LCPL Robin L. Arnold, About Tink

Robin was born on February 12, 1948 in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, the second child of Andrew and Corinne Arnold. He and his older sister would be followed by 4 more siblings. Because of his penchant to make a rather odiferous mess in his diapers, the family began calling him "Stinker". Soon, this became "Tinker" and finally shortened to just "Tink". Even as he got older, Tink couldn't get his family to stop calling him that but to his friends, he was known as "Arnie".

In 1959, his mother and father divorced and he moved with his mother and siblings to Illinois, just outside Chicago. As the oldest male in the household, he often assumed the responsibilities of the "man of the house" while his older sister took care of the young ones.

By his early teens, his family had settled in to a house in Streamwood, Illinois, situated 30 miles northwest of Chicago. He attended Larkin High School in Elgin, but left before graduation in order to enlist.

Tink's dream was to be a Marine. He couldn't wait. As soon as he hit 17, he enlisted. He signed up under the "buddy plan" with his best friend from Streamwood, Tom Wingrenn. According to the recruiter, they would never be split up. Off they went to Camp Pendleton. They went through Boot together. Everything was fine.

Tom was about 6 months older than Tink and, when he finished boot camp and turned 18, they shipped him off to Nam. Tink was furious. He argued with everyone and anyone about it. He even went so far as to write President Johnson. To no avail. Johnson returned a letter saying that he was sorry, but it was against the law to send a 17 year-old to Nam.