Bloomfield is representative of the many military members lost in service to their country that are honored and remembered on Memorial Day.
“There’s a lot of special memories. Him being 20, that’s a young age to lose someone like that,” said Tom Bloomfield, Billy’s younger brother.
“He was a real hardworking person. Of course, a younger brother always likes to imitate his older brother, I just always tried following in his footsteps. Being that young, you always wonder what it would have been like if he was around now... his kids, or wife, the kind of relationship we could have had,” Tom Bloomfield added.
Billy’s mother, Beulah Bloomfield, said he was only in the military for a short while, including just the few months he was in Vietnam.
“It means a lot to remember family members plus other members and all the service men that have given their life, and also those that have served,” his mother said.
Throughout the year and on Memorial Day, Beulah Bloomfield said they go to the Enon cemetery to see Billy and put flowers on his grave. His brother said they always get together and also go to the Memorial Day Parade in Enon, which he said is a “really great honor” to have each year.
The brothers were only two years apart, were very close and used to play around the neighborhood together, Tom Bloomfield said.
“I always looked up to him. We were always doing something, whether getting in trouble or playing ball,” he said. “I was always kind of like the tagalong because he was two years older than me. We lived right across the street from Greenon. Living across from the high school, we were very sports oriented and knew all the athletics people.”
Billy was also a Greenon Local School student who graduated in 1967, two years before he died. The district has a monument outside of the high school dedicated to him and three others who died in Vietnam.
Tom Bloomfield said “it’s kind of ironic” because he graduated two years after Billy, in 1969, the day he was killed in action.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
His favorite memory with Billy was when they got to play on a football team together.
“He was a senior and I was a sophomore and we played football on a team, and we actually got to play with each other,” he said. “Sophomore’s usually didn’t get to play with the seniors, but we did get to play together.”
Springfield Memorial Day Parade
When: 9 a.m. today
Where: 618 N. Plum St., following to W. McCreight Avenue, and up Fountain Avenue.
Cost: Free
More info: Springfield Ohio Memorial Day Parade Facebook page
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