Washington XIV

 The 1047 from Washington lost in Vietnam are remembered and honored here, in Olympia, forever. You can read a little more about this beautiful site here.

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As I have been doing of later, today, I will add some knowledge and honor to a few.

Jerry Wayne McGlothlan

SP4 McGlothlan was aboard a chopper on a mission. The weather was so bad that they were ordered back to base. That was the last that was heard from them. Some days later the crash site was located and McGlothlan was positively identified. He "died while missing" presumably on the day of the crash, June 9, 1970, in the Tay Ninh Province.

As an aside, his Purple Heart was stolen from of a car and ended up some years later in a pawn shop. A Marine vet saw it, paid over 200 bucks for it and tracked down McGlothlan family to return it to them. In 1916 they were trying to locate his son who had been adopted, to give it to him. I cannot track down if this effort weas successful.

Ronald Edgar Playford

LCPL Ronald Playford was lost on March 24, 1969, at Quang Tri Province. He was lost to "other explosive device..."

Lonnie Melroe Swinson

MSGT Lonnie Swinson was lost when his vehicle hit a mine on September 11, 1970, in the Tay Ninh Province. He was awarded several medals for his gallant service.

All three of the above heroes were from Yelm, Washington.

Next time, on July 2nd, we will return to West Virginia, 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 three) 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.