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.
Recognition Award 314
This photo shows VMFA 314’s Skipper (LtCol Tom Kelly) and XO (Maj. Bob Johnson) presenting the coveted “Second Best” Award to VMFA 122 CO (Whose name unfortunately has slipped behind the curtain of time). The locale was the air group’s club and the date would have been somewhere around April 1970.
Correction – That is my father, LtCol Tom Kelly, on the left. He passed in 2003. He was especially proud of the men he served with in the 314. Hoping you are successful in bringing Jerry home.
Brian — thanks so much for the heads up and the nice comment about our quest to bring home Jerry’s remains. I corrected your dad’s name in John’s comment — your dad was obviously a great leader with a sense of humor. The photo says it all.