New Jersey XXXIV

I am choosing to write about a place from which I have no memorial today. Manasquan is a beach town I visited with my buddy Tony after receiving my draft notice. I knew I had 30 days before reporting and decided to make the best of them.

I am not from New Jersey but many of my family were born there many years ago. So, it has always held a spot in my heart. In fact, a relative was the last owner of the once famous Palisades Park. He hosted us for a bit while we were in the area and gave us free run of the park.

But, enough of that. What I do have is two heroes lost in 'Nam.

I cropped this picture from his ID as no other useable photos were available.

Robert C. Kugelmann was working in the Tay Ninh Province on the morning or December 12, 1967. He collapsed and was rushed to the hospital at Long Binh where he died the morning after, 12/13/67 of a ruptured aneurysm. This is a very rare happening, approximately 0.3 percent. He was 21 years old.

Richard C. Stewart

LCPL Richard Stewart was killed on February 2, 1966, at Quang Nam Province. He was a rifleman and was lost to "other explosive device." He was 19 years old.

Next time, on April 8th, we will return to New Mexico, to honor a few who were lost from the state, 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.

Vietnam Veterans Day

I've been seeing a lot of misinformation on-line about Vietnam War Veterans Day.

There seems to be "disagreement" about when it is and when it was established etc.

For the record: VVWD was established on March 29th, 2012. Not the 30th as I have seen, not in 2017 as I have seen far too often. 

It was the beginning of 13-year acknowledgement of the service and sacrifice of nearly nine million 'Nam vets, in addition to their families and others impacted by the war and our service. The program, which is still celebrated around the country, (too often on the wrong day) officially ended in 2025.

It has been 14 years, surely, we can, please, get it right!

Ok. Had to get that off my chest.

Next time, on April 3rd, we will return to New Jersey, to honor a few who were lost from the state, 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.

New Hampshire IX

 Running just a little late today, so this one will be quick.

For as much time as I have spent tin New Hampshire you might think that I had a whole bunch of memorials but, that is not the case.

So, today, we return to Dartmouth University where I found a memorial to 21 lost alumni. As previously posted the memorial had been covered for the winter, but the names were still available. I hope someday to return to see and photograph it when fully on display.

William Smoyer

2Lt William Smoyer was on patrol when another patrol was ambushed. He led his group to their aide and suffered multiple gunshot wounds as did many other Marines. He was lost in the Quang Nam Province on July 28, 1968. He was actually from Princeton, NJ.

Duncan B. Sleigh

2LT Duncan Sleigh was, also lost in the Quang Nam province but on a different day in a different tragedy. The following is taken from VVMF's The Wall of Faces. In part, it reads:

"...2LT Sleigh crawled to one casualty and lay huddled over him as a shield when another rocket-propelled grenade landed less than a meter away, instantly killing 2LT Sleigh. He absorbed most of the shock with his body, not only saving the life of one Marine, but also preventing injury to others near him...".

Duncan Sleigh was from Massachusetts.

Philip Dennis Barger

Captain Philip Barger was shot down on a mission north of Da Nang on November 11, 1968. His plane was hit by ground fire and crashed. He was from Dallas, Texas

These men were all from different states, but all were heroes. Their memory does Dartmouth proud as all attended the college. Dartmouth BTW is actually a university but retains its historical title.

Next time, on March 29th, we will return to honor National Vietnam War Veterans Day, so join me here, 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. 

I know that I promised a post from New Hampshire for today, but decided, instead, to continue with my recognition of the women who served. In addition to the eight Nurses on The Wall, more than fifty others were lost in service to our efforts. This is a repost of March 25, 2022, regarding the brave and mostly unknown service and sacrifice of American women in Vietnam. For reasons I can't figure out it refuses to post in a readable way, so I am re-posting in the hopes that this version is readable, and these brave and selfless women are granted just a little of the respect they so deserve.

Something about the photos I tried to include is messing up the posting, so, for now I have removed them and if I get the problem corrected, I will re-post. The following is the text of that post, so, as always, I was looking for something to write about this time. I continue to search files for something of interest. As we are coming to the end of "Women's month" I wanted to include these valiant women once more.

But, here, is something I have not seen before, 20,000 (other reports say 11,000) civilian women that served in 'Nam and remind us, again, of their patriotism and sacrifice, especially the 56 who were lost, in addition to the 8 nurses listed on The Wall. I have spoken of these women in the past, but they deserve another salute, as we deserve another reminder.

American Red Cross

Hannah E. Crews Died in a jeep accident, Bien Hoa, October 2,1969.

Virginia E. Kirsch Murdered by US soldier in Cu Chi, August 16, 1970.

Lucinda J. Richter Died of Guillain-Barre syndrome, Cam Ranh Bay, February 9, 1971.

Army Special Services

Rosalyn Muskat Died in a jeep accident, Long Binh, 1968.

Dorothy Phillips Died in a plane crash, Qui Nhon, 1967.

Catholic Relief Services

Gloria Redlin Shot to death in Pleiku, l969.

Central Intelligence Agency

Barbara Robbins Died when a bomb exploded in front of the American Embassy, Saigon, March 30, 1965.

Betty Gebhardt Died in Saigon, 1971.

United States Agency for International Development

Marilyn L. Allen Murdered by US soldier in Nha Trang, August 16, 1967.

Dr. Breen Ratterman Died in a fall from a balcony in Saigon, October 2, 1969.

United States Department of the Navy OICC (Officer in Charge of Construction)

Regina "Reggie" Williams Died of a heart attack in Saigon, 1964.

Journalists

Georgette "Dickey" Chappelle Killed by a mine on patrol with Marines outside Chu Lai, November 4, 1965.

Phillipa Schuyler Killed in a firefight, Da Nang, May 9, 1966.

Missionaries

Carolyn Griswald * Ruth Thompson * Ruth Wilting: All 3 killed in raid on leprosarium in Ban Me Thuot during Tet February 1, 1968.

Betty Ann Olsen Captured during raid on leprosarium in Ban Me Thuot during Tet 68. Died in 1968 and was buried somewhere along Ho Chi Minh Trail by fellow POW, Michael Benge. Remains not recovered.

Eleanor Ardel Vietti Captured at leprosarium in Ban Me Thuot, May 30, 1962. Still listed as POW.

Janie A. Makil Shot to death in an ambush, Dalat, March 4, 1963. Janie was 5 months old.

Evelyn Anderson * Beatrice Kosin Both captured and burned to death in Kengkok, Laos, 1972. Remains recovered and returned to US.

Operation Babylift

The following women were killed in the crash, outside Saigon, of the C5-A Galaxy transporting Vietnamese children out of the country on April 4, 1975. All of the women were working for various US government agencies in Saigon at the time of their deaths with the exception of Theresa Drye (a child) and Laurie Stark (a teacher). Sharon Wesley had previously worked for both the American Red Cross and Army Special Service. She chose to stay on in Vietnam after the pullout of US military forces in 1973. (Source: August 13, 2000 The Baltimore Sun)

Barbara Adams * Clara Bayot * Nova Bell * Arleta Bertwell * Helen Blackburn * Ann Bottorff * Celeste Brown * Vivienne Clark * Juanita Creel * Mary Ann Crouch * Dorothy Curtiss * Twila Donelson * Helen Drye * Theresa Drye * Mary Lyn Eichen * Elizabeth Fugino * Ruthanne Gasper * Beverly Herbert * Penelope Hindman * Vera Hollibaugh * Dorothy Howard * Barbara Maier * Rebecca Martin * Sara Martini * Martha Middlebrook * Katherine Moore * Marta Moschkin * Marion Polgrean * June Poulton * Joan Pray * Sayonna Randall * Anne Reynolds * Marjorie Snow * Laurie Stark * Barbara Stout * Doris Jean Watkins * Sharon Wesley

Nevada IX

I thought today in honor of women's month that I would post the only memorial I have found that specifically singles out the Nurses killed in 'Nam from the men.

It happens to be in Nevada at the Northern Nevada Veterans Cemetery. It is 40 miles east of Reno.

Their names are hard to see here so, here they are: 

1st LT. Sharon Ann Lane USA

2nd LT. Carol Ann Elizabeth Drazba USA

Capt. Elinor Grace Alexander USA

2nd LT. Elizabeth Ann Jones USA

1st LT. Hedwig Diane Orlowski USA

2nd LT. Pamela Dorathy Donovan USA

LT. Col. Annie Ruth Graham USA

Capt. Mary Therese Klinker USAF

There are some interesting stories about some of these women and perhaps I will share them at a later date.

These heroes and the 59 civilian women who died in 'Nam are among the roughly 11,000 who served in the war. I wonder how many of us owe them a debt and how we repay that debt?

Next time, on March 20th, we will return to New Hampshire to honor a few who were lost from the state, 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. 

Nebraska XXI

Prospect Hill Cemetery is in Norfolk, Nebraska. I have featured it elsewhere on this site. 

Today, I will honor several of the fallen from the area.

As you may be able to see there are nine heroes remembered here. The first three are:

Sp4 Strube was guiding mortar track and strayed slightly off course. He hit a land mine and was killed by the blast. He gave his all on February 24, 1970, at Binh Thuan.

Buel E. Andersen

SGT Andersen was lost to "multiple fragmentation wounds" on April 21, 1969, at Binh Duong. I am sure, if you are a regular here, that you may be tired of my complaining about the lack of information available about these men and women who gave their all for their country.

James R. Schultz

Sp4 Schultz was lost to "other explosive device" on September 20, 1968, at Binh Duong.

If you read this or any other post here and know something more about the men and women I try to honor, please let me know. The available info is scarce, and we may be running out of time to do justice to them.

Next time, on March 15th, we will return to Nevada to honor a few who were lost from the state, 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.

Montana IX

Montana is one of the first states that I visited back in October of 2009. I visited my friend John in Missoula and visited the magnificent memorial in 'Rose Park. It has always been one of my favorite sites. You can see that post here.

It feels as if I have come full circle and it feels as if this is a never-ending journey.

I don't have many sites from Montana, and I believe that is because of the enormous size of the state. It is actually 15 times larger than the state I live in: so much territory to cross.

Today's heroes are honored on the memorial in the Capitol, Helena.

David J. Allison

Col. Allison was lost on August 12, 1966. He was shot down on a mission over North Vietnam. It is believed that he survived ejection from his plane. He has been listed as MIA, but I have also read that he was awarded some decorations posthumously. I could not find out if he was actually lost or is presumed . VVMF's Wall of Faces still has him listed as MIA.

George R. Anderson

SSGT Anderson is listed on the VVMF site as lost on October 6, 1968, to "non-hostile illness or accident," but on other sites as "mortally wounded" at Tua Thien. I have no way to verify one or the other. Regardless he is among our lost heroes. 

Bruce B. Backeberg

The following is taken directly from his Silver Star citation:

"...Private First Class Backeberg, while serving as the point for the company, discovered an enemy ambush. Immediately and without regard for his own safety, he rushed forward and engaged the first of the enemy in hand-to-hand combat. His instantaneous appraisal of the situation and immediate action pinpointed the enemy force and allowed the company to deliver effective artillery and air strikes on the enemy position. Later the same day, still serving as the company point, Private First Class Backeberg again discovered an enemy ambush. In the ensuing exchange of fire, he was felled, mortally wounded, by enemy rifle fire. His heroic actions in the early identification and attack on the enemy ambushes was directly responsible for the success of the company's mission and saving the lives of many of his fellow Marines. Private First Class Backeberg's inspiring initiative, courage and dedication to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country."

Next time, on March 10th, we will return to Nebraska to honor a few who were lost from the state, 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.