Eulogy for Ray Flaherty
  
This is from one of Ray Flahertys comrades in Korea.  He gave this eulogy at Rays internment. 
 
My name is Dan Wolfe Co. L, 15 Regt, 3rd Div. in Korea 1952

Sgt. Ray Flaherty was my squad leader and then my platoon leader.

We come here to pay our respect to Ray but I also am here to celebrate an American hero.

I first met Ray when our company was under strength and taken off the line.

After a few days two 2 1/2 ton trucks pulled into our camp with a crazy bunch of paratroopers. Our new, intrepid company commander Lt. W. A. Sidney and Ray were among them. To celebrate the newcomers our Mess Sgt. Goff made pancakes for lunch. They had the consistency of and tasted like rubber. Ray got up, threw a pancake to the floor in front of Goff, removes his bayonet and said, “It’s time to resole our shoes,” as he cut around the periphery of his boot. At this point we knew these guys were going to be an adventure.

Most of us were green draftees who experienced about a month and a half combat.

After a few months of rigorous training we returned to the front line.

On our first major operation we were caught in an ambush. My finger was frozen on my carbine. Lt. Sidney stood up and began yelling at the Chinese, “We’re coming at you, you bastards! (crazy?)” Ray ran over to each man in our squad telling us to relax and fire in bursts. My finger loosened and I sprayed the flashes from the Chinese burp guns. We had four KIAs and had quite a few WIAs.

The following day an artillery F.O. spotted Jesus Camacho’s body lying in an open area at the site of the ambush. In broad daylight, Lt. Sidney, Ray Flaherty and Ed Heister went across the Imjin River to recover the body without a care that the body might be booby-trapped. After a brief firefight they recovered the body.

Four days later, on the night of August 12, 1952, Co. L’s mission was to attack Hill 121. This was a major operation. We had a British tank’s cannons and heavy machine-guns as support accompanied by heavy mortars and artillery. I was a runner. My weapon was a carbine. My job was to fire a flare as a signal to our support to cease firing. How do I do it? What was I to use? Ray went to the armorer, got an M1, a grenade launcher and a propellant to fire the flare. What do I do? We went to the rear. He placed the launcher on the M1, told me to place the stock firmly into the ground and close my eyes before I fired. A beautiful blue flare raced across the sky.

The night of August 12 arrived. After I fired the flare, I followed our squad up the hill. Ray was at the point leading our squad. Suddenly, there was a blast in Ray’s area. By the time I got there, an unconscious Ray was spread out on a litter. His jaw was lying on his chest like a wet rag. He was quickly evacuated to a john-boat which brought him across the river and then sent to an aid station. Ray was sent from a MASH unit to Tokyo Army Hospital. After his jaw was reconstructed was he sent home? Oh no! He demanded to return to Co. L, and he did. (crazy?) His heroic action earned him The Silver Star.

After Korea, Ray volunteered for the Special Forces in Cambodia and Laos. He might have also been in Vietnam. He never spoke about his experiences there.

In 1995 when I was living in Florida, I received a phone call. “Who is this?” I asked. The voice at the other end said, “Its Flaherty, you dummy! I hadn’t seen Ray in forty-three years. We met.

Ray told me had been so impressed by the draftees in Company L that he spent three years searching for them. He even paid a person finder to help. Finally when he rounded up seventy names he called me and asked me to write a newsletter. Whenever he called my wife was terrified. Trembling, she quickly handed me the phone.

As a result, Co. L had its first reunion at Ft. Stewart in S. Carolina in 1997. With the retired Col. W. A. Sidney once again our leader, we had a memorable reunion. Unfortunately, Ray the architect of the event couldn’t attend. He had double-bypass heart surgery. But, he was there at our next reunion. We subsequently continued to have many reunions.

Rest in peace Ray. Co. L sends you off with an E-mail from one of your men: Dale Knight’s E-mail. (I gave this to his son Bryan.)