Georgia XXIV

I had hoped today to interrupt my normal sequencing to repost an interesting article I came across about the evacuation of Saigon.

50 years ago on Saturday we all saw the famous picture of the helicopter on the roof of the American Embassy: people lined up trying to escape from the mayhem, the fall of Saigon and the end of our efforts in that far away place.

But, permission from the site I saw it on on has not arrived. Perhaps it never will. If it does not, I will tell the story at a later date, but I would like to hold out hope.

So, I will proceed with a post honoring three from Georgia who gave all for our efforts and the Vietnamese people,

These brisks were found, among others at the Manchester Mill and Veterans Park on Callaway Street. 

These are from a small group of those who were lost. You can see my original post here.

Next time, on the 1st of April (no fooling) I hope to highlight a few of the names from the beautiful memorial on Oahu in Hawai'i.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you, like Joan from Wisconsin, Tony from Texas, Mike from Maryland, Ron from Florida, Tim from Virginia and Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, Elli from Maryland, and now Peg and Ray from Florida, among others, have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. I even got one from Ireland! These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served and/or were lost in 'Nam and you help to honor them. If you have any such photos, I would love to see them. Please send them along to the email at the left and I will gladly share them here.

I hope all those listed here will encourage you to send along photos.

Florida XXVII

I am excited today to take you back to Florida.

 

Excited for two reasons: 1. because I have been made aware of a remarkable site not far from Orlando and

                                        2. because, once again, you have answered my call for contributions.

Cpl. Larry E. Smedley was a 19 year old Marine on patrol with six others men. They fell into an ambush. After taking out a machine gun nest and being mortally wounded, Cpl. Smedley was awarded the Medal of Honor. In addition, his fellow veterans have created this museum in his honor.

You can read a bit of his story below:

 

This is just the beginning of this story. I will be writing about this site for some time I am sure, there is so much to see.

For now, be sure to check back on the 27th to return to Georgia, as always, at 9:00 am.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you, like Joan from Wisconsin, Tony from Texas, Mike from Maryland, Ron from Florida, Tim from Virginia and Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, Elli from Maryland, and now Peg and Ray from Florida, among others, have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. I even got one from Ireland! These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served and/or were lost in 'Nam and you help to honor them. If you have any such photos, I would love to see them. Please send them along to the email at the left and I will gladly share them here.

I hope all those listed here will encourage you to send along photos.

Thanks, once again, to all Peg and Ray and all who have contributed.

St. Patrick's Day 2025

Since St. Patrick's Day falls on my usual posting schedule (every 5th day at 9:00 am) I decided to repost this one with a few typo corrections and an additional photo. I especially like that it honors the Irish who have served our country, not only in Vietnam, throughout our history.

Today is St. Patrick's Day and I want to honor the many Irish who have stood side by side with us in various conflicts.

Records indicate that nearly 50% percent of The Continental Army were Irish.

In the Mexican American War there was formed The St. Patrick's Brigade (although some who served were European, not necessarily Irish) The Brigade numbered more than 200 in 1846.

Irish have a long history of fighting with the U.S. perhaps most notably at Gettysburg where monuments to Irish units abound. 200,000 Irish participated in the American Civil War: 180 thousand fought for the Union and 20,000 for the Confederacy. 23,600 or 20% of the Union Navy were Irish.

Many Irish or of Irish descent served in both WWI and WWII although I could not track down actual numbers.

27 Irish Soldiers and one Irish Marine never returned from Korea.

And, I have written previously of my failed efforts to find a memorial in Ennis, Ireland to the 30* Irish citizens who came, among the 2500 Irish, to fight in Vietnam and were lost. (I have since learned that it has, in fact been built and I hope to get to Ennis in the future to see it.)

*I have just learned from my friend Declan Hughes of Irish Veterans, Kinsale, Co. Cork, Ireland that the actual number has grown to 32. Declan is the man previously mentioned in my post about The Wall coming to Ireland and researching the names of the Irish heroes lost in 'Nam. I wrote a long post about this and you can read it here. Declan has been a wonderful source of information for me as I pursued this topic. Thank you, Declan!

Here are the 30 names of Irish lost on the memorial at Ennis.

Photos used by permission of Irish Vietnam Memorial Project

Photo by Mike Eggleston and used with permission

The names are a little hard to read due to the rain, so are listed below.

IRISH WHO LOST THEIR LIVES WITH U.S. FORCES VIETNAM

Sgt Patrick Christopher ‘Christy’ Nevin, US Army

L/Cpl Paul Ivan Maher, US Marine Corps

SP4 Timothy Daly, US Army

L/Cpl Bernard Anthony Freyne, US Marine Corps

SP4 Michael Francis Smith, US Army

SP4 John Coyle, US Army

Cpl Patrick ‘Bob’ Gallagher, US Marine Corps

Sgt/FC Edward Michael Howell, US Army

PFC Maurice Joseph O’Callaghan, US Marine Corps

Cpl Terence Patrick FitzGerald, US Army

PFC John Patrick Collopy, US Army

SP4 Edward Anthony Scully, US Army

Capt Edmond J. Landers, US Army

1/Lt Anthony Paul O’Reilly, US Army

Second Lieutenant Pamela Dorothy Donovan, US Army Nurse Corps

Spec. 5 Michael Noel Faherty,

Cpl Philip Sean Bancroft, US Marine Corps

SP4 Brian Francis McCarthy, US Army

Cpl Sean T. Doran, US Army

L/Cpl Peter Mary Nee, US Marine Corps

1/Lt John Cecil Driver, US Army

RD3 Martin S Doherty, US Navy

Sgt Arthur Fisher, US Marine Corps

 

IRISH KILLED SERVING WITH AUSTRALIANS

Rifleman George Nagle, 9th Royal Australian Regiment

Driver/Signalman David G. Doyle, 3 Cavalry Regiment

Sgt Robert Fleming, 1st RAR and 1st Australian Reinforcement Regiment

Sgt Thomas Birnie, 2nd Royal Australian Regiment

 

IRISH IN CANADIAN UNIFORM (MIA)

Sgt. James Sylvester Byrne, Royal Canadian Army Service Corps

 

IRISH WORKING FOR US AID

Michael Murphy, Office of Public Safety, US AID, Advisor to South Vietnamese Police Field Forces

 

IRISH WORKING FOR AIR AMERICA

Patrick Factna McCarthy, Served with the Marines in Vietnam before joining Air America.

 

Here are the two names added since the memorial was completed

 L/Cpl Joseph Aloysius Clancy, US Marine Corps

MSG Patrick Joseph McCabe, US Army 

In addition, approximately 50% of the names on The Wall in DC are of Irish origin!

I found this article on-line written by the Jim Otto, President of The Ancient Order of Hibernians, Division One

 https://www.stlhibernians.com/History2/usmilitary2.html

So as you raise a pint or two to St. Patrick today, remember those Irish who gave their all and raise one to them as well.

Next time, on the 22nd, we will venture back to Florida as promised in my last post, so meet me there, as always, at 9:00 am.

To see additional memorials from Ireland, or any of the 50 states, please click a state name on the left side of this page.

As always, I will ask anyone who has seen Vietnam memorials that are NOT seen here to please send them to me. I will be more than happy to share your photos and any information you may have about them. Recently Joan from Wisconsin, Tony from Texas, Ron from Florida and a number of others have been kind enough to do this. You make this site better, more complete and I certainly appreciate your input. So, send them to the email on the left od to my personal email: ldddad@comcast.net.

Thank you!

Delaware XXIX

As I peruse my photo files I continue to find things I have not posted previously. This time it was from Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware. You may recall that Dover is where so many, many lost soldiers returned to on their way to home or Arlington or some other final resting place.

Today, just a few more names, one survivor and two lost heroes.

These all served and have earned our recognition and respect.

I posted previously about the lost plane on which the 2nd and third listed here were lost. You can see that post here.

Next time, on the 17th of March, we will return to Florida where readers have just sent me numerous photos from a memorial site there. So, as always, join me there at 9:00 am. 

To see Vietnam memorials from any state and Canada, Ireland, and Puerto Rico click on the individual names on the left side of this page.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you, like Joan from Wisconsin, Tony from Texas, Mike from Maryland, Ron from Florida, Tim from Virginia and Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, Elli from Maryland, and next time Peg and Ray from Florida, among others, have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. I even got one from Ireland! These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served or were lost in 'Nam and you help to honor them. If you have any such photos, I would love to see them. Please send them along to the email at the left and I will gladly share them here.

I hope all those listed here will encourage you to send along photos.

 Thanks, once again, to all who have contributed.

Colorado XLIV

Returning, as I so often do, to Fountain, Colorado to the remarkable Railroad Park. The Wall here list dozens, if not hundreds, of names of those from the area that served our country. Not all were lost but all deserve to be remembered

All gave some, some gave all.

 I have posted from here before (and will continue to do so) and you can see a few of those other posts here, here, and here.

Today, simple three more heroes.

 

Next time, on the 12th of March, we will return to Delaware. So, as always, join me there at 9:00 am. 

To see Vietnam memorials from any state and Canada, Ireland, and Puerto Rico click on the individual names on the left side of this page.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you, like Joan from Wisconsin, Tony from Texas, Mike from Maryland, Ron from Florida, Tim from Virginia and Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, and very soon Elli from Maryland, among others, have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. I even got one from Ireland! These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served or were lost in 'Nam and you help to honor them. If you have any such photos, I would love to see them. Please send them along to the email at the left and I will gladly share them here. Thanks, once again, to all who have contributed.

California XLV

This is the 55th post I have made from California. When I started this project in 2009, I thought I might post four pictures of memorials from each state.

Circumstances changed all that and now 55 from California, amazing to me.

It is fitting I suppose as California with its nearly 40 million in population is, perhaps not surprisingly, the state that lost the most of her citizens. More than 350,000 served and 5,822 were killed. These numbers vary a bit depending on whose source you read.

Today, we return to the Nixon Library, a place I never thought I would see, to visit an exhibit about bringing home the POWs. It is quite extensive and interesting. You can see previous visits here and here.

With the publication of Kristin Hannah's book The Women which tells story of the heroics of the Nurses in Vietnam, I have been thinking more lately about how women served, participated, and influenced our efforts in the war.

This brought me to this table, in a corner, at the library.

It shines a light on the efforts of the wives of the POWs, their efforts to bring home their husbands, brothers, Uncles: our comrades.

It may be impossible to ever know exactly just how much influence or weight these efforts may have had upon the history of and the lives of our captured fellows, but, most certainly, it helped.

Our gratitude and debt to these can never be overestimated.

Next time, on the 7th of March, we will return to Colorado, so join me there, as usual, at 9:00 am.

To see Vietnam memorials from any state or Canada, Ireland, and Puerto Rico click on the individual names on the left side of this page.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you, like Joan from Wisconsin, Tony from Texas, Mike from Maryland, Ron from Florida, Tim from Virginia and Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, and Elli from Maryland, among others, have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. I even got one from Ireland! These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served or were lost in 'Nam and you help to honor them. If you have any such photos, I would love to see them. Please send them along to the email at the left and I will gladly share them here. Thanks, once again, to all who have contributed.

Arizona XLI

It would be difficult to name a soldier more associated with the Vietnam war than John McCain.

It is fitting then that the city of Peoria, in his home state of Arizona, has dedicated the John McCain Memorial Plaza in his memory.

Today, I will share just a couple of introductory photos from this marvelous and beautiful site. There will be more to follow.

Included as part of the Rio Vista Park it is well worth a visit, you could spend many hours here.

I noticed that these flags were at half staff and wondered if they were always lowered in tribute?  I called the City and was told that this was only the case on certain times as directed. Then I looked at the date I actually took the picture and it was September 10th, so the reason became obvious.

No matter how you might of felt about Senator McCain's politics or policies, no one can diminish his bravery, patriotism, or sacrifice.

I think anyone, no matter left of right, could learn something from him.

There will be more photos from Peoria in the not too distant future. Check back often.

In the meantime I will be posting from California on the 2nd of March, as always at 9:00 a.m., so join me then.

To see Vietnam memorials from any state or Canada, Ireland, and Puerto Rico click on the individual names on the left side of this page.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you, like Joan from Wisconsin, Tony from Texas, Mike from Maryland, Ron from Florida, Tim from Virginia and Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, and Elli from Maryland, among others, have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. I even got one from Ireland! These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served or were lost in 'Nam and you help to honor them. If you have any such photos, I would love to see them. Please send them along to the email at the left and I will gladly share them here. Thanks, once again, to all who have contributed.