While Michael died in Ft. Dix, it was a result of casulaty in Vietnam. He was transferred first to a hospital in Japan, then Valley Forge PA and finally to Fort Dix. The family was just able to be with him when he died. While some official sites said heart attack, that is not accurate. Michael was wounded in Vietnam and at the time of his funeral, the family never knew what his Purple Heart was awarded for. Two of his brothers examined his body and there were marks on his upper back that resembled a wound he did not have before Vietnam. His late mother Marie went to Washington DC to find out the circumstances to no avail. The VIetnam Wall Memorial Page for Michael lists his awards (see picture ) but no Purple Heart is listed. We know at one time he was injured by rocks thrown at him and exposure to Agent Orange . He was diagnosed with a fast spreading cancer (that he did not have when he was drafted only 1 year earlier) and it spread rapidly to his brain in a few weeks. The doctor called it "galloping cancer". While Michael's heart may have stopped that sad day in November, he lives forever in the hearts of all those family and friends who knew and loved him. He took his future sister-in-law and me to the movies to see Camelot as a favor to us. We loved it but most poignant in retrospect is that "once there was a spot that was known as Camelot" Applied for JFK but also the idyllic times we thought we were living in before we knew we were not. Where have all the flowers gone...."gone to soldiers everyone...they never learned".
A graduate of Dumont (NJ) High School, Michael was a very talented artist as was father, Carl Pfeufer. He worked for a company in Englewood NJ that designed packaging for various companies. When he received his draft notice, he was shocked. His older brother Paul was still serving in Vietnam and due to come home in the fall of 1968. He did his basic training at Ft. Dix..he died in the same place as he started in the Army.
The letters I received and the ones I sent in the end that were returned...after following you from hospital to hospital (Japan, Gettysburg to Ft. Dix) I left them and pictures on the "Wall" in DC many years ago. Wish I had copies of your letters now to hear your stories again of what you were going through. Be at rest...
The young dead soldiers do not speak. Nevertheless, they are heard in the still houses:
who has not heard them? They have a silence that speaks for them at night
and when the clock counts. They say: We were young. We have died. Remember us.
They say: We have done what we could but until it is finished it is not done.
They say: We have given our lives but until it is finished no one can know what our lives gave.
They say: Our deaths are not ours: they are yours, they will mean what you make them.
They say: Whether our lives and our deaths were for peace and a new hope or for nothing we cannot say, it is you who must say this. We leave you our deaths. Give them their meaning.
We were young, they say. We have died remember us. by Archibald MacLeish,
1892-1982, American Poet
Rank - while the headstone reflects a rank of SP4 - this was changed after 1969 by the Army. The rank of SP4 once denoted the fourth grade of the specialist rank in the U.S. Army. The term was abandoned in favor of "SPC," the only specialist rank, and is roughly equivalent to the rank of corporal.
A graduate of Dumont (NJ) High School, Michael was a very talented artist as was father, Carl Pfeufer. He worked for a company in Englewood NJ that designed packaging for various companies. When he received his draft notice, he was shocked. His older brother Paul was still serving in Vietnam and due to come home in the fall of 1968. He did his basic training at Ft. Dix..he died in the same place as he started in the Army.
The letters I received and the ones I sent in the end that were returned...after following you from hospital to hospital (Japan, Gettysburg to Ft. Dix) I left them and pictures on the "Wall" in DC many years ago. Wish I had copies of your letters now to hear your stories again of what you were going through. Be at rest...
The young dead soldiers do not speak. Nevertheless, they are heard in the still houses:
who has not heard them? They have a silence that speaks for them at night
and when the clock counts. They say: We were young. We have died. Remember us.
They say: We have done what we could but until it is finished it is not done.
They say: We have given our lives but until it is finished no one can know what our lives gave.
They say: Our deaths are not ours: they are yours, they will mean what you make them.
They say: Whether our lives and our deaths were for peace and a new hope or for nothing we cannot say, it is you who must say this. We leave you our deaths. Give them their meaning.
We were young, they say. We have died remember us. by Archibald MacLeish,
1892-1982, American Poet
Rank - while the headstone reflects a rank of SP4 - this was changed after 1969 by the Army. The rank of SP4 once denoted the fourth grade of the specialist rank in the U.S. Army. The term was abandoned in favor of "SPC," the only specialist rank, and is roughly equivalent to the rank of corporal.
While Michael died in Ft. Dix, it was a result of casulaty in Vietnam. He was transferred first to a hospital in Japan, then Valley Forge PA and finally to Fort Dix. The family was just able to be with him when he died. While some official sites said heart attack, that is not accurate. Michael was wounded in Vietnam and at the time of his funeral, the family never knew what his Purple Heart was awarded for. Two of his brothers examined his body and there were marks on his upper back that resembled a wound he did not have before Vietnam. His late mother Marie went to Washington DC to find out the circumstances to no avail. The VIetnam Wall Memorial Page for Michael lists his awards (see picture ) but no Purple Heart is listed. We know at one time he was injured by rocks thrown at him and exposure to Agent Orange . He was diagnosed with a fast spreading cancer (that he did not have when he was drafted only 1 year earlier) and it spread rapidly to his brain in a few weeks. The doctor called it "galloping cancer". While Michael's heart may have stopped that sad day in November, he lives forever in the hearts of all those family and friends who knew and loved him. He took his future sister-in-law and me to the movies to see Camelot as a favor to us. We loved it but most poignant in retrospect is that "once there was a spot that was known as Camelot" Applied for JFK but also the idyllic times we thought we were living in before we knew we were not. Where have all the flowers gone...."gone to soldiers everyone...they never learned".
A graduate of Dumont (NJ) High School, Michael was a very talented artist as was father, Carl Pfeufer. He worked for a company in Englewood NJ that designed packaging for various companies. When he received his draft notice, he was shocked. His older brother Paul was still serving in Vietnam and due to come home in the fall of 1968. He did his basic training at Ft. Dix..he died in the same place as he started in the Army.
The letters I received and the ones I sent in the end that were returned...after following you from hospital to hospital (Japan, Gettysburg to Ft. Dix) I left them and pictures on the "Wall" in DC many years ago. Wish I had copies of your letters now to hear your stories again of what you were going through. Be at rest...
The young dead soldiers do not speak. Nevertheless, they are heard in the still houses:
who has not heard them? They have a silence that speaks for them at night
and when the clock counts. They say: We were young. We have died. Remember us.
They say: We have done what we could but until it is finished it is not done.
They say: We have given our lives but until it is finished no one can know what our lives gave.
They say: Our deaths are not ours: they are yours, they will mean what you make them.
They say: Whether our lives and our deaths were for peace and a new hope or for nothing we cannot say, it is you who must say this. We leave you our deaths. Give them their meaning.
We were young, they say. We have died remember us. by Archibald MacLeish,
1892-1982, American Poet
Rank - while the headstone reflects a rank of SP4 - this was changed after 1969 by the Army. The rank of SP4 once denoted the fourth grade of the specialist rank in the U.S. Army. The term was abandoned in favor of "SPC," the only specialist rank, and is roughly equivalent to the rank of corporal.
A graduate of Dumont (NJ) High School, Michael was a very talented artist as was father, Carl Pfeufer. He worked for a company in Englewood NJ that designed packaging for various companies. When he received his draft notice, he was shocked. His older brother Paul was still serving in Vietnam and due to come home in the fall of 1968. He did his basic training at Ft. Dix..he died in the same place as he started in the Army.
The letters I received and the ones I sent in the end that were returned...after following you from hospital to hospital (Japan, Gettysburg to Ft. Dix) I left them and pictures on the "Wall" in DC many years ago. Wish I had copies of your letters now to hear your stories again of what you were going through. Be at rest...
The young dead soldiers do not speak. Nevertheless, they are heard in the still houses:
who has not heard them? They have a silence that speaks for them at night
and when the clock counts. They say: We were young. We have died. Remember us.
They say: We have done what we could but until it is finished it is not done.
They say: We have given our lives but until it is finished no one can know what our lives gave.
They say: Our deaths are not ours: they are yours, they will mean what you make them.
They say: Whether our lives and our deaths were for peace and a new hope or for nothing we cannot say, it is you who must say this. We leave you our deaths. Give them their meaning.
We were young, they say. We have died remember us. by Archibald MacLeish,
1892-1982, American Poet
Rank - while the headstone reflects a rank of SP4 - this was changed after 1969 by the Army. The rank of SP4 once denoted the fourth grade of the specialist rank in the U.S. Army. The term was abandoned in favor of "SPC," the only specialist rank, and is roughly equivalent to the rank of corporal.
Inscription
Michael A Pfeufer
New Jersey
SP4 446 Trans Co TC
Vietnam PH
Aug 28 1948 Nov 19 1969
Gravesite Details
Military Plate and Eternal Candle.
Plate has rank of SP4. The military changed this to SPC which is the only one available on the drop down.
