Don L. Rock, 22, son of Mr. and Mrs. Mont R. Rock, route 5, has been reported killed in action in South Vietnam Wednesday (19 Nov 1969). He is the husband of the former Karla Rae Best (Mead Class of '67) of Spokane.
Rock, the 78th combat victim of the Vietnam war from Spokane County, was stationed with the 45th "Dust Off" Medivac unit at Long Binh. He was on loan to the 57th Medivac at Lai Khe, South Vietnam, and was copilot of a helicopter attempting to rescue wounded men when he was shot and killed by sniper fire. He received the Purple Cross and Distinguished Flying Cross and Bronze Star as well as other medals from his Military service in Vietnam. (For more information visit: http://www.virtualwall.org )
Born in Spokane, he was a member of Wildrose Methodist Church, active in Boy Scouting and was a mechanic for Ron's Drive-In race car.
Rock enlisted in July 1968, and was trained at Ft. Wolters TX, and in Georgia before being sent to Vietnam 30 Jul (1969).
He is survived by his wife (no children), his parents, three brothers, Sgt. Joe D. Rock, Okinawa, Mont George Rock, Portland OR, and Jack L. Rock, Phoenix; two sisters, Judy K. and Dixie, both at home, and his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. George L. Hindman, here. (The Spokesman-Review, Spokane WA, 26 Nov 1969)
Funeral services for WO Donald L. Rock, 22, Deer Park WA, will be held at 1 p.m. Friday, at Wild Rose Methodist Church, Deer Park. The Rev. Earl Lake will officiate. Burial will be at Wild Rose Cemetery with military rites. He was killed in action 19 Nov (1969). Young Rock graduated from Mead High School in 1965 and Spokane Community College in 1967. He is survived by his wife, Karla Rae Rock, at the home; his parents, Mrs. and Mr. Mont Rock, Spokane; three brothers, Mont George, Portland OR, Jack L., Phoenix AZ, Army Sgt. Joe D., Okinawa; two sisters, Judy K. and Dixi, at the home, and his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. George L. Hindman, Spokane. the Boyd is at Lauer Funeral Home in Deer Park. (The Spokesman-Review, Spokane WA, 4 Dec 1969)
Barton L Pulliam
I remember Don's most excellent mechanical abilities. I can remember he had a Willys Jeep. I think it had a V8 engine in it and Don seemed to go through a lot of "U" joints. I do remember he had a long heavy string that went from his left front finder to inside the Jeep. On that finder was a device that held a shot gun shell. Need I say more....Don Rock needed points so she (Mrs. Hyatt) (Sr. english class) invited Don to bring in worms for points. Don brought 30 of the critters. It was suggested that more points were available for eating them. See me at the reunion for "the rest of the story".....ITS AWESOME...
He is and was one of kind......Bart Pulliam
Mary Hyatt
Yes, Don brought in the worms and Bart ate them. Now, how could I weave that into an English lesson? We must have been studying Shakespeare!
Even when Don was not in my class, he would stop by with "stolen" flowers and quote Shakespeare. In my office at SFCC I still have the last "plastic" flowers he gave me and a copy of his name on the Vietnam Wall that my daughter inscripted a couple of years ago for me. When I go by Wild Rose Cemetary, I stop and confiscate a flower or two and put it on his grave.
Jeanne M Tweedy (Loddeke)
What wonderful memories of Don Rock were posted by Bart and Mrs. Hyatt! I have to add a couple: when I first started at Mead Jr. Hi, Don was the first to notice my heavy leg hair (we all wore skirts/dresses back then). He started calling me a monkey. I started shaving my legs in 7th grade and made sure Don knew about it and, of course, have been doing it ever since!
When I lived on Bainbridge Island in the 90's, the traveling mini Vietnam Memorial Wall was displayed in Bremerton. My youngest daughter went with me to see it and I did a rubbing of Don's name, which I still have. Sadly, she had minimal knowledge of the Vietnam War from school classes and was amazed at what she learned at this display. She cried along with me while talking with the veterans at the display.