RALPH JOSEPH REICHEL
2 January 1956 - 30 December 2007


May Your Memory Be Eternal

 

 

 

 

 

Ralph was born to the late Floyd and Anna
(Davis) Reichel on 2 January 1956 in Lancaster
Pennsylvania but raised in Breinigsville. This
picture was taken when Ralph was 4 years old.

 

Ralph had it hard growing up and although he had
friends was still much of a loner. He had trouble
communicating with others for fear of being put down,
laughed at or rejected. Those of us who knew Ralph
were blessed and those who didn't missed out. He never
did overcome a lot of his childhood issues but that's
okay, we loved him anyway.

 

Ralph enlisted in the United States Army Reserve on
20 March 1975. He was discharged 5 October 1975 and
enlisted in United States Army on 6 October 1975 in
Wilkes-Barre, PA. On 21 November 1975 he was reassigned
to Fort Knox, Kentucky as Private 1st Class Unit E185
(W1RB1Y). On 26 March 1976 he was reassigned to Fort Hood,
Texas and was to report 14 April 1976. Ralph was upgraded
on 27 December 1976 to Specialist Four, Company C, 27th
Maintenance Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division. His military
occupation was Automotive Reparimen. On 5 October 1978
Ralph left the Army with an Honorable Discharge.


1977

1994

 

 

 

Ralph loved his Harley and you could find him enjoying
rides whenever he could. I think that was the best time
of his life. A time when he could be himself and have fun.
That's how I will always remember him.

 

 

Let's comfort one another
with favorite memories
Of sharing times
when we were all together.
Let's celebrate the spirit
of one very special life
So in our hearts the flame
will burn forever.


1992

The Morning Call Newspaper, Allentown, Pennsylvania
Thursday, 3 January 2008
Ralph J. Reichel, 51, of Allentown, died Dec. 30, 2007, at St.
Lukes Hospital, Fountain Hill. Born in Lancaster and raised in
Breinigsville, he was a son of the late Floyd G. and Anna (Davis)
Reichel. Ralph served in the Army. He enjoyed Harleys and playing
on the computer. Survivors: Colleen Klaum, his live-in companion;
sisters, Anna Mae Leibenguth, Helen Brown; brothers, Floyd Jr.,
Lewis; nieces, nephews. Services: 10 a.m. Saturday, Weber Funeral
Home, 502 Ridge Ave., Allentown. Please call from 9 a.m. until the
time of service Saturday.

"Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there
I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle Autumn's rain.
When you awaken in the morning's
hush. I am the swift uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and
cry; I am not there.
I did not die."

Memorial Tribute

The best way to honor someone is to share a fond memory of them. Please do.
Email me yours.
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I have so many memories of Ralph that I couldn't begin to list them all. I remember how he taught me to drive stick, I remember all those calls I got by mistake, I remember all those funny emails, I remember him flipping his snowmobile in the corn field, I remember him putting his hand through the screen door and ending up with a cast, I remember sitting on the floor opening presents and Ralph came over, turned around and let one rip. He thought that was the funniest thing, then he got in trouble which I thought was the funniest thing. So many memories I have and so many I will miss. I will never forget the impact he had on my life. I love you Cookie.
---Michele
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Hello, my name is Jim and I served with Ralph Reichel in Fort Hood from '76 - "78.
Ralph was then and always will be my friend. There was a small group of about six of us soldiers that would hang out - usually out at Belton Lake together. We would just hang out, drink soft drinks, look at (and sometimes chase) girls, throw frisbees, and our favorite music was the rock group "Boston."
As I'm sure you know, Ralph was a bit of a loner. I admired Ralph. It took several persistant invitations before he started going places with us. I liked Ralph because he was quiet - but smart. He also didn't smoke dope and by army standards he would rarely drink. Two trips I especially remember were to Galveston Texas. There were two carloads of us. We also went to the Cajun Nationals NHRA drag races in Baton Rouge in 1978. It was a great trip and fantastic weekend at the track. We went to Austin and San Marcos alot too. I seem to remember that Ralph had bought an old Mustang Mach1 and that he used to work on it out in the parking lot a lot.
There is an excellent chance that I took the very picture of Ralph sitting on the M-88 that you have posted. I was the tank commander on the M-88 and Ralph was the mechanic/rigger. As always seems to happen, I lost contact with Ralph over the years, however we briefly reconnected on the classmates.com website back when it was popular.
Ralph was a terrific person and a great soldier. I had a hard cry when I googled his name and realized that he had passed. I was hoping to find him and reminisce about old times. I can scarcely believe it has been 35 years. The group of us that ran together were, Ralph, myself, Ed, Tom, Bill, Larry, and Mark.
I am a Christian man and felt compelled to write this to you.
Thank you and God Bless.
---James Alsip
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Ralph is at the far right behind the motorcycles. I remember this picture well from may of 1978. It was an impromptu shot as we were getting ready to go into a Burger King restaurant in Galveston Texas. I am second from the left in the black jacket. That's Ed standing between me and Ralph. We made a couple of trips to Galveston and being poor underpaid soldiers, we slept on the beach at night in our army issued sleeping bags. We were tough young soldiers and it was fun.
I wish now we had posed better and taken about 50 times more pictures than we did. Sounds crazy now - but it's like we never thought those days would end, or that we would ever grow old. Ha!!! Looks like the joke was on us.
On this particular trip we took two motorcycles and Ed's Plymouth Duster. There were five of us on this trip. Tom took this picture. (My 32 year old son is named after Tom.) We were and still are considered to be Vietnam Era veterans.
One of my favorite trips was to the NHRA Cajun Nationals in Baton Rouge about a month later. I remember seeing a dollar lying up under the bleachers on our first day there. No one would go under the bleachers to pick it up. I forgot about it for the rest of the day. We were leaving right at dusk when I remembered it again and went behind and under the bleachers. Ha!!! It ended up being two 20 dollar bills rolled together. (like finding 200 dollars now) We drove/rode to a supermarket and I used our new found riches to buy us four big bags of groceries to munch on during the weekend.
Seems like every weekend we could scrape up at least enough money between us to go somewhere and hang out. We very rarely drank anything because we would always rather buy gas than booze. True gearheads even then. I do wish that Ralph had owned a motorcycle back then. That would have been absolutely perfect.
--James Alsip
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