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SV HIgh School to Honor Alumni Killed in Vietnam

One day before the nation honors its war veterans, the Susquehanna Valley School District will conduct an assembly program to honor the lives of Michael T. Decker and Richard D. Joy, two Susquehanna Valley High School graduates who gave their lives in service to their country in the Vietnam War.

The program, Wednesday, November 10, 2010, 1:15 p.m., SV High School auditorium, will mark the official unveiling and dedication of a shadow box that will be permanently affixed to a wall inside the main entrance of SV High School. The shadow box contains photographs of the soldiers, along with the medals and ribbons they earned during their U.S. Army service.

Richard Dennis Joy was a member of SV High School’s first graduating class of 1962. Joy, of Binghamton, was a Sergeant in the Army’s 5th Infantry Division when he was killed by an explosive device during combat in Quang Tri, June 20, 1969. He was twenty-five years old and had been in Southeast Asia for just under one year.

Michael Thomas Decker, SV High School Class of 1966, served in the U.S. Army’s 4th Infantry Division. Decker, of Kirkwood, was twenty years old and had been in Southeast Asia for just under three months when he was killed February 9, 1969 in combat in the Kontum region of Vietnam.

Members of Decker’s and Joy’s families, classmates and military comrades, will join students and staff for the program; an honor guard will present the colors and several speakers will pay tribute to the fallen soldiers. A brief reception for family and guests will follow.