Oregon XXII

Driving south in Oregon eventually got ,me to a high school that honors its lost alum with a memorial just outside the building. I wrote about it previously and you may check out that post here, if you like.

South Eugene HS lost 11 0f its former students.

Today, I will, as is my custom, honor three of them. 

William R. Andrews

"On 5 October 1966, then Capt. William R. Andrews was the pilot of an F4C Phantom on a strike mission over North Vietnam. His aircraft was #3 in a flight of four. After the mission, the flight was directed to fly escort for a flight of two B-66s. A MiG alert was issued after which it was noticed the number three aircraft was not in the formation. No radio contact was received from the missing aircrew, but a short time later, a beeper was heard. Radio contact was subsequently made with Bill Andrews and he reported he was uninjured. Because North Vietnamese forces were approaching his position and search and rescue (SAR) personnel were receiving heavy ground fire, he could not be recovered. According to one report, as the enemy closed in on the downed pilot, Bill Andrews was supposed to have "started shooting it out with ground forces," and "one of his last transmissions was 'I have taken a hit'." The co-pilot had landed far enough away from enemy fortifications that he eventually was rescued. The location of loss was in the extremely rugged jungle covered mountains approximately 115 miles northwest of Hanoi and 20 miles east-northeast of the city of Na San, Nghia Lo Province, North Vietnam. A later coordination of records showed that Bill Andrews was listed Missing in Action, not Prisoner of War by Defense Intelligence Agency and the Air Force, while the Joint Casualty Resolution Center (JCRC), Bangkok, Thailand carried him as a prisoner, not missing. JCRC was ordered to "delete any references pertaining to POW status" in Capt. Andrews' case. The reasons behind that order were never made unclear. On 13 September 1990, Bill Andrews remains were returned to the United States. According the US Army Central Identification Laboratory - Hawaii, his remains were identified "by comparison of teeth root canals in the jawbone." He was buried with full military honors in Phoenix, Arizona on 14 February 1991."

Robert K. Collins

 

 

Cpl Collins was an Artillery and was lost under enemy engagement. 

James W. Cartwright

I read a post today from the man that Sgt. Cartwright replaced as a point man. The Sgt was killed three days later and the writer feels tremendous guilt these many years later. To those of us who, for whatever reason survived, this is a well known feeling.

I have written before about the fact that I got my orders home a few days early. On that same day, waiting to get on a plane, I received word that our camp had been hit hard and several guys I knew were lost. I get it.

Next time, on the 26th, we will revisit Pennsylvania, so, meet me there, as usual, 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, Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, Elli from Maryland, and 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 and join the group!

Oklahoma X

Hulbert Memorial

 

Grover Boston

Cpl. Boston was lost on May 2, 1968. Even more tragically, he was a loss to "friendly fire."

William A. Gritts

Cpl. Gritts was an 11B (infantryman) and was lost on June 13, 1968 at Gia Dinh. He was killed by hostile fire from a gun or small arms.

Thomas Mckinzie

 Cpl. McKinzie was lost in the Quang Ngai Province on November 17, 1968. He was lost to hostile fire.

The reason I chose these three for inclusion today is that they were all lost in 1968. For an area that seems to have lost only five, it seems that '68 was an unholy year for them.

I ask you to join me on the 21st of July when we will return to Oregon to add and honor a few more faces, 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, Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, Elli from Maryland, and 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 and join the group!

Ohio XI

As has become my habit, I was looking through files today to see if I had anything I might have over looked in the past.

As I reviewed my pics from a Veterans Park near Canton, I came across one name. I do not remember if it was the only one there or just the only one I photographed. Back then, I was more interested in memorials rather than individual names as I was still trying to see memorials from each state.

Times change. 

Having visited each state, most more than once, I have fulfilled my original goal and am currently trying to honor many of the men and women who served or were lost. I will continue to seek out memorials as I travel. there are new ones in Louisiana and Nebraska that I hope to get soon.

Finding only this one name got me thinking that there simply must be more, so I found a site with names for specific areas and have been studying it for additional heroes to honor. 

The Veterans Park was in Stark County, near Canton. So far, I have identified 27 with many more on the list.

So, for today, a few from Stark County:

Ward Leroy Anthony

Cpl. Ward Leroy Anthony was killed in a motor attack at Thua Thien near Hue' on April 17, 1968.

David Lee french

The following is from his Remembrance page at VVMF's Wall of Faces:

On the 1st of January 1968, a helicopter from the 61st Assault Helicopter Company became the first aircraft loss since the unit was declared operational in Vietnam on 20 December 1967. The crash of the UH-1H took the lives of its four crew members plus six passengers on a mountain in the An Khe Pass. Marginal weather was blamed in the mishap. The crew included aircraft commander WO1 Ronald L. Martin, pilot WO1 Peter Kretzchmar, crew chief SP4 Clarence H. Genau, and gunner PFC Phillip A. Tingley Jr. The six passengers were CAPT Peter S. Kleinberg, CAPT Frank Velazquez, SFC Felix A. Sisario, SP4 David L. French (emphasis mine), SGT Norman R. Anderson, and SP4 Thomas B. Griffin Jr. 

Ronald Lee Hacker

 

 

 

Sgt Hacker was killed on April 3rd, 1969 in a battle near Kontum. He saw one of his men, helping another who was wounded, get wounded. He ran to his aid and was himself fatally wounded.

These three are among the many that I have now found from Stark County, Ohio. I will feature others as time goes by.

I ask you to join me on the 16th of July when we will return to     to add and honor a few more faces, 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, Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, Elli from Maryland, and 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 and join the group!

North Dakota Vii

In my continuing efforts to honor those lost or missing in 'Nam, today we move to Fargo. There is a small museum there and I came across these heroes.

Pilots, both, they were both lost and considered MIA for a time. Major Beyer was eventually re-designated as KIA.

These two were the only ones I found from Fargo. It is probable that there are more after all this time. If I identify them, I will most certainly add them to this effort.

the Fargo Air Museum is located at 1609 19th Avenue N.

This might be a good time to remind viewers that to enlarge a photo you merely need to click on it

I ask you to join me on the 11th of July when we will return to Ohio to add and honor a few more faces, 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, Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, Elli from Maryland, and 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 and join the group!

North Carolina XXXIX

 Blowing Rock, NC as mentioned in a previous post is about 40 miles Southwest of Mt. Airy.

 These two names are the only ones listed from the area on the multi-war memorial there.

LTC Parsons had just left a brief reunion with his wife in Hawai'i' when an urgent mission to help rescue trapped marines was called. He never made it and was MIA for decades and is remembered here in NC as one of his lives in the area.

Please take a moment to read this wonderful article from The Washington Post about this hero:

 http://www.arlingtoncemetery.com/deparsons.htm

 

SST. Green was lost on January 2, 1967 at Binh Duong. He, and others, were killed by a tripped mine. Fortunately his body was recovered.

His home of Record was Lenoir, NC.

I ask you to join me on the 6th of July when we will return to North Dakota to add and honor a few more faces, as always at 9:00 am.

These pictures were taken from a photo sent to me by a reader. Mike Minnick has honored several memorials by forwarding them to me and I am greatly appreciative to him and all those listed below.

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, Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, Elli from Maryland, and 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 and join the group!