Illinois XX

Wabash (Vietnam Veterans) Plaza, Chicago, Illinois

2936 were lost in Vietnam from Illinois. Other sites dispute this number, but as I have said before, it depends upon whom you are including in that count.

I was in Springfield at the Illinois State Memorial memorial there (quite some years ago now) and the guy in charge told me they had recently (at the time) added the name of a guy who had been in a coma for thirty years. So, numbers are disputed, change over time and it makes me wonder if we will ever have an accurate accounting of the price that was paid?

To recall John Kerry, "Who will be the last to die?

All of that aside, today I will honor a few from Illinois.

Lyle Francis Kell

 CPL Lyle Kell was lost on December2, 1969. He gave all at Binh Duong and was lost as a "ground casualty" to "other explosive device."

Conrad Thomas Lange

LCPL Conrad Lange was in the Dong Nam Province on June 9th, 1967. Like CPL Kell above, he, too, was lost to "other explosive device." He and another solder were killed by booby trapped artillery shells.

Thomas John Mead

PFC Thomas Mead was lost to "accidental homicide" in the Thua Thien Province. He was lost on June 6th, 1969. It turns out that "accidental homicide" occurs when two groups of allied solders get in a fight and start shooting at each other. Two RF (regional forces) members were charged with the homicide but the 5 judge committee declined to convict. One of the two was later killed in battle.

All of these are from Wood Dale, Illinois.

Next time, on September 20th, join me in Indiana. See you, as always, at 9:00 am.

If you have been 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 (several times now), Colleen from Pennsylvania (now three times!) Elli from Maryland and Peg and Ray from Florida (more than once!), among others have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or from where you have traveled. I even got one from Ireland!

These generous submissions have help to expand the knowledge of how we remember and honor the men and women who served in or were lost in Vietnam.

If YOU have any such photos or knowledge about these memorials and sites not already here, I would love to know of them. Please send them along to the email address on the left side of this page and I will gladly share them here.

I hope all these listed here will encourage YOU to send along photos and join the group.