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Nobody really knew about Richard J. “Dick” Breyer Jr.’s honors from the U.S. Army.
His late wife, Terry R. (Forrestieri) Breyer, was even unaware of her husband’s decorations until she found several medals hidden in a drawer.
She proudly framed and hung the 12 medals from his almost 25-year military career on the wall, a collection that included the honorable Bronze Star Medal.
Her husband didn’t particularly want his achievements on display. He wasn’t the bragging type. But he loved her very much and knew it was important to her.
Breyer died peacefully Dec. 22 in his home in Wyndmoor at age 79, taking with him the secrets of his many accolades. His family still doesn’t know why he received the Bronze Star, his stepdaughter, Sharon Krass, said in an interview Tuesday.
In the days following his death, family and friends from the American Legion Arthur V. Savage Post 100 in Wyndmoor, where Breyer devoted much of his time, described a man who, from the outside, seemed a bit of a curmudgeon, a stickler for correctness and accuracy in language and finances, and who carried himself with the serious air common of a military man, but who loved his wife so deeply that after her death he lost the will to fight his own ailments.
“Although he was proud of his service, he never boasted. He achieved many honors and medals during his time in the army, but that was information he didn’t share with anyone,” said Krass of the man she affectionately called Pop, in her prepared eulogy at the burial mass Dec. 26 at Queen of Peace Church in Ardsley.
During the last 20 years of his life, Breyer served the Arthur V. Savage Post as financial officer and particularly loved the Wyndmoor Memorial Day parade.
Born Aug. 24, 1930 at Abington Hospital and raised outside of Philadelphia, Breyer enlisted in the Army at 18 and completed two tours of combat in Korea and one in Vietnam during his 25 or so years of service.
Breyer was also stationed in Germany, Japan and Italy and was fluent in Russian, Korean, Japanese, Italian and German, said Krass, a resident of Glenside.
Russian was the only one he learned formally, as the Army sent him to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., to train in communications during the height of the Cold War, Krass said.
Breyer retired from the Army in 1972 as a chief warrant officer. He had begun studying for his bachelor’s degree while serving and after retiring finished his degree at the University of Maryland. He also worked as the financial manager for the U.S. Navy at the Department of Defense, she said.
Later he moved to Philadelphia to work in the Navy Yard, met Theresa Forrestieri in 1979 and married her a year later. They lived in Philadelphia several years, moved to Washington, D.C., for another and transferred back to Northeast Philadelphia to the Defense Department Base, Krass said.
Breyer retired to Wyndmoor, though those close to him said it wasn’t quite retirement, as he treated his job as financial officer at the Arthur V. Savage Post very seriously.
Jim Marlin, commander of the post for 14 years, called Breyer his “strongest sounding board.”
“Mostly he was the money man. He had all the p’s and q’s right where they needed to be. We’d fly through every audit without a problem. He kept us straight,” Marlin said in an interview Monday. “He’s the kind of person who wouldn’t go to bed unless every penny was accounted for. And I mean every penny.”
Breyer was financial officer for 25 years, Ron Stone, adjutant, said Monday.
“He was such a stickler for honesty and for doing the right thing and making sure nobody was taking advantage of anyone else. And I admired him for that,” said Stone, who has been adjutant for six years.
Stone admired his colleague even when he was correcting his word usage.
“You’re going to bring it to him, or you’re going to take it to him?” Stone recalled Breyer saying.
And while he could appear gruff on the outside, inside Breyer was warm, family and friends said.
Stone recalled that after his own pet bird died, Breyer’s eyes welled in compassion. Breyer had a papillon dog named Pappy that used to sit by his feet while he worked and had to be put down a few months before Breyer himself passed away, Stone said.
In the last two years of his life, following his wife’s passing in 2004, Breyer’s health began to diminish. Those close to him could tell some of his motivation to keep himself healthy was diminishing as well.
“When he lost her, he lost a big piece of himself,” she said.
What Krass will remember most about Breyer is how much he loved her mother.
Breyer lived life cautiously, the result of his experiences in the Army, Krass said.
“When he met my mother he finally was safe and comfortable and happy,” she said. “When he lost her, he lost a big piece of himself.”
Breyer is survived by a sister, Maria Mastranton; two children, John Mascaro and Sharon Krass, and four grandchildren.
“He will be sadly missed and I think that the post will always honor him and remember him in some manner because he made quite an impression on a lot of people,” Krass said.
Services were held Dec. 26. The family requests all memorials be sent to the Arthur V. Savage American Legion Post in Wyndmoor.
