Mother Who Missed Son's Monument Dedication Dies

When I saw Dixie Vandersee's obituary in Sunday's Gazette I was saddened but not surprised. Dixie had been in poor health and used an oxygen machine for breathing when I visited at her Cedar Rapids home in May.

I was there to talk about the death 42 years ago of her son, Terry Randall, in the Vietnam War. (See picture at left.) He was 19. A monument honoring Terry and eight other Vietnam veterans from Johnson County who gave their lives during the war was dedicated May 30, 2009 -- Memorial Day -- on the Johnson County Courthouse grounds.

On the day my column about Dixie and Terry ran -- May 29 -- I learned that Dixie was too ill to attend the dedication. I know she was heartbroken. The only good news now is that Dixie and Terry have been reunited.

Dixie died Thursday. Services were held today (July 27), but you can still leave online condolences for the family at www.broshchapel.com

Here is my Ramblin' column published in the Gazette on May 29, 2009, after I talked with Dixie.

Pride & pain:

Cedar Rapids mother forever grieves son lost in Vietnam

CEDAR RAPIDS -- Dixie Vandersee gazes away from the 42-year-old portrait of her son, Terry Randall. Her blue eyes match the intensity of his. Her sadness fills the room.

"I'm very proud of him," she says.

Terry was her only natural-born child. Her only son.

She has missed him every day since he went to Vietnam in January 1968. On that March 6, she learned he had been killed two days earlier.

"It was a time I blank out of my mind," Dixie says. "Some days are worse than others."

Saturday will be a good day. It is the original Memorial Day, May 30. It is when Terry and eight other Johnson County veterans killed in Vietnam will be honored with the dedication of the Johnson County Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

"I think it is wonderful. I think they should have a memorial for the boys," says Dixie, 77, who will attend the ceremony with her family and those of the other honored veterans.

Terrell "Terry" Randall was born April 16, 1948, to Dixie and Gerald Randall. They divorced before Terry graduated from Jefferson High School in Cedar Rapids.

After a year at Upper Iowa University in Fayette, Terry lived with his father (now deceased) in Swisher. Unsure of his future, Terry enlisted in the Marines.

"It upset me quite a bit," Dixie says. "It was bad right then. He said, 'But Mother, I could get killed walking from factory to factory looking for a job.'"

So Terry trained at Camp Pendleton, Calif., and, while on leave before Vietnam, had one last photo taken with his mom.

"I don't know how I felt," Dixie says about the war. "He felt obligated."

As a private first class, Terry Randall served his country. At age 19, he died for it.

"The telegraph I got said his body wasn't recovered," Dixie says.

His mother and father couldn't believe it.

"I wanted them to open the casket, and his father said, 'You would not want that done,'" she says.

They buried that casket on April 1, 1968, at Linwood Cemetery. A 21-gun salute paid final tribute.

Dixie had married Marvin Vandersee by then. He had eight children. They adopted a set of twins. Life had to go on.

"I got a letter from one of the boys that was with (Terry)," Dixie says. "He said Terry never knew what happened."

Her son stares proudly from the portrait framed after his death. Medals, including his Purple Heart, surround him. He will be honored again Saturday.

"It's nice they're doing this," Dixie says, "but it is sad, very sad."