Dear Gene and Neil:
It is my sad duty to report that Col. Donald P. Boyer Jr. marched on to
Fiddlers Green on 30 April 2001. Don died after fighting cancer for the last
two or three years. He was Commander of the Blackhorse from January 1964
until January 1966, when I think that he turned it over to Bill Cobb, who
took it to Vietnam in September. ( I'm not certain of the last dates.)
Don took command of the Regiment from Col. Chester Kennedy in Straubing,
Germany. At that time I was the Blackhorse Engineer and CO of the 619th
Engineer Company. Don led the Blackhorse back to Ft. Meade in July 1964,
reorganized it there and did the initial preparation for the move to Vietnam.
Since the 619th did not accompany the Regiment on the return to Ft. Meade,
I'm relying on my memory and some scrapbooks that Don's wife, Helen, recently
sent me. They don't cover the actual Change of Command when Don left.
After Don retired, he lived in Monterey, CA. Helen is still there. I visited
them several times during the late 80's and 90's. Unfortunately at present,
I don't have a copy of the obituary notice. I live in Virginia and asked
Helen to send one. However, as you may imagine, she is up to her eyeballs
sorting out the details of Don's passing and has not been able to send it
yet. Neil, since you are in California, perhaps you can obtain a copy. It
seems to me that there should be some coverage of Don's passing at the
Reunion in August. What can I do to help?
If you fellows are interested, I will try to put together some historical
narrative about the last year(s) that we patrolled the Czech Border. Please
let me know what you think. I look forward to hearing from you.
Allons!
Dick Orth