Roslyn Ryan
Editor

Editor’s note: PT readers may remember being introduced to Powhatan resident Rich O’Hare in an article in the Nov. 9 edition of Powhatan Today. That article focused on O’Hare’s service as a paratrooper in Vietnam, and can be found on our web site at www.powhatantoday.com

To most people, the objects displayed on Rich O’Hare’s dining room table a few weeks ago would seem like mere curiosities: A delicate pencil sketch; a pair of chromed pistols; an engraved gold pocket watch on a slender chain.
To O’Hare, however, a decorated Vietnam veteran, the grouping represented a priceless connection to a past that is still very much with him.

The watch, the pistols and the sketch belonged to Gen. George Dickerson, the man O’Hare served under during his service as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division. O’Hare regards them with near-reverence—perhaps even more so since they recently came close to slipping out of his reach forever.

The General had originally planned to have the items donated to Virginia Tech, his alma mater, upon his death.  However, due a miscommunication, the items ended up on an auction block in North Carolina a few weeks ago.
To O’Hare, the thought of Dickerson’s possessions falling into a collector’s hands was unthinkable. With that in mind, he made his way south in an attempt to rescue the small trove of artifacts.
“I was shaking like a leaf [during the auction],” said O’Hare, “but I wasn’t leaving until I got these things back.”

Sixty-seven thousand dollars later, they were his. The price was well worth it said O’Hare, who has not decided where the pieces will go (the 82nd Airborne Museum at Fort Bragg is one possibility). He says that where they are ultimately displayed is less important to him than the fact that Dickerson’s mementos will now be properly preserved and respected.

“My mission was to get them,” he said.