Flaherty took Yuzuk to a storage locker he rented to pull out photos and documents that might be useful in the documentary, and they returned several times in the following weeks until May 9, 2015 — the date Flaherty was struck and killed by a hit and run driver near his palm-shaded campsite. In July, the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office said it would not press charges against Socolov. He hopes people who might have the answers to his questions will see the film and come out of the woodwork. Amos was the older brother to my father. Amos Gordon Flaherty. When he graduated from high school, Flaherty was 4 feet, 9 inches tall — three inches too short to meet the Army’s height requirement at the time. He later told a psychiatrist why: "I needed to get out of town because someone was after me," he insisted. (Age 74) USMC (Ret.) The body was then to be escorted to the chapel at Fort Myer, Virginia, for the funeral service and to Arlington National Cemetery for burial. "I made the decision to just let the story play out the way it really is and not to bend it or twist it in any direction to protect him.". Richard was released, while Bingham was recalled to Dublin. "I was blown away," Yuzuk says. Yuzuk couldn't wait to meet Flaherty again. Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. Rudy will be buried in our Lazarus plot at New Calvery Cemetery along with baby Angela, who has been in the care of Dolan Funeral Home since her funeral in January. In later years, Flaherty became homeless and slept beneath a palm tree in Aventura. Mary was born on September 15 1897, in Bradford, Yorkshire, England. The revelation stunned Yuzuk, who was so moved he decided to make a documentary about Flaherty's life. In his new life as a civilian, Flaherty studied at the University of Miami in Florida, but entered a period of despondency after a girlfriend died in a car wreck in 1975. "I'll never know what the real truth is," he says. Capt. "He's finally going to tell me the mystery of life. In 2008, Flaherty bought a ticket to Amman, Jordan, a staging area to enter Iraq. Burial. By his own account, Yuzuk was "a troubled 14-year-old kid" when he entered high school, but he soon found his niche on the football team, where he excelled. It was an inauspicious start for a truly spectacular life. In addition to exposing himself to enemy fire while leading the charge on the bunker, Flaherty “displayed extraordinary heroism while engaged in close combat with a well dug-in enemy force, in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service.”. How old was Richard P Flaherty when died? Just before Thanksgiving, on yet another deep dive into Flaherty's storage locker, Yuzuk found a toolbox with four audio cassettes inside. Giant Killers are among us-- author David Yuzuk walked with one and returned with this tale.” Flaherty was born to a mother who, unknown to her, had a blood type that made her second-born son vulnerable to oxygen deprivation in his infancy, which stunted his growth. Inside the restaurant, the two men grazed on chicken legs and sweet potatoes while Flaherty described his early life and military heroics for Yuzuk, who jotted down notes. Oct 2, 1926. Burial will be at Mt. "Even right now, I'm just picturing Richard walking around with his little bag," Yuzuk says. Yuzuk stared in shock at the newly discovered passport, which was stamped with recent trips around the globe. Putting people in that situation changes them.” he said. Yuzuk was stunned by both the sudden loss of a friend and the realization that he would need to do his own detective work to discover what Flaherty had not gotten around to telling him about his life. The plan was to connect Flaherty to some services, maybe get him off the street. Meanwhile, Flaherty’s burial spot, just behind Lisa Davis Anness’s grave, remains unmarked as another Veterans Day approaches. But Yuzuk couldn't help but dig deeper. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. Richard is survived by his only brother, Walter Timothy Flaherty Jr. and a host of other family. But other clues unearthed by Yuzuk suggest Flaherty's travels were more than just the strange hobby of an eccentric man. And then, in the spring of 2015, Flaherty abruptly opened up to Yuzuk. An altar boy is accused of murdering a priest, and the truth is buried several layers deep. Richard Flaherty returned from war and studied at the University of Miami in Florida. After all, he'd been gunrunning and buying black-market explosives for the feds. By the next year, Flaherty stopped showing up at work. "I thought this was just a story about a Vietnam vet with PTSD living on the street. After a while, whenever I’d see him, I’d give him a little head nod and he’d do the same. Despite Flaherty's dire warnings just before his death, Yuzuk now believes Flaherty was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. MILTON — The shortest soldier to serve in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, a highly decorated officer who completed one tour of duty as a platoon leader with an airborne battalion and another as a Green Beret captain, lies at rest in an as-yet unmarked grave in a Milton cemetery.