Colorado XLV

I just love the memorial in Aurora Colorado. Designed to mimic the mountains, the last vets would see as they left for 'nam and the first on the way home, it honors many.

I had planned to feature some names taken directly from one of my photos. I started checking them out on the VVMF Wall of Faces site and, oddly I thought, could not find them. I thought I had discovered an error in the records keeping.

Silly me. 

Well further investigation showed me that the memorial in Aurora is not only a Vietnam memorial but one to all from the area over many, many years. Over 6,000 in all. 

A different search method uncovered quite a few from Aurora lost in 'Nam, just not those I happened to focus on during my visit. 

Today, just a representative few.

Thomas Barber

Airman Thomas Barber was a crew member on a plane searching for submarines. The plane lost contact with land and never heard from again. Some wreckage was found but the reason for the loss was never determined. All crew members were lost and presumed dead. He is still listed as MIA.

 

Sp4 Joseph Cornelison was a chopper mechanic based in Bien Hoa. On April 26, 1969 the chopper he was a crew member to was lost, shot down on a mission in Cambodia.

On April  26, 1969 Sp4 Cornelison died. He was not on the chopper. He was in Bien Hoa. His death was classified as a suicide or self inflicted injury.

This is another of those stories that is even sadder for the fact that it is even more useless than the other tragedies of that war.

Richard L. Davis

Sp4 Richard Davis was lost on June 22, 1969 when his mobile antiaircraft weapon (called a "Duster") hit a mine.

I spend a lot of time searching for photos and info about these heroes that I highlight here. It saddens me that so very little information is available and that better photos are not provided. These men and women should be better treated, remembered, honored, in my view. 

Next time on the 24th we will return to Connecticut, so join 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.

California LI

It is nice today to be back, if even briefly, to my original goal of writing about memorials. 

Today, from Westminster, California a memorial built by the large Vietnamese population there. I have posted before about the memorial honoring American and Vietnamese partners and at the site in the ensuing years several additional memorials have been added. 

You can see the first memorial honoring Americans and Vietnamese here.

This adjacent memorial honors the 74 Vietnamese lost in a sea battle with China in January of 1974.

In reading more about this Battle of the Paracel Sea, it is hard to connect it to the war in 'Nam except that the dates coincide. Also, as I will point out in a future post, there are several plaques seen in the third picture address U.S. involvement in some way or another. It is confusing, but, war always is.

Next time on the 19th we will return to Colorado, so join 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.

Arkansas lX

I have not spent too much time in Arkansas and as a result have very few memorials in my files.

As I was searching for something interesting to share I cam across Michel Sublett's name. At first I, mistakenly, thought that perhaps I had stumbled across one of the eight nurses listed on The Wall. IN all my writings, now about 1150, this has never happened and I was a bit excited. After realizing my error, I felt it was only right and just to give Corporeal Sublett his well earned due.

Michel Kent Sublett

 

Cpl Michel Sublett was lost to small arms fire in a hostile action. 

He was from Searcy, Arkansas where this memorial honors him, his service and his heroism, forever. As it should. 

The following three are listed upon the same memorial as POWs. 

William Ward Smith

Cpt. William Smith was involved in a midair collision with a helicopter. A rescue was attempted but his remains could not be found. He is still considered MIA. He was lost on July 23, 1966 in the Quang Tri Province.

I read a report, but could not verify, that the pilot was rescued. 

Edd D. Taylor

LTJG Edd Taylor was on a rescue mission to find a sailor in the water when his aircraft was shot down. the sailor he was attempting to save was captured and spent eight years as a POW. He survived and returned home.

For 36 years he was listed as MIA. In march of 2020 remains were excavated in the La Son Province and on May24, 201 DNA lead to the identification of LTJG Taylor.

R.I.P. and Welcome Home, brother

Don Franklin Worley

SSGT Don Worley was lost on March 11th, 1968 in Laos (you know, that place we never were.) The story is recounted below in an account I found on line. I hope it is accurate.                                                                                        

"AN ACCOUNT OF WHAT TOOK PLACE AT LIMA 85 ON 11 MARCH 1968

LIMA 85
Laos, 11 March 1968


LIMA 85 was the name of a TSQ-81 radar and TACAN site located in the mountains of Laos about 12 miles west of the Laos / North Vietnam Border border.

The TSQ-81 radar was used to provide flight following and navigation assistance for US aircraft operating in Laos and North Vietnam; the TACAN was (and remains) a standard radio navigation aid.

At the time LIMA 85 was established, Laos was officially neutral under the 1962 Geneva Accords.

The North Vietnamese government simply ignored the 1962 agreement and effectively exercised military control over large parts of Laos adjacent to the North Viet Nam, South Viet Nam, and Cambodian borders.

The United States government officially observed Laotian neutrality while unofficially attempting to respond to Laotian government requests for assistance.

The 1962 Accords prevented any open U. S. military presence in Laos, so the men assigned to operate LIMA 85 couldn't be military - yet only military personnel were trained in TSC-81 operations.

The answer was both simple and sneaky: US Air Force personnel were officially assigned to the 1043rd Radar Evaluation Squadron, Bolling Air Force Base, Washington DC, temporarily released from active duty, and "employed" by Lockheed as civilians.

The TSQ-81, TACAN, generators, prefab buildings, and other necessary equipment was provided by the United States Air Force and the site established on a 5860 foot high mountain called Phou Pha Thi. The site was protected on three sides by sheer cliffs.

Once in operation, LIMA 85 developed into a real thorn in North Vietnam's side - the high-resolution TSQ-81 radar allowed precision bomb drops by aircraft otherwise incapable of effective night/bad weather ground attack, while the TACAN supported accurate aircraft navigation.

The site was protected by a combination of Thai "mercenaries" and Laotian tribesmen loyal to the government - a total force of about 1,000 irregular troops.

In January 1968 the North Vietnamese attempted to destroy LIMA 85 by air attack in one of the very rare air operations conducted outside their own borders, the Peoples' Army of Vietnam (PAVN) Air Force used AN-2 Colts to bomb and strafe the site. While the attack was unsuccessful, it clearly illustrates the importance placed on destroying LIMA 85.

(NOTE: The PAVN Air Force Museum in Hanoi reportedly has a highly visible, detailed representation of the attack complete with a mock-up of the mountain, model AN-2 Colts, photos of the aircrew, and the gun pod from one of the AN-2 Colts).

In February 1968 it became evident that the NVN government intended to conduct a massive ground operation directed at capturing and destroying LIMA 85.

Ten PAVN battalions were identified moving toward and establishing base camps at the foot of Pha Thi mountain. The US Ambassador to Laos was responsible for deciding when the Americans manning LIMA 85 would be withdrawn - unfortunately, he left the decision undone for one day too long.

On 11 March 1968 the ground attack began and ended - by day's end the PAVN troops had assaulted through the fourth side of the site, the only approach not blocked by sheer cliffs, and had overrun the site.

US rescue efforts were only partially successful as eleven Americans were lost when LIMA 85 fell into enemy hands, and a twelfth was lost when his A-1E SKYRAIDER was shot down.

As of 06 November 2002, none of the twelve US Air Force men lost at LIMA 85 have been repatriated.
 

(( Last updated on 06 Nov 2002 ))"    

Note: Since this was first published several of the men lost have been repatriated through the joint efforts of the United States government and the Vietnamese government. 

Next time, on October 14th, we will return to California, to honor others so worthy of our admiration and never ending respect. Join me there, at 9:00 am., as always.

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.

Arizona XLII

 

As I have said before, Arizona is one of my most visited states. In looking over things to post, I realized I could spend an awful lot of time writing only about the memorials I have visited in the state.

Bisbee is one of my favorite cities in Arizona. It is quirky and interesting and beautiful and it is south of Tucson, only 12 miles from Mexico.

Last time I was there I visited Bisbee High School and saw the memorial to their 7 students who were lost in 'Nam. Between 1960 and 1970 Bisbee's population decreased from nearly 10,000 to a little more than 8,000. 7 just seems like a lot, to me, for such a small town.

Leonard Douglas Davis

Today, three of them: 

2LT Leonard Davis and his men attempted to recover the bodies of 4 of their comrades. Coming under intense machine gun fire and incoming mortars, LT Davis was lost on August 2, 1966 in the La Drang Valley.

Richard Allen Thursby

SSGT Richard Thursby was in the Gia Dinh Province when some kind of accident involving grenades took his, and two comrades, lives on April 1, 1969.

Leonard Carabeo

LCPL Leonard Carabeo was lost to small arms fire in Quang Tri Province little information is available. 

It is shocking to me that so little is available to honor these, mostly, young heroes.

He was lost on April 28, 1968

Next time, on October 9th, we will return to Arkansas, to honor others so worthy of our admiration and never ending respect. Join me there, at 9:00 am., as always.

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.

Alaska XIV

I've been to Alaska a couple of times for various reasons, but the changes in their memorial situation is a gratifying story. Check out the original posts concerning this here and here. 

As I have been doing lately, today I want to honor a few of the those lost from Alaska. These KIAs are from the Anchorage memorial.

Thomas Barr

Sp5 Thomas Barr was a Company Clerk. Read more about his heroism below.

 

LZ Baldy was an Americal Division fire support base located northwest of Chu Lai in Quang Nam Province, RVN. LZ Baldy was the field headquarters for the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry, 196th Infantry Brigade, Americal Division. It was heavily defended with 105mm and 155mm artillery, 106mm recoilless rifles, and numerous sandbagged perimeter bunkers. Around the compound, row upon row of barbed wire were infused with dozens of claymore mines. This massive defensive wall was supposed to keep the Americans at Baldy secure. Nevertheless, an attempt to overrun LZ Baldy occurred on May 12, 1969. There were three separate assaults beginning about 9:00 PM by local Viet Cong supported by a well-equipped North Vietnamese Regular Army reinforced-battalion. Twenty Viet Cong sappers were successful in penetrating the perimeter, many of whom reached the top of the mountain where the 523rd Signal Battalion’s VHF operations were located. Several of the Battalion’s personnel had to defend their radio operation which they were able to keep on the air all night. Elsewhere on the base, five Americans died keeping the attackers at bay. SP5 Thomas M. Barr, a company clerk, was killed by an enemy rocket which impacted behind him as he was lugging mortar rounds to the perimeter bunkers in need of more ammunition. Two members of the artillery battery, CWO Homer P. Kendrick and SP5 David A. Lefler, died in a friendly-fire incident when their bunker was hit by an errant rocket fired from a supporting American gunship. Several others were also wounded in the blast. And SGT Arthur E. Scott and SP4 Wendell A. Weston were killed after suffering fragmentation wounds from enemy rockets or mortars. Another 24 U.S. personnel were wounded during the assault. Two days later the Battalion chaplain went to LZ Baldy and held a small memorial service for the fallen defenders. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and information provided by Bill Phillips (January 2019)Courtesy of Bill Phillips)

 

Richard G. Bauer

Sp5 Richard Bauer was a passenger on a chopper that was lost in a storm in 1969. 4 years later local tribesman discover the wreckage and reported it to the right people. Bauer's Mother could not believe that her son had actually been located and only after forensic proof removed all doubt was she able to accept this most terrible of Mother's nightmares.

 Gary Edwin Bullock

Sp4 Gary Bullock is the first KIA I have come across with my exact rank and MOS. I, too. was a "watercraft operator" for the Army in Vietnam.

Other than that there is very little information available about what happened to him. I saw one mention in a report that said "bunker collapse" on a off shore site. Nothing more. 

Ironically, I had a buddy from Alaska who was, also, a boat operator. I wonder how many from Alaska could have been the same?

Next time, on October 4th, we will return to Arizona, to honor others so worthy of our admiration and never ending respect. Join me there, at 9:00 am., as always.

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.

Next time, on October 4th, we will return to Arizona, to honor others so worthy of our admiration and never ending respect. Join me there, at 9:00 am., as always.

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.

Alabama XVIII

Autauga County Alabama lost 13 of her sons in Vietnam. The county courthouse honors them, and many other veterans, in Prattsville. As of the 2020 census the County has a population of about 58,000.

 

James E. Bouyer

 

Pfc. James Bouyer was lost n April 1, 1969 not long after arriving in 'nam. As tragic as all deaths are from 'nam, his was due to an accident. somehow seems like an even greater waste to me. 

Ronald G. Crowe

Pfc. Ronald Crowe was lost on June 11, 1969 when his fire base was overrun in a late night attack by the enemy. The next morning the attack was repelled but many had been lost.  

Samuel G. Crowell

 

Sp4 Samuel Crowell, like Pfc Bouyer above, was lost at Gia Dinh. They were not lost in the same action and Sp4 Crowell was lost to small arms fire. Little other info seems to be available.

Next time, on September 29th, we will return to Alaska, to honor others so worthy of our admiration and never ending respect. Join me there, at 9:00 am., as always.

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.

Wyoming V

Wyoming is a state I must revisit. It seems to have the least posts of all my visits to the states.

As I was thinking about how I would approach writing another post, I noticed that Cheyenne, Wyoming lists their MIAs separately from the those who were lost or those who served. Most often, you see a name with a separate designation (like a star or as on any number of sites a plus sign that can be changed to whatever the KIA designation might hap[pen to be), but not usually a separate list.

Cheyenne memorial

 

So, I decided to highlight these truly lost soldiers.

There are several, so, today, I will highlight the first three. 

Harry B. Coen

I have seen Harry Coen listed as a Staff Sargent and a PFC. Don't have any idea as to which might be correct.

It doesn't matter. 

I read one article that quoted a comrade that stated. "one minute he was there and the next minute he was just gone." 

On VVMF's Wall of Faces, there is a long article about the events of that May in 1968.

You can read it here: 

https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/9647/HARRY-B-COEN/

He was three days from the end of his third tour. 
 

Orville Cooley

On January 16, 1968 Lt. Cooley was transporting visiting Senators when "due to previous rainfall which made the deck wet, upon break release, the aircraft drifted to the starboard, veering sharply to the port and striking the Fresnel lens installation as it continued over the port side, thus, crashing. There were seven survivors but unfortunately, Orville Cooley was not among those..."

Lawrence Evert

LTC Evert was shot down over North Vietnam on January 16, 1968, it was not until December 18, 2001 that he was found and repatriated to the U.S. He is the first repatriated MIA I have, knowingly, written about here.

Next time, on September 24th, we will return to Alabama, to honor others so worthy of our admiration and never ending respect. Join me there, at 9:00 am., as always.

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!