Biography:
In Memory of
John Gaylord Bokor
1945 - 2016 
Date of Birth: Tuesday, June 9th, 1945
Date of Death: Thursday, December 8th, 2016
In Remembrance
of John Gaylord Bokor, 981st MP Co. (1970-1971)
(As recalled by VDHA Member Dennis Thomas,
former NCO with the 981st MP Co. 1970-1971)
Born June
9, 1945 – Died December 8, 2016
I first met John in Lackland where we did AIT Sentry Dog
training. He graduated MP school in Fort Gordon a cycle earlier than me and
went back to New Jersey to bring his wife and sister-in-law with him to San
Antonio. He had the Jersey accent
(although not over the top) and a dry sense of humor. We became fast friends
and many evenings and weekends I spent with them. What I remember most about
John was his unusual way of walking, landing first on the toe, rather than his heel,
and rolling forward from there. I had never seen it before, nor have I seen it
since. It still makes me grin. He also had that Nordic look of rugged features
and a shock of dark blond hair. His dog was King, a nasty shepherd who could
not be trusted, even by John. (Photo Below) I recall during off leash attack training
one of the marines, Werkheiser, was in full burlap suit and upon release took
off like a bullet and hit the guy so hard he was knocked to the ground and
ended up with a dozen stitches in his face from dog bite. The marine’s first
battle scars…LOL.
In early April we flew with the dogs in the hold of a C-141
from Kelly AFB to Cam Ranh Bay for duty.
After a few months, the family was in dire straits in San Antonio and
John applied for a compassionate transfer which was granted, and he finished
his tour at Fort Sam Houston. Awhile after my ETS I got married to the
sister-in-law…LOL again! A couple of years after that John and wife got
divorced (they never had children) and I inherited their dog, a Malamute. 
John joined the Peace Corps and served in
Indonesia. (Photo at Left) He told an interesting story of one moonlit night
he felt the urge to go for a walk, and the moonlight on his blond hair as he
walked down the street spooked the villagers and the next morning it was
deserted and took a few days to get everyone to understand that it was not a
ghost. He enjoyed being out in the less
inhabited areas and wilderness. After returning once again to the U.S., he got a job with the Idaho Fish and Wildlife Department where he worked until retirement.
Since the time I first met him, he smoked like a chimney, and that is what did him in, as he contracted cancer and died at his home in Nampa, Idaho.
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