Nathaniel Merriweather: The Friend Who Didn’t Forget

For years, Larry Knapp searched for any link to the friend he lost years ago on a dark night in Vietnam, 1966. With the thought of his friend Nathaniel Merriweather close to his heart, Knapp never stopped searching.

Where was Merriweather buried? He wondered of the young man he only knew had come from Milwaukee (but didn’t rest there).

“I have often tried to find a link to you. I close my eyes, and I can still see you. You are not forgotten,” Knapp, a retired sheriff’s deputy from Illinois, would say.

Imagine dedicating your life to your country at a young age, while risking your own life, which is so full of potential and hope and then losing it without people knowing how or why you died or being able to see the face behind your heroism. Imagine coming back to a country that did not receive you or your service well or with welcoming arms. Imagine if you were in the battle that took your friend’s life many years ago in a country far from what you knew as home.

“The fighting was fierce, and the enemy was close to us. I could hear them speaking. It was a horrific battle and all in the black of the night.”

And imagine if you couldn’t figure out what happened to that friend who was with you on that dark night.

One of Wisconsin’s Vietnam fallen, Sgt. Nathaniel Merriweather, was the friend of platoonmate, SP/4 Larry Knapp of Co A 2/27 infantry 25th division. For decades, Knapp wanted to learn anything he could about Merriweather.

Unbeknownst to Knapp, a class of student journalists from the integrated reporting class at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was looking for Merriweather too. The class was assisting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund in finding the photos of deceased Vietnam veterans who were from state of Wisconsin. One name on a list of 64 the class was looking for: Merriweather.

From 1954 to 1975, close to 2.1 million American G.I’s served in Vietnam. With the loss of 3 million people, including 58,000 American soldiers, the average American infantryman faced up to 240 days of combat, according to History.com.

Out of the 1,161 service members who died in Vietnam from Wisconsin, Sgt. Nathaniel Merriweather was just one of many.

“There are 58,482 reasons why we as a county need to honor the Vietnam veterans,” says Knapp.“Especially the men killed in action.”

Eighteen long pages of an Army report detail the night that took Sgt. Merriweather’s life and wounded others, including Larry Knapp. “As morning fell, I heard Louis (Luco) Rollings cry out that Nathaniel was shot and killed,” Knapp recalls.

A young man, 18, far away from Chicago, Illinois, which he knew as home, but now who was experiencing with firsthand knowledge the violence and war in the world, Knapp witnessed a sadness and grief over not just the loss of a great soldier but also a great person.

“I can still see it in my mind’s eye, Luco screaming and crying over the loss of his friend.”

Merriweather was born Oct. 5, 1942 to Corrine Merriweather in Stanton, Tennessee. By age 23, he was a sergeant in the United States Army. Enlisting from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Sgt. Merriweather was the type of soldier to go above and beyond for his country.

“He volunteered to go to Vietnam TDY for three months to be a door gunner on huey helicopters for MACV,” says Knapp. “I admired his willingness to serve his country when he did not have to.”

A “proud American with a great sense of humor,” Sgt. Merriweather had less than 40 days left in the Army before he was to be discharged, said Knapp. With the loss of his friend on April 5, 1966, and a purple heart medal for the wounds received in action, Knapp went on to become a deputy for Cook County in Illinois, but not without the memory of his good friend, and the hope to reconnect with anything that linked them together.

Back in Wisconsin, an integrated reporting journalism student was assigned to find a photo and get in touch with Sgt. Merriweather’s family, friends or mates, in an effort to help assist completing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Funds Wall of Faces.

While searching memorial websites for information for anyone connected to Sgt. Merriweather or anyone who served with him, UW-Milwaukee professor, Jessica McBride, and journalism student, Amanda Porter, came across Larry Knapp’s post and learned of his yearning to finally have some closure on his friend’s resting place.

“I have often wondered where you rest,” wrote Knapp.

In an email to Porter, Knapp said, “If you would be so kind and let this old vet know what you learn about him, I would be most grateful.”

Through many internet search engines, the student journalist was able to find Sgt. Merriweather’s final resting spot, located north of Stanton, Tennessee, on Berry Road, at New Hope Baptist Church Cemetery. After contacting Stanton’s town hall, and speaking with a local man named Jim Ackerman, and even the town’s mayor, Dr. Allan Sterbinsky, a Wisconsin native, Porter was able to locate a photograph of Sgt. Nathaniel Merriweather posted in “The States-Graphic” on April 8, 1966.

Returning to America for 18 year-old Knapp was not as warming as one would have expected, especially during the racially tense period of the civil rights movements. “We were treated badly when we came home. We were spat on, called bad names.”

Due to America’s conflicting opinion of the military’s involvement in Vietnam, some were not appreciative, thankful or welcoming of returning Vietnam veterans that served and risked their lives for this country. “It took Chicago 10 years to have a parade for Vietnam veterans,” say Knapp. “Look how long it took the VA (U.S Department of Veteran Affairs) to give us health care we should have received when we got out of the service.”

Knapp, a retired deputy who served on the Cook County’s Sheriff Department for 28 years, now knows where his friend was laid to rest and can now have a place to visit and show respect to his dear friend and fellow platoon mate.

“Nathaniel was older by six years, however he treated me with respect and helped me with our training… I respected him for his character, his knowledge and his sense of humor,” said Knapp. Knapp received two Purple Heart medals for his wounds received in action in Vietnam.

Merriweather will now and forever more be apart of and remembered for his duty and services to this country on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Wall of Faces located in Washington D.C. thanks to a soldier and friend who never lost sight of his comrade, an aspiring journalist from his hometown and several other helping hands.