South Carolina IX

We have visited Patriots Point, near Charleston, in the past and today I want to feature names from the 896 (I have, also seen 980 from other sources) dog tags on display at this really outstanding site.

All of these names are from York, South Carolina:

Jonny Phillip Costner

SGT Jonny Costner was lost in Ninh Thuan Province "non-hostile...other causes..." on November 10, 1970. Sadly, it was reported that he took his own life.

This is the best photo I could find

On March13th 1971 SP4 Robert Good was lost in the Binh Dinh Province reports disagree about the cause of his death. Some sources report "accidental homicide" while others say, "intentional homicide...."

Abraham Harris

PVT Abraham Harris was lost at Long An on October 13, 1967, to "multiple fragmentation wounds..."

It is interesting and a little disturbing to learn that of the three soldiers lost from York, South Carolina that one was murdered and one committed suicide.

I repeatedly whine about the lack of information about our lost soldiers, but the lack of good pictures is another issue. I recall that we were all taken, during basic, to have portraits taken. Was this only at Ft. Bragg? I assumed that it was done everywhere, perhaps not. Please comment if you did or did not have a photo taken.

Next time on May 28th, we will return to South Dakota, 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.