Memorial golf tournament honors fallen soldier

It hadn't even been a month after classmate Capt. Richard Cliff was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in September 2008 that childhood friends organized a Veterans Day golf tournament in his honor.

Cliff's friends from his Wando High School Class of 1997 hope to make the tournament an annual event. They are hosting the second annual Capt. Richard Cliff Memorial Golf Tournament on Nov. 11.

Cliff is survived by wife Stacy and a son, Richie, who was 4 weeks old when his father died.

Cliff's brother, Eddie Cliff, said the tournament was a good way to remember his brother. And friends wanted to support Cliff's widow.

"Even though we were heartbroken, it was a fun day. A day to take your mind off of it," Eddie Cliff said.

Funds from this year's event will go to the Special Operations War-rior Foundation, which assists children of fallen Special Forces troop by providing college funds and counseling.

Richard Cliff asked in his will that people support the foundation, Cliff's mother, Julie Cliff of Mount Pleasant, said. Cliff received his green beret just before his death.

"You have to work very hard to achieve that and he felt that brotherhood with (Special Forces) and wanted to support that," Julie Cliff said.

After graduating from Wando High, Cliff attended Appalachian State University, where he participated in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. Coming from a family with a military background, Cliff had considered going into the service while in high school, his mother said.

"The ROTC cemented it for him," she said.

He'd been in the Army for six years, but remained friends with his Mount Pleasant classmates.

Eddie Cliff, who lived in Mount Pleasant until eight months ago, said whenever his brother came home, he and the group would get together and catch up.

"It was a welcoming-home kind of deal with the same circle of friends," he said.

The annual tournament is a wonderful tribute and another reason for friends to catch up, he said.

"Knowing that it will become permanent," he said, means his brother's friends will continue to gather and reminisce. "Those memories are going to continue to live on."

Earlier this year, the Class of 1997 expanded the Fallen Warrior Memorial behind Wando High School, which was built after Army Maj. Edward Murphy of the Wando Class of 1987 was killed in an April 2005 helicopter crash in Afghanistan.

Cliff's classmates also hope to establish a scholarship in Richard Cliff's name.

Kit Menis, Adam King and Kevin Wray, the tournament's three organizers, grew up together with Cliff. Though other Wando High School classes remain friends, "none of them are as tight as our entire class," Menis said.

Cliff's death "made us realize how important our relationships with each other are," she said.

Cliff's parents, Julie and Richard Cliff, said that the strengthened friendships among their son's classmates are inspiring.

"Richie would be pleased by how his friends have renewed and strengthened their relationships," Julie Cliff said. "Something positive came out of all of this."

Reach Jessica Johnson at 937-5921 or jjohnson@postandcourier.com.