Our Mission:
My first husband, Capt. Jerry Zimmer, was an F4B Phantom jet pilot, whose aircraft was shot down on August 29, 1969, approximately 20 miles South of Da Nang, Vietnam, after six months in country. Neither Jerry nor his navigator, 1st Lt. Al Graf, was able to eject, before the aircraft crashed into the Que Son Mountains. Initially Jerry and Al were classified as Killed in Action/No Body Recovered (KIA/NBR). Years later, both Marines were listed as MIA, along with other service members whose bodies were never recovered.
Jerry has been gone nearly a half century, and hope for recovering his remains had run out a long time ago. However, in recent years our family became involved with the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), now merged with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), and learned that Jerry’s and Al’s remains might, in fact, be recoverable, so we are doing everything possible to support their efforts to make this happen and bring our guys home where they belong.
NOTE: BLOG POSTS ARE NOT UPDATED, SO INFORMATION MAY HAVE CHANGED OVER TIME.
Archive for October, 2011
Tango Mike Mike — A Must-See Video!
When troops were pinned down and surrounded by hundreds of NVA during the Vietnam War, the Hueys were a beautiful sight, along with all the other choppers that came to help out the guys on the ground.
If you don’t have time to read a great Vietnam War book, then watch the attached video (youtube link below) — you’ll think again. It depicts a side of the Vietnam War that a lot of Americans back home did not see or realize that extraordinary human beings were fighting a very dangerous war, in a far off place that few knew existed until they heeded our country’s call to serve.
While soldiers — most not old enough to vote — were described in those days as “baby killers” — words created by activists and loved by media — yet, in reality, our guys were risking their lives, often trying to save fellow warriors, above everything else.
In the video, you will meet M. Sgt. Roy Benavidez, USA, SF (Dec.), a young man who came from a humble background, during an era when being a Hispanic-Indian from Texas, was tested in every way. But as you will see, M. Sgt Benavidez exceeded all expectations and earned the Medal of Honor for heroic actions that seemed almost super human. Some might look at this video as a lesson in prejudice, i.e., white vs. brown or rich vs poor, but I see it more as a way to convey that wearing a United States Army uniform is a transformational opportunity, and M. Sgt. Roy Benavidez proved it — yes, in every way.
M. Sgt. Benavidez served in the U.S. Army for 24 years, and later died on November 29, 1998, at the age of 63. You can purchase a copy of his book on Amazon — it is called, “Medal of Honor: One Man’s Journey from Poverty and Prejudice,” written by Roy Benavidez and John R. Craig. It is also available on Kindle. Or, simply watch this video again and again. Maybe even share it with others. http://www.youtube.com/watch?=RZ7968BbMnU&feature=player_embedded
UNDERWATER MIA RECOVERIES – A BIG DEAL!
The USNS Bowditch team off the coast of Vietnam in 2011, supporting JPAC and its Vietnamese counterpart in the search for Vietnam War MIAs lost over water. (JPAC photo by DOD civilian Ron Ward/Released).
What began as a nail-biter for families of MIAs still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War is fast becoming a year of celebrations, ranging from JPACs FY2012 budget approval, needed to keep recovery operations afloat in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, to its new Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii, now under construction, that should help streamline and speed up the process of identifying remains from all past wartime locations. Everyone’s blood pressure is back to normal, at least for now.
And although media attention has subsided, the biggest reason for celebration among many families with water-related losses in Vietnam was the discovery of what may have been an F4 Phantom crash site, among several site surveys conducted in waters off North Vietnam. After four decades, the U. S. Government and Vietnamese government engaged in a new spirit of cooperation, producing phenomenal results, conducting underwater surveys, aboard U.S. Navy ships.
Even though the war ended in the mid 1970s, this military-to-military effort is the first to offer renewed hope to nearly 500 families, who lost loved ones in overwater crashes during the Vietnam War. We’ve come a long way!
Ron Ward, JPACs Casualty Resolution Specialist in Hanoi, said: “Though the status of the military-to-military relationship is not within JPACs responsibility, the oceanographic survey missions are a small part of the overall bilateral military situation, which can help expand accounting in an indirect way.”
SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM (May 27, 2011) - A Vietnamese Naval Officer, left, learns about the USNS Bowditch from the ship's Captain and another crew member during an ongoing investigation off the coast of Vietnam. The USNS Bowditch is a Pathfinder Class oceanographic research ship which uses specialized sonar to survey the ocean's floor, searching for U.S. aircraft lost during the Vietnam War. (JPAC photo by DOD civilian Ron Ward/Released)
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