Utah X

I mentioned in my last post, on Texas, that it had the distinction of having the third most losses in the war. Well, Utah holds a similar distinction.

Utah has the 5th most, per capita, participation in the effort. This as stated in the original post from Utah was especially unusual given the make-up of Utah's society. You can read the details about that here

Today, we will honor three of the 388 from the state who made the ultimate sacrifice.

George J. Economous

1LT George Economous was lost in Kontum Province on April 15, 1968. His records say he was lost to "hostile...small arms fire..." He was from Logan, Utah but was interred in Indiana. This is the

 sum total of everything I could find on an American hero. Appalling.

Ray Grant Jenkins

WO Ray Jenkins was refueling his helicopter at Soc Trang when the mortar attack began. He tried to get his chopper off the ground but took a direct hit from one of the more than 100 rounds falling from the sky. He was transported by ambulance but to no avail. He was lost on February 2, 1968. One of the many casualties of the infamous Tet offensive.

Randall Leroy Saunders

SP4 Randall Saunders was lost to "hostile... small arms fire at Quang Tri Province. He was lost on February 16, 1968, in the shadow of the Tet offensive. I know I whine about this all the time, but nobody seems to tell their stories in much detail Once in a while I run across something useful but not nearly enough. Who will tell their story? I fear that now; it is too late.

All of these lost heroes were from Logan, Utah.

Next time on June 17th, we will return to Vermont, 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.