http://www.christsreturn.org

thank you

Thomas Reginald Raschel was a fellow Baha’i soldier when I was in the US Army at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas in the mid-1960s. He died in Vietnam and for 44 years, I have kept his memory and thoughts of his sacrifice alive. I wanted to share with others that these veteran “heroes” should be honored rather than forgotten.

He was my best friend and he was kind of a “big-brother” and he taught me a great deal. He was a little older than me and seemed to understand how immature I was and how to give me spiritual support and how much I needed someone to help me connect with the other Baha’i servicemen. He loved the Baha’i Faith and he loved people–he taught me a lot about how to live the Baha’i life and how to deepen and teach others. His death was a severe trauma for me. I couldn’t understand why someone with so much promise could be “taken” from us at such an early age.

For 44 years I have looked for Tommy’s relatives or friends who still survive and I finally “discovered” his niece who was likewise thrilled to find out I had known Tommy so well in the army. We are sharing memories over the email and it has brought me a whole new flood of inner healing and making peace within myself regarding Tommy’s death.

TOMMY TOLD ME THAT HE WAS FROM PASADENA but he was buried in Albuquerque, NM. Maybe other Baha’is on this site “might” have known Tommy, way back in the 1960s. If so, please connect back with me at

Loving regards,

Don Addison, Ph. D.

Thanks for your message of support! Do you know Alan Pezeshki @ CalTech? He’s a Baha’i there.

Best,
The Editor