Texas XXIII

Texas has the distinction of being the state that gave the third highest number of her sons and daughters lost in Vietnam (following California and New York,)

I have posted 22 previous times from Texas and, today, want to highlight and honor a few of her lost.

Texarkana Vietnam/Korea Memorial. You can read more about this multi-state memorial here.

Oddie C. Hailey

Sgt. Oddie Hailey was lost on June 23, 1967, in the Quang Ngai Province. However, there are conflicting reports about his death. VVMF calls his loss a "misadventure" which apparently is an euphemism for "friendly fire." Also stated is "mistaken for Viet Cong... shot" and other sites say killed by "multiple fragmentation wounds..." in "hostile action..."  

Howard Lee Elder

Sgt Howard Elder was lost to "small arms fire" in a "hostile" action in the Binh Dinh Province. He gave his all on July 8, 1970. Again, the lack of information is simply appalling.

Wayne Lee Harland

Sgt. Wayne Harland served his tour in 'Nam and decided to extend for an additional 6 months (I didn't know you could do that.) He was lost halfway through his extension. He was lost to "hostile'' "explosive device'' on May 1, 1968, at Binh Dinh.

Next time on June 12th, we will return to Utah, 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.