Two veterans pay tribute in Vietnam to Beal City private 50 years later

Fifty years later, and 6,000 miles from home, U.S. Army Major Patrick Birgy of Mt. Pleasant paid tribute on Monday to his namesake, a man he never knew, who was killed in a remote area of Vietnam on April 9, 1968.

Joined by his friend and fellow veteran Eddie Kennedy of Midland, the two honored Patrick Charles Coughlin from Beal City with a beer toast, moments of deep thought and by burying at the place he died a few items donated by the dead private’s family back home.

“Eddie Kennedy and I located his final battle position and paid tribute to him,” Birgy said. “After talking with several locals who were familiar with the history of the area, we were guided to a spot that agreed with the military records of where he was killed.”

Coincidentally, Birgy said, the locals had built a worship temple very close to the spot.

“It was an honor to bear his name and serve the country he died for,” Birgy said. “Gone but not forgotten, thank you Private First Class Coughlin for your ultimate sacrifice.”

Birgy’s journey capped 20 months of intense research led by Kennedy.

But it also caps a lifetime pondering his father’s friend, a fellow Beal City kid whose death at age 19 rattled John Birgy so that he named his firstborn son for him.

Two years ago on this date, Birgy retired after six years of active duty and 21 with the Michigan National Guard.

“On this day in 1968, 19-year-old Private First Class Patrick Charles Coughlin from Beal City was killed in action by small arms fire in Vietnam,” Birgy said. “Thirteen months later one of his best friends, John Birgy, named his first born son (me) after him. After 27 years, eight promotions, and three deployments, I honored his memory by hanging up the boots and retiring on the 48th anniversary of this warriors death.”

Besides Coughlin, Kennedy said the pair would also honor another soldier killed by the same gunfire at the same time outside Hue, near Da Nang.

“Pat and I have been working on this trip for over a year which, included me meeting with and interviewing men who were there when they were killed so we could try and get as close as possible to where the event occurred since we only knew per military after-action reports the four-digit grid area,” Kennedy said.

Birgy and Kennedy have praised the friendship and assistance of the Vietnamese, who have told them no Americans have ventured to their remote location since the war ended.

“We encountered dozens of locals while walking down the roads and along the rice patties to Pat’s fighting position,” Birgy said. “They were friendly and helpful. Everyone said we were the first Americans to ever venture so far off the beaten path since the war.”

Back home, Coughlin’s family along with 80-some others – friends and relatives of Coughlin as well as Kennedy and Birgy – are monitoring their trip on a shared Facebook page.

“Since he retired, Birgy and Kennedy have been working and researching to try to find the area in Vietnam where my brother had been killed,” said Coughlin’s sister, Mary Jane Pavlicek. “These two men never knew my brother, but they were both in the military, and I think it just speaks to the brotherhood of soldiers.”

After the somber remembrance and tribute, Birgy and Kennedy hiked back to a corner store a third of a mile away.

“We had another beer with our guide and nibbled on some snacks,” he said. “We then took a picture with the store owner and her baby and left her a hefty tip for his college fund.”

Birgy said the trip back to where so many U.S. soldiers died has widened the tribute beyond Coughlin.

“This has been a very meaningful, spiritual and thought-provoking journey,” he said. “We have met and made many new friends along the way. Thank you to Pat’s family for being supportive and thank you to all the Vietnam veterans who served valiantly.”

(Staff writer James McKinnie contributed to this report.)