Minnesota XI

My heart just aches tonight as I try to honor some lost souls from Minnesota. Because as is all too often the case, I can find almost nothing about them. Young men, in this case, who put everything on the line, because our country asked then too. Made a bet that they could see it through and lost that bet.

I get very tired of what is probably not really disrespect, but only lack of respect.

All of the following are from the Stillwater, Minnesota area. You can see my post from Stillwater here.

Brian C. Brown

CPL Brown was lost to "non-hostile.... ground casualty...air crash..." That it is it. That is what I can find. He was lost on February 19, 1967. CPL Brown's place of loss was "unknown" WTF!

Gary D Graber

PFC Graber was lost on August 20, 1967, in the Quang Nam Province to "hostile... small arms fire..."

James Russell Hicks

This was taken directly from the VVMF's Wall of Faces. If I wasn't saddened already tonight, this would have done the trick.

SSgt James R. Hicks was a security policeman serving with the 366th Security Police Squadron, 366th Combat Support Group, 366th Tactical Fighter Wing, 7th Air Force, at Da Nang Air Base in Quang Nam Province, RVN. Hicks, who arrived in December 1970, provided security and base defense with other Air Force security police, protecting aircraft, the POL (fuel & oil) sites, ordnance storage areas, runways, and base perimeter. On March 6, 1971, he died at mortar station at Da Nang where it was reported he took his own life. A postmortem examination and subsequent death certificate confirmed Hicks died by his own hand; however, when the Air Force provided a final report on his loss, it was inexplicably coded an accidental homicide. Hicks was 21 years old. [Sourced at coffeltdatabase.org]

Rest in Peace to all. You are not forgotten.

Next time, on February 16th, we will return to Mississippi 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.