Tommy and I met in Radio School on Camp Pendleton in 1967. We hit it off right away and became best friends. We went on our first trip to Disneyland, hung out at the beach in Oceanside, went through mess duty and Staging Bn. Hell, Tommy even introduced me to BEER!!!
One night at the Camp Del Mar E-Club we're knocking back a few. I asked him how will I know when I'm loaded. He says, "See the snack bar in the corner? How many windows do you see?" I said two. He says, "Let me know when you see four." A few hours later, I saw four and he took me back to the barracks and put me to bed.
If I had been one person back in line at the processing center in Nam, we would have gone to the same unit....I might have been able to save him.
Jim Boettcher
Michael Tate
tatemichaelj@yahoo.com
Fellow Marine
904 Newman Street Effingham Illinois 62401 usa
Good Buddy
I think often of your final convoy. This was my assignment -
and they changed radio operators - you went and I
stayed behind never knowing what would happen that clear blue day.
Oct 11, 2006
James Boettcher
jiboettcher@yahoo.com
Comm Sch., drinking buddy, friend
1361 Caren Road
Vista, CA 92083 San Diego
To My Friend Tommy
To my Radio School classmate, my drinking buddy, my friend.not a month or a week has gone by that I have not thought of you. Our time together was too short. My affection for you was great. My life has not been all that I had hoped for and often I've wished that we could change places. I guess that I've gotten out of it no more than I put in and that is entirely my fault. After a surgery in '69 to start repairing damage done by an injury in Nam, the surgeon told my wife to ask me who Tommy was when I came to. While unconscious I kept screaming your name and crying. I told her it was none of her business and let it go. I miss you my friend. I miss you a lot. I hope you are in a better place. One day I hope to see you on the other side of the wall. Take care my friend. Semper Fi Marine. Love, Jim
Saturday, March 13, 2004
Jon Loschiavo
Jon@Loschiavo.com
Nephew
PO Box 31181 806B 3rd St.
Ft. Greely, AK 99712 USA
The Uncle I never met.
Uncle Tommy, thank you for giving the ultimate sacrifice, because of you I can know things will never be as bad as what you lived through. You are not forgotten. Thank You, Your Nephew Jon Loschiavo
Thursday, February 16, 2006
REPRESENTING a life given for one's country, this plaque honoring L/Cpl
Thomas Lee Loschiavo, USMC killed in Vietnam last May 31, was accepted by
his brother, Don Loschiavo, a junior at Dixie Heights High School. The gift
from the Parent-Teacher Association will be placed inn the school library
with the portraits of Carl Mueller and Gary Litton. A memorial was dedicated
in honor of those two graduates last May. Contributions to this fund are
used to buys books and other materials for the library.
