Daughters Bury Remains of Long-Missing Soldier
Welcome Home Lt. Col. Donald E. Parsons
Thank You for your sacrifice for our Freedom.
Posted on 06/18/2002 10:47:18 AM PDT by in the Arena
Edited on 09/03/2002 4:50:40 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
After more than three decades of waiting, of wondering what and where and how, his daughters buried Lt. Col. Donald E. Parsons on Friday with full military honors. They walked behind a horse-drawn caisson for the final journey to his gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery. They stood for the sharp report of 21 gunshots and the moving simplicity of taps. They received from a commanding officer the American flag that had been draped over their father's casket, now folded into a sharp, taut triangle of mourning.
Full story...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Boonie Rat
MACV SOCOM, PhuBai/Hue '65-'66
Name: Donald Eugene Parsons
Rank/Branch: O5/US Army
Unit: Advisory Team 4, Senior Advisor to 2nd Regiment, 1st ARVN Infantry Division
Date of Birth: 17 April 1929 (Marion IL)
Home City of Record: Sparta IL
Date of Loss: 06 February 1969
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 162750N 1070238E (YD182212)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 4
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1H
Other Personnel In Incident: Charles I. Stanley; Ronald D. Briggs; David E. Padgett; Eugene F. Christiansen; Robert C. O'Hara (all missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 June 1990 from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: On February 6, 1969, CW2 Charles I. Stanley, pilot; 1Lt. David E. Padgett, aircraft commander; SP5 Robert C. O'Hara, crew chief; PFC Eugene F. Christiansen, door gunner; LtCol. Donald E. Parsons, 1Lt. Ronald D. Briggs, and Maj. Vu Vanh Phao, ARVN, all passengers, were aboard a UH1H (serial #67-17499) on a resupply mission in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam.
While in route from Landing Zone Vandergrift to LZ Tornado, 1Lt. Padget contacted the LZ Tornado radio operator at about 1100 hours and stated that due to poor weather conditions and poor visibility, the flight was returning to LZ Vandergrift.
At that time, the radio operator at LZ Tornado could hear the helicopter northeast of his location, which sounded as if it were heading in a northerly direction. When the aircraft failed to return to LZ Vandergrift, a coordinated search and rescue operation was initiated and continued for seven consecutive days, finding nothing.
However, on the morning of February 7, Crown, an airborne control aircraft, reported receiving radio beeper signals several times from the general vicinity of where Lt. Padgett's aircraft was last reported. The beeper signals were estimated to emanate from that general direction. The source of the signals was never determined.
The area in which the aircraft was estimated to go down has been dubbed "Antenna Valley" and is located west of Cam Lo and on the backside of Camp Carrol. The area was occupied by NVA regulars, and was never cleared. On-site search was not possible at that time.
We shall meet but we shall miss him.
There will be one vacant chair.
We shall linger to caress him
While we breathe our ev'ning prayer.
When one year ago we gathered,
Joy was in his mild blue eye.
Now the golden cord is severed,
And our hopes in ruin lie.
CHORUS: We shall meet, but we shall miss him.
There will be one vacant chair.
We shall linger to caress him
While we breathe our ev'ning prayer.
At our fireside, sad and lonely,
Often will the bosom swell
At remembrance of the story
How our noble Willie fell.
How he strove to bear the banner
Thro' the thickest of the fight
And uphold our country's honor
In the strength of manhood's might.
CHORUS
True, they tell us wreaths of glory
Evermore will deck his brow,
But this soothes the anguish only,
Sweeping o'er our heartstrings now.
Sleep today, O early fallen,
In thy green and narrow bed.
Dirges from the pine and cypress
Mingle with the tears we shed.
CHORUS
bttt
Lt. Col. Donald E. Parsons,
Salute!
Loss Coordinates: 162750N 1070238E (YD182212) Click coordinates to view (4) maps
But then you already knew it was hot and humid eh SP :o)
Stay Safe , hope all is well with you.
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