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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 ‘helicopter pilot’
The Marine Corps Family — A Generational Tradition
Pictured is Elaine Zimmer Davis and Maj Gen Drew O’Donnell, aboard the Davises boat. Elaine and husband, Ron — a Marine veteran helicopter pilot, hosted Drew and his family for an afternoon of cruising on San Diego Bay.
Drew recently took command of the Third Marine Aircraft Wing at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego. He is one of the many Marines who embodies the generational spirit within the Corps.
The joke among Marines in the early years was that if the Marine Corps wanted you to have a wife, they would have issued you one. Not to minimize difficult times and uncertainty that all military families face, the notion of generational careers within Marine Corps families remains strong and wives traditionally have played an important role.
It is not uncommon to find second and third generation Marines spread throughout the world. Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting such a Marine – Maj Gen Andrew O’Donnell, Jr., who will soon take command of the Third Marine Aircraft Wing, at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, CA.
The Change of Command ceremony for O’Donnell is slated in late September, with Maj Gen Thomas Conant, current commander of the 3D Marine Aircraft Wing, heading for Hawaii to serve as Deputy Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command (USPACOM). Conant will pin on his third star and become the first Marine ever to serve as second in command of USPACOM.
My husband, Ron, met O’Donnell, who is known in the Marine Corps community as “Jr.” but introduced as “Drew,” a couple of years ago at a Quiet Birdman (QB) meeting at the San Diego hangar. For those who are not familiar with the QBs, it is an organization that has been around since 1921 and known for attracting a diverse membership of high time aviators, including the likes of Red Baron and Charles Lindbergh.
The QBs have several chapters throughout the U.S., called hangars, where members meet monthly at a restaurant for the sole purpose of sharing stories about flying. Typically the QBs invite noted pilots to share their experiences, too. Addressing an audience of savvy pilots, a guest speaker traditionally has topnotch flying credentials. A helicopter pilot, named Marine Corps Aviator of the Year in 2000, Drew did not disappoint the QB crew when he spoke of today’s Marine Corps flight program. Read more
Helicopters in the Air Again— JPAC Searches for MIAs in Laos
>For more Laos images, which are extraordinary – CLICK HERE
Laos has always been considered one of the toughest areas in Southeast Asia to conduct field operations in search of our MIAs, as one can see from the above JPAC images. The terrain is unforgiving and nearly inaccessible in much of the country. However, it appears that JPAC has received a CARB waiver, allowing them once again to transport teams by helicopter to locations in Laos. I expect that families will hear more about the helicopter issue , as it pertains to all Vietnam War locations, at the upcoming annual POW/MIA Family League Meeting in D.C. next month.
In simple terms, helicopters transporting JPAC teams were grounded about a year ago due to the lack of CARB compliance, which meant that helicopters in Vietnam and Laos did not comply with our government’s requirements for transporting DoD personnel. This situation placed many operations—especially in Laos— on the backburner until recently. Shortly after the helicopters were grounded, I remember hearing about an operation led by Major Ed Nevgloski, an active-duty Marine, serving temporarily as Commander of the Laos Detachment, until the assigned replacement arrived. Major Nevgloski and team members hiked for two days to an MIA crash site in Laos, moving through nearly impenetrable jungle and limestone studded trails, without any helicopter assistance. Needless to say, Ed and others won’t forget that hike anytime soon.
Here is an excerpt from a press release posted, June 1, 2011, on JPACs website, explaining the current operations in Laos:
While 90% of our MIAs were lost in Vietnam, several hundred disappeared in Laos, too, where the CIA was conducting major operations, as were many of our own military stationed in Vietnam–especially from jet and helicopter squadrons. According to the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO), there are still 328 Americans unaccounted for in Laos; however, 25 are in a “No Further Pursuit” category, which means that they’ve been determined as not recoverable. However, we know that Jerry’s and Al’s case was classified as “No Further Pursuit” until we produced new evidence, giving JPAC reason to reactivate their case. Early-on in our investigation, I remember Ron Ward, the Casualty Resolution Specialist in JPACs Det 2 in Hanoi, telling me that unresolved cases are never really closed, even if they are placed in the “No Further Pursuit Category.” Ron’s words stayed with me, and oddly enough they proved absolutely true in our case.
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