Vietnam Fliers Buried Together Nearly 40 Years After Deaths

[NATO AIR]

finally

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29111-2004Nov5.html

Belated Tribute to 6 Fliers
Vietnam-Era Crew's Remains Buried Together

By Michael Laris
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 6, 2004; Page B01

On a busy patch of grass at Arlington National Cemetery, where the families of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq have gathered often, an Air Force honor guard set down a painfully light silver coffin yesterday, marking a ceremonial end for six Air Force fliers who went down over Laos nearly four decades ago.

The crew was on a nighttime reconnaissance mission in 1966 when, according to a Department of Defense history, someone on the AC-47 gunship radioed: "We have a hot fire."

Many who did not know the servicemen attended the ceremony, in which meager remains recovered in Laos in 1995 were buried in a single coffin. (

Witnesses said they saw no parachutes before the burning aircraft crashed in a heavily wooded area, according to the Pentagon, which added that a subsequent aerial search found no evidence of survivors.

The coffin held remains excavated in 1995 after a villager directed an American and Laotian search team to the aircraft's wreckage and an ID tag.

The identification belonged to Harding E. Smith Jr.'s father.

"It took a long time before anyone was able to go in," Smith said yesterday. "There was not a lot left. They had my father's dog tags and his Geneva Convention card. . . . Because there was so little, they decided on a joint burial for the entire crew."

Tearful loved ones stood or sat before the single flag-covered coffin. They were joined by Thomas W. O'Connell, assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, and more than 100 members of Rolling Thunder, a leather-and-denim-clad group of veterans and motorcycle riders meeting in Washington this week. The group calls attention to service members who are missing in action and prisoners of war.

"We're honored to have these remains brought back to bring closure to their lives," said Air Force veteran Lou Garcia. Although Americans were fiercely divided over the Vietnam War, he added, "we're all of one heart to see all Americans be accounted for."

Small green posts with the words "Temporary Grave Marker" stuck up from the soggy turf as rifles cracked a salute. One read: "Name/Group Burial." The six others listed the men memorialized yesterday: Harding E. Smith Sr. of Los Gatos, Calif.; Theodore E. Kryszak of Buffalo; Russell D. Martin of Bloomfield, Iowa; Ervin Warren of Philadelphia; Luther L. Rose of Howe, Tex.; and Harold E. Mullins, whose home town was not given.

Tom Lee, a retired Air Force intelligence officer who flew missions over Laos in a tiny "bird dog" aircraft in the late 1960s, said he was drawn to the service after his wife pointed out a blurb about the burial in the newspaper.

"In 1968, we didn't exist. It was a secret war. My wife didn't know where I was for one year," Lee said. "It's a case of the brothers coming home, the brotherhood. There's a mystique that's very difficult to describe. You're happy to see them back."

It was a painful, and ultimately disappointing, reunion for some.

"I don't know if it was the service I wanted. It was a fitting memorial service," Smith said.

A memorial was held at California's Moffett Field in 1974 when Smith's father was deemed killed in action after eight years on a list of the missing, he said. He said his anger at what he considers his father's unnecessary death colors his view of current U.S. foreign policy.

"Many people in this country have all but forgotten that war, and I'm afraid we haven't learned some of the lessons that war might have taught us," Smith said. "The Vietnam War was a senseless war. I wish I could say my father died for some great purpose, but I think he died for the foolishness of the American leadership."

Chris Whitcomb, whose husband is serving in Iraq, said she came to honor men she did not know. She stood watching workers dig a hole yesterday for the crew's coffin.

"It's a comfort to the families that the remains were found, excavated, brought back on American soil . . . as opposed to having it somewhere in Laos," she said.

"It's a horrible thing. But you know what? It's a necessary thing . . . . I don't fear for my husband," she said. "My husband is doing what he wants to do. If you look in their eyes, these guys are ready to go."

 

[Jimmyeatworld]

Far over due, but may they rest in peace.