David Siglow

(in lieu of a formal Obituary, the following Facebook posts were made in remembrance of Ranger David Siglow.

K/75 Ranger FB page, on March 2, 2016)

Dave Bristol:   You may appreciate this story. This is a very small world, more so with the internet. I sold a book to a guy on the Vietnam history FB page. He was reading and ran into Dave Siglow’s name. He wrote to me, stating that there ” can’t be many David Siglows in Knoxville Tn.” We have not confirmed completely that we know the same guy, but everything we both know so far fits, LRRP, lived in California for a while, moved back to Knoxville, and the death date seems to match. I am sending a photo, so we will know for sure in a few days. I have asked this guy if he would like to share his FB address to allow some of you to visit with him about Siglow. I will let you know when I know. Do any of you remember Siglow talking about his dad being in the 82nd Airborne?

Dana McGrath:    My last Team Leader – calm, cool and collected even all three times we were surrounded and things looked very, very bad for the near-term future.   I “found” him in CA once, called the number and spoke to a furious woman (Wife at the time). She kept cussing me out, then hanging up – I finally got the message through of who I was and why I wanted to talk to him. She said “This *is* the right address, he’s not allowed here and if you call here again, I’ll call the police on you”.   I sensed he had some domestic issues and kept looking – soon after I learned he’d died.   Good Man Down – and one tough MF he was.

Wayne Mitsch: Definitely want to hear more about this, Dave. I hated to here that Siglow died before we could find him.

Dave Bristol: Thanks Guys, I cannot find the picture of Siglow that I thought I had. Does anyone have a good one to share with this other guy?

 

Dana McGrath: Here’s one – Wadley (standing), Siglow – on an LZ waiting for the bird for the second leg of our mini-vacation. There were fleshette rounds through everything on this bald hill – somebody’d had a helluva fight there.

From Dana McGrath:   1970 Siglow/Dennis at the PX

From Dana McGrath:   Dennis/Siglow

From Dana McGrath:   March, 1970, Wadley, Unknown Gunner (blew my ears out on this mission), Siglow (TL), Tony Dennis (Tail).

Dave Bristol:  I have confirmed that my contact did in fact know “our” Siglow. I am going to call him tonight and if all goes well, I will post his phone number in a PM to those of you who want to talk to him.

Irvin Mariano:  RIP my Friend

Dave Bristol: OK guys, I have spent some time on the phone with Bill Johnson, the man who knew Siglow after he got back from Nam. He knew the family well, David less so. He is very willing to visit with you about Siglow. I am very sure this guy is legit. I have  sent his phone number to several of you who expressed and interest and have permission to share very openly. I will message you or put it on your time line.  Dana McGrath,  Wayne Mitsch,  Irvin Mariano  Bradford Stuttz  all have the number as well. Bill Johnson is a pretty open guy, so feel free to discuss things that you want to know. I did so and found him to be easy to communicate with. If he is busy he will tell you so and call you back.

Just for those who may not call, here are a few of the things I learned. David’s dad and brother are buried in the same cemetery as David. David’s brother also served in Vietnam. David’s dad was not a doctor as I had believed, but was a pharmaceutical sales man and was very well connected with many in the medical profession. Our information about David living in Ca. is true and he later moved back to Knoxville. He worked as a carpenter. He may have moved back to Ca. for a time, but spent almost all his time in Knoxville after he moved back the first time. David was apparently in many ways the same guy we knew in Nam.

Lowell Tidline:  I have a photo which looks like David, but he’s wearing E5 stripes?

Dave Bristol:  I don’t know about any of that, he was an Spec 4 when he was with me. I have photos of guys wearing some one else fatigues, so who knows. good to hear from you.

Lowell Tidline:   This is David?

Dave Bristol: Yes, it is, and those are E5 stripes. I have no idea which is correct. This must be on one of the Moves we made to and from Pleiku, because that is the only time I recall flack jackets being used.

Lowell Tidline:   That was our last move to An Khe. And I found a later photo of him with Spec 4 patch, so I suspect you were right.

Bob White: Dave Siglow An Khe around Christmas 1969, as you can see always wearing someone else’s clothes. That might answer the 5 strips, I remember him going home as a SPC 4.

Roger Crunk: Jerry Renz looks too young also.

Dana McGrath:    Ranger Siglow and I may have had one thing in common – we had little difficulty earning rank and great difficulty keeping it. Helluva Man in the Bush and an excellent TL, especially so when things got interesting. We thought he was OLD (like 26), I learned only decades later he was only a year older than me.

He had some habits I didn’t share, but what a guy did inside the wire never bothered me – I had my own habits to pursue (and I kept up with them pretty well if I do say so myself). I made E5 3 times and ETS’d as a newly-made PFC… Good times and bad, I’d have been found somewhere near Ranger Siglow, ‘cuz he was just never rattled, period.

Dave Bristol: He was born in Oct 6, 1949. I also thought he was older. Turns out he was almost a year younger than me. I don’t recall any issues with rank for him, but my time with him was limited in that respect. He was as you say excellent in the bush. He and I  had an understanding about stand downs that included staying pretty close to me on the night before a mission. As one of my good buddies said to me once: ” Dave you might have been wound a little tight” and I think Siglow might not have been would tight enough at times. We were an odd pair, that’s for sure, but we both wanted everyone to get home and not a lot trumped that. I don’t mean to take anything away from him as a LRRP, because he was good, very good as far as the times he was with me. Like  Wayne Mitsch, I regret not being able to talk to him before he died. I did make contact with his mom once and David did not want to talk to me. Her statement was the he had been “clean and sober for 7 years and didn’t want to risk losing that”. I never tried to contact him again.

Wayne Mitsch: Dave, thanks for posting all of this and for following thru on contacting Bill Johnson. I’ll call him this week. I knew Siglow really well both in the field and back in base. We shared many nights together and as many stories that I have told about  that guy, his dad WAS a doctor and Siglow WAS older than me. I’ll be damned!! I don’t know about you guys but it always sets me back to revisit these stories of guys like Siglow and Fairhurst who have died without having been able to contact them. It’s that unfillable void that gets me.

Dave Bristol: Wayne, You are so correct.

Bob White:  Wayne Mitsch  I remember you were probably the closest person in Nam to Dave Siglow. Sorry for your loss of a fellow Brother and dear friend. Wish you could have located him earlier, I know you tried.