Posted on 12/31/2009 4:58:27 PM PST by csvset
YORK
It took 41 years, but a York County airman missing in action since the Vietnam War has finally been laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery after his remains were positively identified earlier this year.
Melvin Douglas Rash, of Grafton, was buried with full military honors Dec. 7 at the revered Washington-area cemetery. He had been missing since 1968, when his Air Force C-130 airplane was presumably shot down over Vietnam.
After years of dead ends, the plane's wreckage was finally positively identified in 2002 in a jungle area near the Laotian border. It took six years before military investigators with permission from the Vietnamese government were able to get to the site and use archaeological techniques to sift through the remaining wreckage and surrounding area where they found human remains later matched to five of the plane's nine crew members. Rash was one of those five, said Rash's older brother Larry Rash.
"I've done more grieving in the last few months than I had since he went missing," Larry Rash said, adding that the family held out that there would be a homecoming. "Eventually, the hope just faded although we never really gave it up. Finding the remains forced closure."
(Excerpt) Read more at dailypress.com ...
Welcome home. *Salutes*
Welcome home Airman Rash. RIP.
Too many lost in that terrible terrible pointless war. Americas young men gave so much, but they never had a chance with our own government working against them. Shameful. Absolutely shameful.
Yes, welcome home.
I’m happy our fighting son is finally home. Rest in peace Mr. Rash. You have earned it. God bless you and your family!
Sad Regards
alfa6 ;>}
RVN ping
Welcome home son. May your family be comforted by your return.
Thank you for your ultimate sacrifice.
mrs
Another American hero is given his final and just farewell. Rest in peace.
Thanks for the post.
An American gives up his young life in service to his country and these words are all you have to mark the moment?
A simple "Thank You" from a grateful countryman would be more appropriate.
This old sailor SALUTES you!!!
Foor DJ Taylor: you were too easy on this dirtbag, aka Karma Police, you should learn to be more forceful in future.
Toward FREEDOM!
oops ... Foor = FOR
I didn’t serve in Vietnam, not because I’m and idiot, or because I’m a shirker, but because it happened 20 years before I was born. Seeing stories like these breaks my heart. Our government did not support our troops’ efforts in Vietnam and abandoned this airman’s sacrifice for four decades. They left him in the jungle, just like who knows how many POW’s. They deserved better. Much much better. A simple thanks to this airman isn’t enough, we must ensure through vigilance that we never allow such abuses of our fighting men and women to be forgotten or perpetrated again. If that makes me a dirtbag on FR, then so be it.
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