Now the Day is Over

Every Memorial Day, I mourn the death of my Army intelligence buddy Ed Sonnichsen

“Reflections,” by Lee Teter (oil on canvas, 1988). Teter did the work to express his grief over the deaths of veteran friends and donated the copyright to Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) Chapter 172, in Cumberland, Md.

ONE DAY IN LATE AUGUST 1968, the word came: Our friend Ed Sonnichsen had been killed in Vietnam.

Shock rolled through our small group at…