South Dakota XXV

As I wondered around South Dakota with no particular itinerary, as I have mentioned before, I ran across several memorials in some of the towns.

Howard was one of them and you can see one of the early posts from there, here.

Marlin Joseph Callies

LCPL Marlin Callie was a Rifleman with the Marines in the Quang Tri Province. On July 7, 1968, he died of wounds received from "other explosive device..." in an attack on his defensive position.

Tommy Leon Callies

Capt. Tommy Leon Callies was the pilot of a Phantom jet shot down over the Quang Ngai Province during a bombing run. His body has never been retrieved south of Quang Ngai city..

These two men Captain and Corporal from the same town of Howard were related. Even though their ages were quite close they were 1st cousins once removed. What strikes me is that these two were from a town of around 1,000 residents. I have only found three from Howard that were lost.

Roger W. Kvernes

LTC Roger Kvernes was killed in a helicopter crash at Bac Lieu on February 2, 1970.

Next time on Jun 2nd, we will return to Tennessee, so join me, as always, at 9 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 ( now two) 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.

South Dakota XXII

I am on the road for the first time since Covid shut me down, so this one will be unusually quick.

I was able to find a couple of faces from the memorial at Howard, you can see the original post here.

The memorial, like so many in small towns, honors all who served, whenever they did so, but these two faces are designated as Vietnam.

In 2020 Howard had a population of 754. As I often say, It is amazing what small towns do for their vets. 

Well done, Howard.

Next time, on the 26th, we will make a return to Texas, so meet me there, as always, at 9:00am.

To see additional memorials from South Dakota, or any other state, please click on the state name on the left side of this page.

South Dakota XVIII

On the day I was just tooling around South Dakota I came upon several unknown memorials.

This one, in Howard, like so may in small towns represents and honors all. True, it is not specifically a Vietnam memorial but some of the figures are easily recognizable as our brothers and sisters. Small towns as I have said a number of times before just do not have the resources to create memorials for every war.

Howard, the little I saw of it consisted of one building divided in to two places of business. I walked into one, a small diner like place, and spoke with a couple of guys who, it turns out were vets. While they were quite proud of their memorial they could not give me too many details about it.

There are no names listed here, but, I was able to track down three names from Howard that were lost in 'Nam.

Mia's are not neglected.

Nor, are today's.

Howard has a population, depending upon which source you use, of 822 or 858 and has been decreasing in the last several censuses, so for them to build this great site deserves our respect and thanks.

This memorial may be found at the intersection of Hwy 34 and S. Main Street.

Next time, on the 28th, we will meet again in Washington, so join me there, a always, at 9:00am.

To see additional memorials from South Dakota, or any other state, click the state name on the left side of this page.