Ronald’s Story
“I thank you and the Korean people for never forgetting! You are most generous and loyal to all vets and for that I thank you”
Semper Fi Sgt. Ronald Richoux USMC Jan. 8, 2021
L to R: Mary Subervielle (daughter), Emile Richoux (grandson), Ronald Richoux, Lenny Richoux (son) and Michele Richoux (daughter-in-law).
You Define Semper Fi
Poem by Ronald Richoux 1998
You were all so young when you died,
and with all my honesty, to this day I never knew why.
All of my life I have been haunted as to why it was you and not I.
As God is my witness you define Semper Fi.
I saw you this very morning at 2 a.m.
You awakened me from my sleep screaming for help,
but as hard as I try I can never reach you.
Perhaps it’s because you look down from your place so high.
I know you are seated at the right hand of God.
You define Semper Fi.
From my same dream, I saw an old man in the mirror of life,
I questioned him carefully though a nervous cry.
Why were they all so young when they died? Why was it them and not I?
I recognized the old man as myself, and was shocked with his reply.
Oh you fool, do you not know Why?
They were so much greater than you and I,
They were picked by God to define Semper Fi.
There are those who tell me that because of war, I am cursed.
I tell them I saw some give it all up only a few years after their birth.
Those who tell me I must forget, I just ignore.
Do you not see? I must live with their memory all the days of my life,
Because out of it all they were the ones who made the supreme sacrifice,
I was fortunate enough to have known them in their time of strife.
They were heroes enough to have been picked by God, to define Semper Fi.
I now know that in the twilight of my fall,
I can live with it all, because once upon a time, in the prime of my youth,
I knew a few good men in who in honor stood tall.
They are the few and proud that I have known,
who made the sacrifice and answered the call.
As long as I live I will always have their picture in my mental file,
because they alone who were picked by God, to define Semper Fi.
Sgt. Ronald Paul Richoux Sr. August 5, 1998