POW-MIA
BRING THEM HOME
NOW!
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POW-MIA BRING THEM HOME NOW! |
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Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eyes. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel -- or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's alloy forged in the refinery of adversity. Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem.
You can't tell a vet just by looking. What is a vet?
The Vet is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel.
The Vet may be the bar room loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel in Korea.
The Vet is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night in Da Nang.
The Vet is the former POW who went away one person and came back another - or didn't come back AT ALL.
The Vet is the Quantico drill instructor who maybe never experienced combat -- but saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines by teaching them to watch and protect each other's backs.
The Vet is the wheel chair-riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.
The Vet is the career quartermaster who watched the ribbons and medals pass him by but made certain every needed bullet found it way to the front line.
The Vet is one of the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose uncommon valor lies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.
The Vet is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket -- palsied now and aggravatingly slow --who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife was still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.
The Vet is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being -- a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.
Remember November 11th -- Veterans Day.
"It is the soldier, not the reporter, who gave us Freedom of the Press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who gave us Freedom of Speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the Freedom to Demonstrate. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag. It is the soldier whose bravery and sacrifice made it possible for the protester to burn the flag."
(I would like to give credit to the author. If you know who wrote this, please let me know.)
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At Christmas it was lonely... because I was not at home, And I know that you missed me too... because you were alone. I know the separation was... not even a full year, But as I think of seeing you... I wipe away a tear.
To see your smiling face again... and hold you close to me, Is what I've dreamed and thought about... to keep my sanity. To think of seeing you again... and just behold your beauty, We're down to counting only days... to end this tour of duty.
I know that I have done my job... while serving Uncle Sam, I am a US soldier and it made me... who I am. But as I serve my country... and defend red, white and blue, I know that while you wait for me... that is a duty too.
So knowing that you wait for me... while I am far away, Makes me love you even more... and I just want to say, I love you for your sacrifice... of waiting faithfully, I love you for your precious love... that you bestow on me.
With only days for us to count... until I'm home again, We can love and laugh again... the way its always been. We can hold each other tight... and share our precious love, Now with only days before us... that's what I think of.
So sweetheart I will soon be home... My tour is down to days, And we can stand so tall and proud... when we see our flag raised. I followed all my orders and... did what I had to do, And all the others here with me... have done their duty too.
I love you because you are waiting... patiently for me, I love you because you support... what ever is to be. I love you because once again... our lives will be in tune, I love you so much sweetheart... and I'll see you very soon.
Name: James Edward Creamer, Jr.
Rank/Branch: E5/US Army
Unit: 17th Aviation Company, 214th Aviation
Battalion, 16th
Aviation Group, 1st Aviation Brigade
Date of Birth: 09 May 1947 (New Haven CT)
Home City of Record: North Branford CT
Date of Loss: 21 April 1968
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 161810N 1071956E (YD481033)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1H
Refno: 1138
Other Personnel In Incident: Larry Jamerson; Robert
C.
Link; Floyd W. Olsen, Lyle MacKedanz, Frankie B.
Johnson
(all missing)
Source: Compiled from one or more of the following:
raw
data from U.S. Government agency sources,
correspondence
with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK in 1998.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: On April 21, 1968, Capt. Floyd W. Olsen,
aircraft
commander; WO1 Robert C. Link, pilot; SP5 Frankie B.
Johnson, Jr., crew chief; SP4 Larry C. Jamerson, door
gunner; SSgt. Lyle E. MacKendanz and SP4 James E.
Creamer,
passengers; were aboard a UH1H helicopter (serial
#66-16209) which was flying a combat mission with
other
aircraft in South Vietnam.
The aircraft remained with the assault aircraft
during most
of the operation until it was required to depart from
Phu
Bai, South Vietnam with rigging equipment for a
recovery
from LZ Zeghel. During the flight, Capt. Olsen
acknowledged
a radio transmission which stated the aircraft's
secondary
mission, the recovery operation at LZ Zeghel, had
been
cancelled because of the tactical situation and
inclement
weather conditions. Following acknowledgement of the
cancelled mission, the aircraft was lost. Although
there
were several unsuccessful attempts to contact him,
and ramp
checks of all airfields and camps in the area were
conducted, no further contact was made with Capt.
Olsen.
On April 22, an extensive, though unsuccessful air
search
was conducted from dawn until 1830 hours. On May 8,
elements of the 8th ARVN Airborne Division found the
ID
tags of SP5 Johnson in a 3/4-ton truck, non-U.S. On
May
25, a UH1C gunship of the 101st Airborne Division
sighted a
tail boom of a crashed helicopter. On May 26, the
downed
aircraft was positively identified by its tail number
by a
gunship of the 17th Armored Calvary Armored
Helicopter
Company.
On May 27, an on-ground inspection was conducted by
Company
A, 1st Battalion, 327th Airborne Infantry. The
Company
found the main rotor blades of the missing helicopter
in a
river bed 200 meters west of the tail boom. The area
became
insecure, and a search team came under enemy fire,
curtailing search efforts prior to finding the main
cabin
section of the UH1H. Further investigation revealed
that
the helicopter was downed due to anti-aircraft
artillery
fire. Although the cabin section was not located, and
no
remains were found, the families of the men were
informed
that all aboard had been killed. No explanation was
given
as to why Johnson's dog tags had been found in a
non-U.S.
truck.
In the fall of 1985, a CIA document was declassified
which
contained drawings of a Viet Cong detention center
which
held U.S. servicemen in 1969 prior to their being
sent
north to Hanoi. It was located just 20 miles
southwest of
Camp Eagle, a major American base near Hue, South
Vietnam.
In the document were greatly detailed drawings, lists
of
personnel and lists of U.S. servicemen identified
from
photographs. Lyle MacKedanz' name was on a list of
positively identified prisoners. Along with MacKedanz
were
the names of several POWs who were released in 1973.
One of
them has verified the authenticity of the report as
far as
the camp itself is concerned.
The MacKedanz family was given the document by a
private
citizen who had obtained it through the Freedom of
Information Act. They had never been told there was
even
the remotest possibility that Lyle had been captured.
The
Defense Department maintains that the report was a
fabrication, even though much of it has been verified
by
returned POWs who were held there.
The families of the men lost on the UH1H that went
down
that day in April 1968 want the truth. If their man
is
dead, they would like to know. They can accept that.
If he
is one of the hundreds whom experts now say are
alive, they
want him home. What they cannot accept is having the
truth
withheld from them. And they cannot accept the
abandonment
of America's finest sons.
Many thanks to Doc's Graphics
And to Ron
Fleischer
Email me atKARENE1@webtv.net
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