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Windham students organize ceremony to honor Vietnam vet
WINDHAM
Robert L. “Bob” Towles was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroic actions in Vietnam at a special school-community ceremony organized by students in the Windham Junior High School social studies class.
Towles, of Windham, earned the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions in Vietnam on Nov. 17, 1965, when, as an Army specialist, he was seriously wounded by shrapnel when his unit of 400 men was ambushed by a larger force, leaving 155 allied soldiers dead and 128 wounded.
Under heavy fire, Towles, disregarding his own safety and injuries, attacked and disabled an enemy machine-gun position leading to the enemy’s temporarily withdrawing, enabling Towles’ company to evacuate with many of its wounded members. Towles then led a group of soldiers in returning to dangerous territory to ward off the enemy while the remaining wounded soldiers were evacuated.
Towles initially was awarded the Bronze Star for Valor but later was upgraded to the Distinguished Service Cross when, in December 2013, language introduced by U.S. Rep. Timothy Ryan of Howland, D-13th, and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who presented the award, was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives as a part of the National Defense Authorization Act.
Towles, a 2001 inductee of the Ohio Military Hall of Fame and the first Vietnam veteran elected National Commander of the Combat Infantrymen’s Association, is the grandfather of Zach, Josh and Abby Forsythe, all students at Windham Junior-Senior High School.
Cali Apthorpe, 14, a ninth-grade student in the social studies class taught by Stephanie Parish, a Niles McKinley High School graduate and former intern in Brown’s Washington, D.C., office, headed the effort to organize the assembly.
“I realized when Miss Parish told us about Mr. Towles that it was our classmates’ grandfather,” Cali said, and began to organize the event for which Towles granddaughter, Abby, a sixth-grader, made the program.
Towles told the students and community members that he was very close to some of the people who died and that the award was for them because he wouldn’t be here without them.
“It was amazing ... just the total blend of the audience, from sixth-graders to veterans in their 70s and 80s and everybody in between. Every one was captivated. His grandchildren and other students were involved. It was very, very nice,” said Michael Chaffee, Windham High School principal.
“At the end, I talked to the students about humility and bravery and service, and there was a perfect example in front of them,” Chaffee said.
Towles, who grew up in Niles, enlisted in the Army soon after graduating from McKinley High School there in 1963. He volunteered to go to Vietnam and was discharged in 1966.
After marrying Kathy Williams, a childhood resident of Windham, they moved to Windham in 1974. He was active in Windham’s youth Hot Stove Baseball program and a Webelos leader and assistant Scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 63.
Towles received a bachelor’s degree from the University of the State of New York, Albany; and a master’s degree and doctorate from Kent State University.
After more than 33 years as a federal civilian employee, he retired from the 910th Airlift Wing at the Air Force Reserve Station in Vienna, where he worked in the engineering department.
Towles is a member of the Warren First Church of the Nazarene and leader of the Western Reserve Outpost of Point Man International Ministries, a veterans Christian outreach organization.