Home at last
Berman Ganoe getting long-overdue memorial

Published March 06. 2003 8:30AM

BY VINCE MURRAY
ASSOCIATE EDITOR

OCALA - Berman Ganoe Jr. was a giant of a man — about 6-foot-3, 245 pounds. "He was voted the friendliest person in his high school class," his brother, Dwight Ganoe, recalled earlier this week. "He was a gentle giant, an extremely nice guy."

Like many young American men during the late 1960s, Berman went off to fight a war in the steaming jungles of Southeast Asia. Like many of those young men, he did not return.

For more than 30 years, Berman Ganoe has been listed as missing in action, presumed dead. His remains were returned to the United States in 1998, but it wasn't until June 2001 that those remains were positively identified.

Now, nearly 33 years after Army Staff Sgt. Ganoe's helicopter was shot down while on a rescue mission in Cambodia on March 24, 1970, he will return to Ocala for a hero's salute and burial at noon Friday at Highland Memorial Park. The ceremony is open to the public.

While serving as a helicopter gunner with the 170th Aviation Company, 52nd Aviation Battalion, 1st Aviation Brigade, Ganoe's UH-1H "Huey" was assigned to rescue a reconnaissance team being pursued by enemy troops. The helicopter crew made a daring landing to retrieve the patrol team. While leaving the area, the helicopter was hit by enemy fire and crashed.

"This hero's salute gives the entire community an opportunity to honor and remember this heroic young man, who gave life in service to his country," said State Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala. "More importantly, it gives the Ganoe family the closure it needs and deserves. Thirty-three years is too long to wait. This event is certainly overdue."

Ganoe was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star, 16 Air Medals, the Purple Heart and numerous other medals of valor.

The ceremony will include remarks by Baxley and local clergyman Damon Walker. The Army will send an active-duty chaplain and honor guard from Fort Stewart, Ga., for the service. And a bronze memorial honoring Ganoe will be unveiled during the ceremony.

The Cambodian site where Ganoe and his colleagues crashed was discovered in the mid-1990s.

"Some of the Cambodians had been there," Dwight Ganoe said. "They had come into the nearest city and tried to sell items that they had found, rings, dog tags . . . They agreed to lead the Army to the crash site. They found pieces of the helicopter, including the helicopter number, and human remains. They had to send a team into the jungle to cut a landing site so the helicopters could land near the crash site."

When Berman's helicopter was reported missing, the family hoped for the best.

"For a while, we hoped he was a prisoner of war," Dwight said. "But as time progressed it became pretty evident that he wasn't coming home."

Berman Ganoe Sr., died in 1972, about two years after his son was reported missing. His mother, Leona, died on Feb. 5, 2003.

"Every night he would tell our parents, 'Forgive me, I love you, good night,' always in that order," said his sister, Mary Gray, of Belleview, who was 16 when her brother was lost. "He was very kindhearted. That rescue was something he would do. He wouldn't have thought twice. That was the kind of person he was."

"My mother had Alzheimer's," said Dwight Ganoe. "She understood that he had died, I don't know if she understood that they had recovered his remains. Dad hadn't been good health-wise. Spirit-wise, he was devastated. You could tell (Berman) was their favorite."

He was his younger brother's favorite, as well.

"I was six years younger," Dwight Ganoe said. "The year he graduated from Lake Weir, 1967, was the year I graduated from sixth grade at Belleview Elementary. I remember looking in the back of the auditorium and seeing him — he was a big guy— sitting there. We were the only two brothers who moved to Florida, so we were close — we went hunting and fishing together. We were all close. We had a big family, we didn't have much choice."

Gray said he was the ideal big brother.

"I was in the seventh grade when he was a senior at Lake Weir," she recalled. "He would watch out for me. He said, 'With the guys, play hard to get.' He was so big. Everyone used to call him 'Tiny.' He was likable, all the way down to the seventh graders. He didn't act superior because he was a senior. He was nice to everybody."

For more than 30 years, Dwight Ganoe has lived with the memory of his brother.

"Something always reminds you, a picture, something you see reminds you of him," he said. "It goes through your mind, it hits you. You think about it frequently, but you don't dwell on it. What bothered me is the people bringing that stuff out of the jungle, trying to make a buck selling rings and dog tags. That upset me."

But it did lead to the discovery of the helicopter crew's remains.

"The Army did it right," said Dwight. "They let us know what was taking place, what was happening, step-by-step. The report was done in June 2002. They sent us a little booklet on the crash site. It even explained how the DNA testing was done. They marked off the site in grids. It was like an archeological dig."

Sixty-four other Floridians are still listed as Missing in Action by the U.S. government, 37 are listed as "declared dead" and 27 are presumed dead.

While the service will provide some measure of closure, it will do little to ease the pain of his family's loss.

Berman's oldest brother Jack, a Korean War veteran, lives in Ravenna, Ohio. Another brother, Jim, lives in Summersville, W.Va.

Two of his four sisters live out-of-state, Pauline Proctor, in Summersville, W.Va., Lula Summers in northeast Maryland. Two other sisters, Gray and Dottie Brumm, live in Marion County, as does Dwight Ganoe.

Only Jack will be unable to attend the service.

"Our family is extremely proud of our brother and how he died trying to save others," Dwight Ganoe said. "It's been a long, painful journey, but our brother is finally home. The main thing is that we are very proud of him. We appreciate the recognition that he is getting — that all of those who lost their lives are getting. He deserves all of it. They all do."

Like many young American servicemen, and now women, in wars past and present, Berman Ganoe, Jr., was looking forward to coming home to Marion County and raising a family.

Many of those who did not return are buried in Arlington National Cemetery and have their names engraved on a wall in Washington, D.C. Berman Ganoe is now among the present and accounted for. He is — finally — back at home.

Vince Murray is associate editor of the Star-Banner. He can be reached at 867-4145.