You're home now.....R I P
LCpl Kurt E La Plant Lenexa, KS
LCpl Luis F Palacios Los Angeles CA
LCpl Ralph L Harper Indianapolis IN
Pfc Jose R Sanchez Brooklyn NY
Posted on 11/05/2008 12:13:29 PM PST by Stonewall Jackson
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of four U.S. servicemen, missing from the Vietnam War, have been identified and will be returned to their families for burial with full military honors.
They are Lance Cpl. Kurt E. La Plant, of Lenexa, Kan., and Lance Cpl. Luis F. Palacios, of Los Angeles, Calif. Remains that could not be individually identified are included in a group. Among the group remains are Lance Cpl. Ralph L. Harper, of Indianapolis, Ind., and Pfc. Jose R. Sanchez, of Brooklyn, N.Y. All men were U.S. Marine Corps. Palacios will be buried Friday in Bellflower, Calif., and the other Marines will be buried as a group in the Spring in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.
On June 6, 1968, these men were aboard a CH-46A Sea Knight helicopter that was attempting an emergency extraction of elements of the 1st Battalion, 4th Regiment, 3rd Marine Division then engaged against hostile forces in the mountains southwest of Khe Sanh, Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam. The helicopter was struck by enemy ground fire and crashed, killing 12 of the 23 crewmen and passengers on board. All but four of the men who died were subsequently recovered and identified.
Between 1993 and 2005, joint U.S./Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.) teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), investigated the incident in Quang Tri Province, interviewed witnesses and surveyed the crash site three times. The team found a U.S. military boot fragment and wreckage consistent with that of a CH-46 helicopter.
In 2006, a team began excavating the site and recovered human remains and non-biological material evidence including La Plant’s identification tag. While at the site, a Vietnamese citizen turned over to the team human remains the he claimed to have found amid the wreckage. In 2007, another team completed the excavation and recovered additional human remains, life support material and aircraft wreckage.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO web site at www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1420.
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BTTT
You're home now.....R I P
LCpl Kurt E La Plant Lenexa, KS
LCpl Luis F Palacios Los Angeles CA
LCpl Ralph L Harper Indianapolis IN
Pfc Jose R Sanchez Brooklyn NY
Thanks for the link - the comments are quite poignant.
All,
Gunny our RC wrote the following on our web site:
All Viet Nam Veterans rejoice! One of our MIA’s is missing no more.
On 05 Nov 2008 the PGR welcomed home LCpl. Luis F. Palacios, USMC missing since 06 June 1968.
8 PGR members arrived at the Bob Hope USO at LAX and waited for Luis’s aircraft to arrive. The Airport Police escorted the PGR to post 2 in time for the PGR to greet LCpl Palacios as he left LAX. We then escorted him to Whites Funeral Home.
The PGR then moved him into the chapel area of the funeral home and formally welcomed him home. Each taking a moment to reflect on his long journey and to rejoice that Luis is back in the arms of his loving family and on the soil he bravely fought to protect.
Sempler Fi my Brother.
My comments.
This mission was very short notice (less than 8 hr)
We will render HONORS along with the USMC on fri.
The family invited the PGR.
I will post the after action report of the funeral.
Ping or Freep-mail me if you want to be on this list.
I would like to be on the list until every single one comes home.
Thank you!
BTTT
Pls add me,
Thanks - llevrok
Ping!!
Heroes proved in liberating strife.
RIP. Someone’s family is at peace tonight.
Welcome home faithful servants.
Prayers for their families......
Prayers Up! For a short time, I held an MOS of 'Graves Registrar' for the Army. It was the best and the worst job I ever held in my 20 year career. *SNIF*
Welcome Home marines. RIP.
I guess it goes to show that NO ONE wanted to be left behind in that land. Welcome home and RIP, Marines!
We stand at attention and salute each of them for their gallant actions in that last fight.
The Marines have a little different idea of “no one left behind”. God Bless the Corps, and my Marines.
Semper Fidelis
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