FACES FROM THE WALL

OREGON and the VIETNAM WAR

JULY 1968

    WILLIAM ARNOLD NIMS aka William A. Beckwith
Birth 16FEB46 Rank LCPL Date of Death 04JUL68
P. of birth   Service Marines Place Quang Tri S. Vietnam
Town of
Record 		Eugene Unit 3RD BN 4TH MAR 3RD MAR DIV Death Code Hostile, Died; Artillery, Rocket, Mortar; Ground Casualty
Hometown   service # 2138953Panel 53WEST - 11
Married SingleIn Service 3 yrsMedals Purple Heart  
Tour Date07JUN68Comment   Cemetery  

Wounds Fatal To Northwest Marine Centralia WA Marine Lance Cpl. William A. Nims, 22, died of mortar fragments wounds suffered during a Viet Cong attack 4 Jul (1968) in Quan Tri Province in South Vietnam, the Defense Department reported. Nims had returned to Vietnam a little more than a month ago on a second tour of duty after serving there 14 months. He was the son of Mrs. Ralph Nims, Centralia, and Harold A. Beckwith, Spokane. His home formerly was in Winlock. (Oregonian, Portland OR, 11 Jul 1968

    DAVID FRANCES LANGLEY

Birth 09NOV44 Rank SGTDate of Death 05JUL68
P. of birth   Service Marines Place Quang Tri S. Vietnam
Town of
Record 		Washington DC Unit D Co. 1st Bn 1st Marines  Death Code Hostile, Gun, Small Arms Fire; Ground Casualty;
Hometown   service # 2130678Panel 53WEST - 17
Married MarriedIn Service 3 yrsMedals Purple Heart 
Tour Date11MAR68Comment   CemeteryWillamette National Cem., Portland OR

    EDWARD DEAN SILVER
Birth 02FEB34 Rank LTC Date of Event 05JUL68
P. of birth   Service Air ForcePlace NZ N.Vietnam
Town of
Record 		Junction City Unit 7TH AF 12TH TFW 557TH TFS Death Code Hostile, Died Missing; Air Loss, Crash - Land Fixed Wing - Pilot
Hometown   service # 543368404 Panel 53WEST - 23
Married MarriedDeclared Dead 25FEB77 Medals Purple Heart 
MIA BNR Comment  Cemetery  

Honoring the MIAs
Don Bishoff
    This Afternoon in a section of Portland's Washington Park set aside as a "living memorial" to Vietnam veterans, 25 families will gather for a brief ceremony. It will be a recognition that, for them, the Vietnam War is not quite over.
    They are relatives of Americans still officially unaccounted for in the long Southeast Asian conflict.
    Sen. Mark Hatfield will present each family with a special bronze commemorative medal. The medals were authorized by Congress last year for the 2,489 Americans listed as either MIA (Missing in Action) or KIA BNR (Killed in Action, Body Not Recovered).
    There are 46 Oregonians on that list. Those families not attending today's ceremony will received medals in other states or later from Hatfield.
    Six of the 46 have some connection with Lane County or the surrounding area. There may be others, but even official lists have incomplete information. The six listed by Hatfield's office or by the Oregon coordinator of the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia, are:
    Navy Lt. Meril O. "Skip" McCoy Jr. - The son of Mr. and Mrs. Meril McCoy Sr. of Cottage Grove and a Cottage Grove High School graduate, he was piloting a mail plane that crashed into the sea after taking off from the carrier USS Ranger in 1970.
    Air Force Maj. Theodore J. Shorack Jr. - The husband of Elva Shorack and son of Marcella Shorack, both of Eugene, and a graduate of Elmira High School, he was piloting a plane involved in a collision with another plane while on a rescue mission over North Vietnam in 1966. One parachute was seen after the collision, but no trace was ever found of either pilot.
    Army Staff Sgt. William W. W. Stubbs - The son of Lily Hill Stubbs of Eugene, he has been missing since the South Vietnamese army patrol he was with was attacked by a Viet Cong unit in 1969. He was hit at close range by machine gun fire and grenades and appeared dead, but his body was never recovered.
    Air Force Lt. Col. Edward D. Silver - The husband of Donna Silver of Corvallis and a graduate of Junction City High School, he was piloting an F-4 Phantom jet that exploded while on a mission in 1968.
    Air Force Maj. Richard G. Elzinga - The son of Rev. and Mrs. Richard Elzinga, formerly of Shedd, now of Pasadena CA, he was a military attache to the U.S. Embassy in Laos whose plane disappeared in a flight over the Plain of Jars in 1970.
    Air Force Lt. Col. William Richard Andrews - His home town is listed as Eugene, but no other information was available.
    MOST OF THE FAMILIES of these men know they are dead. But for some there is a lingering uncertainty. For all, there is an extra emptiness.
    "I wish that I could at least get Bill's bones back," said Lily Hill Stubbs. "I have no grave, nothing but his memory, that I can look to as a memorial."
    The McCoys have dealt with that in their own way. "His stone is up there in our lot in Sunset Hills Memorial Gardens in Eugene, " said Rayme McCoy.
    Both Stubbs' mother and Shorack's wife say they have come to accept the deaths of their men. "I feel like he is with God," said Elva Shorack. "However, when the POWs were returned in '73, you know, I just sat there glued to the TV, looking at each one. You always wonder when you don't have any remains."
    The Elzingas, whose don't plane was never found in Laos, still cling to some hope. "Three years after his plane disappeared, a Pathet Lao agent was captured and he had on him three of our son's traveler's checks, imperfectly good condition," said LaMila Jean Elzinga. "As long as they know where he was and that his traveler's checks were not burned, I know that he was alive that day (the plane disappeared). But how long could he have survived? . . . You don't have peace of mind. The not knowing is the worst."
    Richard Durham, a Hatfield volunteer coordinating today's medal ceremony, said the Defense Department has received "over 500 first-hand 'live' sightings" of Americans since the war's end. Many have been discounted or disproved, but "about 150 cases are under investigation currently," he said.
    THE VIETNAMESE GOVERNMENT denies that any prisoners remain there. Strained diplomatic relations with Laos and lack of any relations with Cambodia have complicated efforts to trace MIAs in those countries, Durham said.
    In a radio talk last year, President Reagan said: "I reaffirm by dedication to obtaining the fullest possible accounting for our Americans missing in Southeast Asia. . . We must not rest until we know their fate."
    One who doesn't believe that the government has done enough to determine that fate is Robert Brett of Klamath Falls, state coordinator for the league of families. His son, Capt. Robert Brett Jr., has been missing since being shot down over North Vietnam in 1972.
    "Rather than have Congress create a medal for these men, I would appreciate much more concrete action on the diplomatic and economic front to gain a resolution to this tragedy." Brett said. "It's a tragedy when a country that prides itself on the rights of the individual and the dignity of man will send men off to war and then turn its back on them."
    However, Mrs. Shorack said of the medal presentation: "I think it's letting people know that this isn't resolved."
    And on the face of medal themselves are the words: "You are not forgotten." (The Register-Guard, Eugene OR, Friday, 17 August 1984)
Thank you Oregon Genealogical Society

    CHARLES BURTON FOX Jr.

Birth 16OCT46 Rank CPL Date of Death 09JUL68
P. of birth   Service Army (Draft) Place Binh Duong S. Vietnam
Town of
Record 		Sparks NV Unit 1st Inf Div.  Death Code Hostile, Died; Gun, Small Arms Fire Ground Casualty
Hometown   service # 56835758Panel 52WEST - 05
Married SingleIn Service   Medals Purple Heart  
Tour Date15JUN69Comment   CemeteryWillamette National Cem., Portland OR

    JAMES HENRY ROMANSKI
Birth 16DEC42 Rank LTJG Date of Death 13JUL68
P. of birth   Service Navy (Reserve) Place Ba Xugen S. Vietnam
Town of
Record 		Portland Unit HELICOPTER ATTACK SQDN 3 Death Code Hostile, Died; Air Loss, Crash - Land Helicopter - Crew
Hometown   service # 717255Panel 52WEST - 24
Married SingleIn Service 1 yrMedals Purple Heart 
Tour Date15MAR68Comment   Cemetery  

Navy Officer War Victim Navy Lt. James H. Romanski, 25, Portland, was killed in Vietnam 13 Jul (1968), when his helicopter was shot down by enemy fire, the Defense Department said. He went to Vietnam 16 Jun (1968), as a helicopter pilot after receiving his wings 12 Apr (1968) in Pensacola FL, where he took Navy flight training. Previously listed as missing Romanski was the 341st Oregon man to die in the Vietnam war, and the 142nd this year. Survivors include his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry L. Romanski, 6536 N. Mississippi Ave., and one sister, Joyce M., Portland. The father is a retired mechanical employee. In his grade school years, the Portland Navy man attended Holy Redeemer Parochial School, then was graduated from Catholic Central High School seven years ago and Portland State College two years ago. He was a member of Holy Redeemer Catholic Church. During his summer vacations he worked for the mechanical department of Union Pacific Railroad. Before entering flight training in December, 1966, he worked in a pulp mill in Oregon City and spent a year in Alaska as a volunteer church construction worker. He was unmarried. Church service will be held following arrival of the body from Vietnam. Zeller Chapel of the Roses is in charge of arrangements. (The Oregonian, Portland OR, 1968)

    ARTHUR HADDOCK

Birth 09SEP26 Rank SGT Date of Death 23JUL68
P. of birth   Service Marines Place Quang Nam S. Vietnam
Town of
Record 		Irving Unit H&S CO H&S BN FORLOG COMMAND Death Code Hostile, Died; Artillery, Rocket, Mortar; Ground Casualty
Hometown   service # 1567125Panel 51WEST - 39
Married SingleIn Service 18 yrsMedals Purple Heart 
Tour Date24SEP67Comment   CemeteryWillamette National Cem., Portland OR

    DANIEL EDWARD LLOYD
Birth 24MAR48 Rank CPL Date of Death 28JUL68
P. of birth   Service Marines Place Quang Nam S. Vietnam
Town of
Record 		Astoria Unit K CO 3RD BN 7TH MAR 1ST MARDIV Death Code Hostile, Died; Guns, Small Arms Fire; Ground Casualty
Hometown   service # 2275070Panel 50WEST - 25
Married SingleIn Service 2 yrs Medals Purple Heart  
Tour Date10MAY68Comment   Cemetery  

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!


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