REBECCA LEONARD, Sentinel & Enterprise
LEOMINSTER, Mass. (AP) — Fitchburg resident Brian Keenan spent 46 years searching for the man he credits to saving his life, the commander of his unit that he served under during Vietnam.
On Nov. 28, the two finally reunited.
“He called me the other day,” said retired Army Capt. Anthony Farinelli, a Leominster resident. “I didn’t remember the situation that he was talking about. But I figured he thinks I saved his life, so I’ll meet him.”
Keenan, 67, had a letter published in the Sentinel & Enterprise last year explaining what he was thankful for on Thanksgiving. He recounted an encounter with his commander of the 4/3 Reconnaissance Division in Vietnam in December 1969, when Farinelli, now 76, showed him a movie of the 1969 Leominster-Fitchburg Thanksgiving football game.
According to Keenan, his unit had arrived at the fire base on San Juan Hill, where it was “safer than being in the bush.” He was told when he arrived that the company commander wanted to see him.
“My first reaction was that I didn’t do anything wrong, so why would he want to see me,” Keenan wrote in the letter.
To his surprise, Farinelli, sat him down and showed him what they had missed at home that year, Keenan said, adding that Farinelli bragged about the 40-18 Leominster victory over Fitchburg.
Farinelli was on his second tour in Vietnam when the two men met, so someone had sent him the video from home.
The men then began a conversation that would bring the two together 46 years later.
“He asked me how I was doing,” said Keenan. “I remember telling him that half my company was either killed or wounded.”
Keenan said Farinelli looked at him and said, “I’m going to take care of you.”
Shortly afterward, Keenan was moved from the field to San Juan Hill, to the mortar division, for the last six months of his service.
Keenan says that move may have saved his life.
Until Thanksgiving, Keenan couldn’t remember his commander’s name. His son, Braedon, is to thank for revealing the name of the man who saved his father’s life.
On the night before Thanksgiving, Keenan’s son was digging through letters that his father had written to his mother, Joanne, during his time in Vietnam. In one of the letters, he told his wife about Farinelli.
With the new information, Keenan took it down to the local veterans center and asked if they could find him in their system. His name, spelled wrong in his letter, was close to a veteran who lived in the area.
With some help, Keenan said, he was able to call Farinelli and speak to him for the first time in many years.
“I knew it was him, because he said he had been the commanding officer for the 4/3 on San Juan Hill,” said Keenan.
Keenan said he had basically given up trying to find him.
During their meeting, the two remembered the layout of San Juan Hill — where the mess tent was and where artillery was stationed.
They discussed each other’s reasons for serving. Farinelli enlisted to find who he was, while Keenan was drafted.
Having been drafted into the military, and serving for two years, Keenan said he always thought of Farinelli around Thanksgiving.
After leaving the service, he said, he worked for General Electric Co. and later became a Fitchburg police officer. He has been married to his wife for 45 years and now has six sons, all of whom have played for the Red Raiders football team against the Leominster Blue Devils.
“If it hadn’t been for (Farinelli), I might not have even had my sons,” said Keenan.
As for Farinelli, who served for 20 years in the Army infantry and who oversaw thousands of men every day in Vietnam, Keenan and his interaction had slipped his mind after so many years. But he’s still overwhelmed.
Farinelli retired in 1978 and went on to work in insurance at Metrowest. He still lives in Leominster with his wife of 55 years, Helga, and together they had five children and more than 21 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
“What do you say to a man who credits you to saving his life? It came as a bit of a shock,” said Farinelli.
