as a Congressman, but this is the first time I've been to a re-dedication like this and I think it is very deserved. We have a lot of veterans who live in (his district), and I feel they are very fortunate to have people that want to remember them like this.
"I am excited about getting the chance to pay tribute to (Pfc. Lauffer), because he gave great courage in his short time of duty. I mean, he was there just six days and it's the kind of thing that should give us all a pause. This young man died while trying to give us all the opportunity of living better lives."
