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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.
Posts Tagged ‘Casualty Resolution Specialist Ron Ward’
VETERAN’S DAY 2015 – INNOCENT SOULS: VIETNAM 1968
A LABOR OF LOVE…
Reflecting on the Vietnam War is a personal journey that some veterans choose not to take. That is, until one day, many years later, an older, wiser veteran accidentally finds compassion and beauty, where he once saw only darkness.
L-R — Clarice M. Yentsch, President of the Waypoint Foundation & Exhibition Curator; Glenn Hoover; C. J. Berwick, friend & owner of the Fish House & Fish House Encore Restaurants, who provided the beautiful cake. (Exhibition Debut, Key Largo Community Library)
Glenn Hoover, a Vietnam War combat veteran and recipient of our nation’s 3rd highest award for valor – the Silver Star, and a group of art professionals/personal friends – were busy putting the finishing touches on his Vietnam War photo exhibition, entitled INNOCENT SOULS: VIETNAM 1968. The production was on schedule, ready for the following day.
The Team: L-R — Clarice M. Yentsch, Curator; Kimmy Schryver-Edwards, Assistant Curator; Lecia Webber, friend and baker extraordinaire. Unable to attend the debut was Producer, Anne Ritchie.
On November 8, 2015, the Key Largo, FL, Community Library was packed with 130 visitors, who had come to view the exhibition, dedicated to my first husband, Capt. Jerry Zimmer – a casualty of the Vietnam War. Needless to say, the team not only met their deadline but were grateful for the opportunity to invite guests on Glenn’s special journey back in time.
By no small coincidence, the exhibition is now in full swing for Veteran’s Day, and it is getting some high profile attention in Key West. A noted art haven, Key West is focusing today on our Vietnam veterans, as they celebrate the dedication of their Vietnam War Living Memorial. Glenn’s team is also on site for a special showing of his work by the Key West Art and Historical Society. They are featuring a pop-up exhibit of INNOCENT SOULS on the porch of the Historic Customs House Museum.
CONFRONTING THE PAST
Key Largo Community Library was packed with 130 visitors, who had come to view the exhibition.
Beauty, as they say, is in the eyes of the beholder; however, most would probably agree that the image of the young Vietnamese girl at the beginning of this story is mystically beautiful with eyes that appear to have seen so much in so little time. “She is the icon of the exhibit,” says Glenn, of the child, whose persona is undoubtedly woven into the exhibition’s namesake. The image was taken in 1968 by Glenn – at the time, a 1stLt in the US Army, serving in the infantry, primarily in the III Corps area. Some of his images were shot near Parrot’s Beak and around the Lai Khe area at the 1st Infantry’s Base Camp.
The images of the Montagnards (mountain people) were taken in II Corps when Glenn’s Battalion was attached to the Americal Division (23rd Infantry Division) for a brief operation. “The Montagnards’ story is really terrible,” he says, adding that “many of the Special Forces have spent their lives as volunteer advocates for this persecuted minority….”
Although Glenn took hundreds of images, he packed them away for nearly a half century – to forget and go on with his life. “I wish I would have kept in contact with some of the people, but at the time I wanted it to be part of my history and made no effort,” he says, not unlike many guys I’ve interviewed over the years. “Now, especially looking into the eyes of the young Vietnamese kids, I wonder what happened to them,” says Glenn.
THE BACK STORY
INNOCENT SOULS: VIETNAM 1968 — Dedicated to Capt. Jerry A. Zimmer, Missing In Action/Body Not Recovered (August 29, 1969)
Glenn and Jerry were high school friends, honor students and football jocks at Vestal High School in the Triple Cities area of Upstate New York. Even more important, the guys had a special family connection. Glenn’s dad, Dick Hoover, was a WWII Marine, who eventually became Vestal High School’s football coach – much beloved, Coach Hoover mentored all his players, and I know for a fact that he had a lot to do with Jerry’s decision to become a Marine. Raised on a dairy farm in the rural town of Maine, NY, Jerry used to talk about people he admired, and Coach Hoover was high on that list.
Of the 11 starting players on the Varsity, during Glenn’s and Jerry’s senior year (1961), all went on to graduate from college, which was pretty amazing during that era. But even more amazing was that five graduated from Ivy League Schools, i.e., Glenn from Cornell and Jerry from Brown, and five went on to serve in combat roles in Vietnam. The Vestal football stadium is named Dick Hoover Stadium for a good reason. Crazy but true, Glenn’s brother, Jim, is head coach at Walton High School in Walton, New York, and last year won his 300th victory. No surprise, he, too, is beloved and the Walton community showed their appreciation, naming the school’s football field, Jim Hoover Field.
I remember meeting Glenn in 1969, when he and his parents attended a small service for Jerry at the family’s dairy farm, located in a close-knit community, where everyone knew Jerry and always referred to me as “Jerry’s wife.” My next visit to the farm was terribly hard, but my husband Ron and I drove across the country to ask Jerry’s parents for their blessing on our marriage. Our families remained close until the Zimmers passed away in recent years. They were special people, who loved their grandson, Craig — Jerry’s and my son, pictured above as a child, climbing the aircraft in Jerry’s arms, and as an adult kneeling at his dad’s Memorial Headstone in Arlington.
When Glenn heard that we were planning a Memorial Service for Jerry in 2009, at Arlington National Cemetery, he flew up to D.C. from Key Largo. Ever since then, we have stayed in touch. More recently, Glenn told me of his exhibition and interest in dedicating it to Jerry and wanting to make sure it was okay with me. I was honored and told him that I knew Jerry would be, too.
If the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) locates Jerry’s remains, I am certain that Glenn would be delighted to update his exhibition, announcing Jerry’s long-awaited homecoming.
NOTE: Glenn tells me that the exhibition schedule is filling up quickly in various locations through November 2016. I hope you will check out INNOCENT SOULS: VIETNAM 1968 – it is a labor of love. Please visit www.InnocentSoulsVietnam.org. & www.facebook.com/InnocentSoulsVietnam1968.
MIA IN VIETNAM: “UNTIL THEY ARE HOME”?
In Jan 2009, my sons, Craig (L) and Brett (R), visited JPACs Detachment 2 in Hanoi to better understand MIA operations in Southeast Asia. Craig was especially interested, since his dad — Capt Jerry Zimmer, USMC, is still MIA. Seated at the far left is former Det2 Commander LtC Todd Emoto, USA. Delivering the presentation is former Deputy Commander Maj Ed Nevgloski, USMC. Thanks to LtC Emoto and Maj Nevgloski, Craig and Brett gained a lot of insight into the successes and challenges of recovering our MIAs from the Vietnam War.
Withdrawal from MIA operations in Southeast Asia may not happen immediately, but there’s little doubt that a contingent of U.S. Government officials within the Department of Defense is not leaving a stone unturned when it comes to exploring exit options. The consensus on the Hill is that “everything is on the table.”
Whatever the solution ends up being, it is unlikely to be good news for our MIAs from the Vietnam War, unless something is done soon. The elephant in the room is a mandate in the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which some people now believe was intended to be the catalyst for an exit strategy from Southeast Asia.
Although the situation in Vietnam is complicated and always has a new wrinkle, the best way to describe the 2010 NDAA is to remember if something sounds too good, it probably is. The innocuous – rapidly becoming infamous – mandate is directed at the Central Identification Laboratory (CIL), which falls under the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), at Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu!
The mandate calls for the CIL to more than double the number of MIA identifications to 200 per year by 2015 with contributions from all past wars. In return, the mandate stipulated that there would be enough funding to help make it happen. Note: Conclusive identifications of Vietnam War MIAs are achieved through the use of laboratory analysis and other supporting data. Finding remains during field operations or otherwise is the first step in the process but does not guarantee an identification will be made.
On the surface, who could argue with a mandate that appeared to be a win-win proposition, regardless of political affiliation or MIA allegiance to WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War or other U.S. conflicts around the globe. However, tension is slowly building within the Vietnam War sector among families with MIAs still unaccounted-for, as well as Vietnam veterans who are learning that the mandate might be prejudicial to MIA operations in Southeast Asia. Interestingly, Vietnam veterans have been ardent supporters of MIAs from all past wars, but the ones from the Vietnam War understandably have a special place in their hearts. And recent discussions about possible closure of Detachments in Hanoi and Laos exposed the bigger problem.
Since passage of the 2010 NDAA, CIL Director Dr. Thomas Holland has been walking a fine line. On the one hand, he is a scientist who knows that the mandate could help the CIL in ways that might seem impossible during these extraordinary times. Already the largest and one of the most prestigious in the world, the CIL under Dr. Holland’s leadership has a new facility under construction; funds to hire more skilled anthropologists; and the means to open a satellite lab on the mainland. The CIL is on the road to becoming a forensic lab of the future, and 2015 could very well be the kick-off point for that journey.
A potential downside for Dr. Holland is that he needs to deliver. Highly respected in his field, he knows that meeting the mandate’s expectations means ramping up efforts now – not three years from now – since forensic anthropology is a very precise, slow-moving process, as is finding qualified employees. Unfortunately, Vietnam War remains are hard to come by, which affects the identification process. These factors could make it more difficult for the numbers to add up, but my guess is that Dr. Holland can meet the 2015 challenge, even with Vietnam in the picture.
Please stay tuned.
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