HARLINGEN — Before Mike O’Connor could even take a sip of his coffee Friday morning, his phone was ringing.
It was 7:30 a.m., Pacific Time, where he lives out in California — about 9:30 a.m. here in the Rio Grande Valley.
In that morning’s edition of the Valley Morning Star, there was a story about O’Connor and his search for the next of kin of his friend and fellow soldier Harold Ray Reeves, of Mercedes, who is honored on Panel 37E, Row 27 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
O’Connor’s hope — to find someone in Reeves’ family so he could give Harold’s pistol grips to them.
But he never thought it would take only a few minutes to receive valuable information and just a few days to locate Harold’s family.
After all, the man who first located the grips, Bill Greer, had tried to find the family, only to end that process with frustration and no luck.
However, just four days after the story appeared in print and online, the pistol grips are headed “home.”
O’Connor was thrilled to report yesterday that he dropped them in the mail just hours after talking to Daniel Reeves, who is believed to be one of Harold’s few remaining living siblings.
“Just to be able to touch something your family member had in their hands is a powerful thing,” O’Connor, a Silver Star recipient who served with Reeves, said. “His hands were on these grips.”
Dan, who now lives in Midway, was very knowledgeable about the personal history of Harold and the family, O’Connor said.
His story “checked out” and O’Connor was “stoked” to have heard from Daniel and be able to return the grips to their proper place — with the Reeves family, who will decide how to share them.
Daniel, whose family member saw the story online, thanked the VMS for help connecting him and O’Connor.
“Thank you folks so much for your help,” the Veteran himself said. “This means a lot to us and my family.”
David Lozano was the first to call. He said he was Harold’s first cousin and knew a lot about the family and seemed very credible. However, he didn’t think any of his siblings were still alive.
Later that morning, O’Connor spoke with Ronnie Dirks of Combes. He said he grew up with the Reeves family and believed some were still alive.
An hour later, there was another contact made. This one was with Sylvia Flores, who was a neighbor of the Reeves family and had possible contacts with the husband of one of the sisters who she thought was still alive.
At that point, O’Connor was feeling like he was getting somewhere, but there wasn’t really a resolution on the horizon.
That wasn’t until yesterday when Dan called and said he was Harold’s brother. He said there were three other surviving siblings.
Daniel’s comment that he still carried around what might be the last letter Harold wrote tugged at O’Connor’s heartstrings and he knew he was doing the right thing.
O’Connor admitted he was emotional during his conversation with Daniel.
“I try not to live in the past and dwell on it,” O’Connor said. “At the same time, it’s not right to not remember. The sacrifice has been made and it is a little emotional. I am glad it is.”
Sgt. Reeves died Feb. 4, 1968, in the province of Thua Thien.
Last month, Greer of North Carolina, a retired teacher and retired member of the North Carolina National Guard, sent O’Connor a letter with the grips and explained what happened.
In Greer’s handwritten letter, he addresses O’Connor, of Lincoln, California as chief and talks about the chain of events that led to his receiving the grips.
According to the story, James Bailey traded a revolver in with the grips to a gun store in Dunn, North Carolina.
At that time, Bailey told the owner of the store that his father had removed this firearm from an NVA officer during the Vietnam War, the latter part of 1968.
Bailey also knew the revolver had been taken from an aircraft crew member.
Greer then purchased the revolver and grips from the gun store and upon hearing of the story, contacted Bailey.
That’s when Greer became interested in finding the identity of the initials on the grip.
After a couple days of internet research, Greer writes, he found five Vietnam military KIAs with the same initials. But, also, only one was an aircraft crew member, this person being Spec. Harold Ray Reeves, born on June 19, 1939, home of record Mercedes. He was in the C Btry, 2nd Battalion, 20th artillery of the 1st Cavalry Division.
This information was then shared with Jim Giles, a pilot with the sister unit during the same timeframe in Vietnam.
Greer wrote, “I feel these grips belong to the family and friends of Spec. Reeves.”
