In Loving Memory ... 2Lt Michael Lorrell Arrants.

You may be gone, no longer living on this earth; but you will live on - in the memories of your family and friends. There will always be a part of you living in your family and those who knew you and loved you. You will live on because we remember you!


MICHAEL LORRELL ARRANTS - Army - 2LT - O1
Age: 21
Race: Caucasian
Date of Birth Oct 13, 1948
From: AUSTIN, TX
Religion: METHODIST
Marital Status: Single - Parents: Father, Clair L. Arrants (1917 - 1987) and Mother, Genevieve Lucile Yarian Arrants (1916 - 1996) both of Austin, Tx. he has NO children.
Maternal Grandparents, Jacob B. Yarian (1883 - 1932)
and Hazel Claudia Smeltzer Yarian (1888 - 1957).

***** Tomorrow I will ride in 'The fallen Hero's Ride' in South Bend, IN remembering you. You are not forgotten, I thnk of you often. Love, your cousin Susie (Susan (Yarian) Young)

***** I will always, remember the impact you had on my brother in law. His name, is Steve Liarakos and he was your best friend. His son Michael, is named after you. You gave, the ultimate price, for this country and we do remember you.
wilma neely
my nephew, is his namesake



2LT - O1 - Army - 25th Infantry Division
Length of service 0 years
His tour began on Jan 14, 1970
Casualty was on Jan 31, 1970
MILITARY DATA
Service: Army (Reserve)
Grade at loss: O1
Rank: Second Lieutenant
ID No: 453826116
MOS: 1981 Rotary Wing Aviation Unit Commander
LenSvc: Less than one year
Unit: B CO, 25TH AVIATION BN, 25 INF DIV

CASUALTY DATA
Start Tour: Wednesday, 01/14/1970
Cas Date: Saturday, 01/31/1970
Age at Loss: 21
Remains: Body recovered
Location: Tay Ninh, South Vietnam
Type: Hostile, died outright
Reason: Air loss or crash over land - Helicopter - Pilot
In TAY NINH, SOUTH VIETNAM
HOSTILE, HELICOPTER - PILOT
AIR LOSS, CRASH ON LAND

Body was recovered
Panel 14W - Line 82


Seven men - four aircrew and three passengers - died when their UH-1H (tail number 68-15462) was shot down about 8 kilometers southeast of Thien Ngon airfield in Tay Ninh Province:

B Company, 25th Aviation Bn, 25th ID
CW2 Ronald Joe Fulton, pilot
2LT Michael Lorrell Arrants, copilot
SGT John Thomas Rodgers, gunner
SGT Jerald Dale West, crew chief


Passengers, all Division HHC, 25th ID
CPT John Lawrence Beek
CPT Paul Barkley Bowman
CPT Jerry David Denny


Second Lieutenant Michael Lorrell Arrants was a casualty of the Vietnam War and as a member of the Army Reserve, 2LT Arrants served our country until January 31st, 1970 in Tay Ninh, South Vietnam.

He was 21 years old and was not married.

Michael died when his helicopter crashed into the land.

His body was recovered.


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Michael grew up in what was then the northeast side of Austin just a few blocks from my home, one of a group of very nice boys a year younger than my friends and me. Austin was a sleepy town in the early to mid '60's - not like now - and summers were hotter than blazes with little for teenage boys to do other than playing baseball and swimming at Bartholomew Pool.

I don't recall now if my group called him Michael, Mike, or just Arrants, as boys did back then. Anyway, I remember chasing him down one sunny September afternoon when he was in the 10th grade to initiate him into Austin High School by cutting a wide swath into his hair with my mother's scissors, a school tradition. His mom, not knowing much about traditions, got real mad and I worried that she would turn me in to the boy's dean, who already didn't much like me for reasons I never understood. It spelled more trouble for me. But Michael calmed her down, the dean never found out, and life sailed on. The truth was, though, she had a point; his hair was a mess. For Michael's part, he had been initiated so he didn't have to worry anymore about the upperclassmen scissors ambush, unlike his friends who still ducked us in the halls and after school.

I went into the Navy after two aimless years in college and lost contact with everyone in Austin except my closest friends, who were already in some branch of the service or trying mightily to stay out of it via college deferments. No in-between in those days, do or die as they said. To my knowledge, Michael was the only one of his friends to go into the service, the rest going to college and several later on to law school. I'm certain Michael would have been there alongside them had he made it back. He was the only Viet Nam death from Austin High School in those years. I'm not sure about Reagan High School, the new high school that opened his senior year and from which he and his friends graduated, the school's first graduating class.

The last time I saw his father was when I was home on leave about 16 months before Michael was killed. He was at the Pizza Hut on the Drag. I didn't say anything to him. I sure wish I had now. I have often thought about the anguish his father and family must have felt.

I think of Michael every time I pass through the old neighborhood, wondering what he would have done with the rest of his life. A stocky, blond teenager who was on the quiet side and was thoughtful, he was a solid guy with solid friends and a good athlete who made good grades. It was no surprise that he served our country and it was no surprise that he wound up in an MOS most couldn't handle and many of those who could avoided.

Viet Nam, I guess, will always stalk my generation with passionate and venonomous memories, still splitting us like it did so many years ago, a bad memory that continues to follow us despite the passing of time. What is beyond controversy is the enormous sacrifice Michael and others like him made for our country. I wish it had not been so.

Rest in peace, Michael, for you have earned your place of honor in our hearts and minds.
From a friend,
Roger Rountree

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