Glenbard West grad killed in Vietnam honored at Glen Ellyn memorial

About a dozen or so men were missing in Vietnam that morning 50 years ago.

They left their camp for a routine patrol on May 12, 1966. And when they lost contact with the unit, company commanders told Bruce Capel to mobilize a squad.

"He was a man who I would have followed anywhere," Bernie Triano remembers.

And so he did, joining Capel, the imposing, square-jawed, blue-eyed Marine, on a search mission that would go horribly wrong.

They would find themselves trapped, ambushed by Viet Cong fighters and attacked on three sides "like a horseshoe," Triano said.

Capel was forced to reveal himself to get the coordinates of their location, vital information needed to call for artillery and air support - the cover for their escape.

"And unfortunately ... he took a round," Triano said.

Their air support arrived shortly after Capel, the 23-year-old platoon commander, was fatally shot.

"He helped us get out of there," Triano said. "He did his job."

And so Triano traveled from his home in Florida to Glen Ellyn Thursday to thank Capel's family during a ceremony at a veterans memorial on the Marine Corps' 241st birthday.

"There's no place else I'd want to be today than here," he told the gathering near Capel's alma mater, Glenbard West High School.

The ceremony dedicated a flagpole that once stood outside Capel's boyhood home on Hillside Avenue and now anchors the "Heroes of Freedom" memorial.

A builder developing neighboring properties inadvertently removed the pole about 15 years ago. The home's new owners found it near their garage.

Andy Cvengros, who grew up across the street from the Capel home and was sometimes scolded by Capel's mother for playing too close to her memorial garden for her late son, heard about the discovery and restored the pole to its original height.

"It was an honor dedicated to the son by two grieving parents that now sits in this community to honor all the Glen Ellyn war dead," said Jay Robertson, a member of the defensive coaching staff of the famed football team at their base near Quantico, Virginia.

Capel was a starter on the team that played against other bases and even colleges. At Glenbard West, Capel is still known as the "Original Hitter," an honor bestowed on him by then Coach Bill Duchon.

He named the Hitters Club after Capel, a team captain, to inspire players to bring a "hard-nosed attitude on the field" and a gentlemanly attitude off it, the bylaws read.

Capel would walk on at the University of Illinois, where he roomed with another center-linebacker, Richard Marvin "Dick" Butkus. Each got snaps at center in the 1964 Rose Bowl win.

The Chicago Bears drafted Butkus. Capel enlisted.

Woody Gilliland completed basic training with Capel and played alongside him on the Quantico team. On more than one occasion, he's traced Capel's name on panel 7E-Line 51 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

"He was very intense in all that he did, and the thing that I'll always remember is he did everything with a smile," Gilliland said.

Ron Aubrey, a former Glen Ellyn Park District commissioner, led a project to build the memorial and connect Capel's family with remembrances in his hometown for the 50th anniversary of his death.

Capel's nieces never met their uncle. But through his fellow Marines and Hitters, Laura Capel Claassen and Lisa Capel Jones now know their uncle was a gentle giant.

"What a legacy a 23-year-old could have left," Capel Jones said.