...for as long as it takes
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Sent in by Chuck *Doc* Stewart
It saddens me to pass on this update for Roy Benavidez. Roy passed away Sunday, November 29, 1998. America has lost one of it's true heroes. Roy's memory will live on for many years to come within the veteran community and all who knew him. Our prayers go out to Roy's family. Not having known Roy personally... only from what I have read, I have a feeling his work is not finished. He will continue on with his wonderful deeds of helping those in need from a much better place now. Rest now brother... you will finally find peace and God knows you have earned it. Benavidez, a longtime El Campo resident, had been hospitalized for treatment of a long illness complicated by diabetes and anemia. Doctors recently amputated his right leg.November 29, 1998, 10:32 p.m.
Medal of Honor recipient, Vietnam War hero Benavidez dies
8/15/35 - 11/29/98SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Roy Benavidez, a Vietnam veteran who in 1981 received the Medal of Honor for saving eight fellow Green Berets, died Sunday at Brooke Army Medical Center. He was 63.
The following service are to be held for Roy Benavidez:
Tuesday Dec 1
10:00 AM viewing at St Roberts Catholic Church in El Campo
6:00 PM RosaryWednesday- Dec 2
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM Viewing at Funeral Home, Porter Loring, San Antonio
7:00 PM Rosary at Ft Sam Houston Main Post ChapelThursday - Dec 3
10:00 AM San Fernando Cathedral, San Antonio Mass
11:30 AM Ft Sam Houston National Cemetery
"I'm proud to be an American," Benavidez said in a recent interview. "I'm proud to serve my country, serve it well. I'm proud of being rewarded for a job well done, and for my country to give me the benefit and opportunity to advance in my career."
Benavidez, who changed his name from Raul to Roy when he joined the Army, was born Aug. 5, 1935, in the predominantly German community of Lindenau in South Texas. He was a sharecropper's son who barely knew his parents, Salvador and Teresa Benavidez. They died a year apart, leaving him and a younger brother, Rogelio, to live with an uncle, Nicholas Benavidez.
Stung by racial discrimination prevalent in the 1940s, Benavidez joined the Army as a way to get ahead. He earned his high school diploma in the Army, saw some of the world and earned promotions. He was assigned to airborne school in 1958. Ten years later, he made history.
On the morning of May 2, 1968, three months into his second tour of the Vietnam War, Benavidez defied the enemy and the odds. A North Vietnamese regiment surrounded a dozen soldiers from his unit during a secret mission in Cambodia that had been authorized by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Three helicopters trying to save the men came under heavy fire and were unable to land. Benavidez bulled his way onto a helicopter to save his friends. Moments after jumping off into a clearing, he suffered wounds to the right leg, face and head while charging through heavy enemy fire.
Benavidez repositioned team members so they could give cover fire for the helicopters. He then carried half the wounded troops to nearby aircraft. Benavidez then recovered classified documents from a dead team leader, guided wounded troops from a downed aircraft and set up a defense line.
As the enemy gained strength, he called in airstrikes, directed fire from helicopter gunships and provided first aid to a wounded soldier. He suffered more than three dozen injuries from gunshot wounds, grenades and hand-to-hand fighting.
When told his one-man battle was awesome and extraordinary, he replied, "No, that's duty."
Our Prayers and Thoughts Go Out to Kimmie and Her Family "On November 25, 1971, MSgt Jim Thomas (USAF Pararescue) was shot down while returning from a rescue mission. His case and fate have never been resolved and his family has faithfully pursued the answers for 27 years. They have never given up."
sent in by: George M. "Gunny" Fallon"On Friday evening, Julie, Jim's faithful, loving wife, died of a broken heart. She leaves 3 daughters, Kimmie, Lisa and Symphony. They will continue to carry on the fight for her. Kimmie calls me Uncle Gunny, but she is much more like a daughter to me."
"I could try and tell you all about this wonderful family whose love for their husband and father has never waivered, but nothing I might say could tell the story any better than if you went to Kimmie's page and read the "Letters Written with Happiness and Tears" she and her mom wrote to Jim."
"Kimmie, Lisa, Symphony...we love you."...Gunny
Condolences can be sent to BERLY100@aol.com
Important "Regarding the memorial services for Julie Thomas, mother of Kimmie Thomas-Bowles and wife of MSG James Richard Thomas who remains unaccounted for in SE Asia since November 1971, I am attaching a message from Jen of 'Sons and Daughters in Touch'."
sent in by: George M. "Gunny" Fallon"Any demonstration of support or expression sympathy for Kimmie and her family would be greatly appreciated by me personally. The family members who still fight for those yet unaccounted for, are a special breed of heroes. The great majority of us are in this fight because as adults, we chose to be here."
"Kimmie was thrown into this battle as a child and has never waivered in her commitment to her Dad, and to the rest of the families. She is of that special breed of hero and we do not often have the opportunity to show those special heroes how much they mean to us.
...Gunny
Message:
Gentlemen
I have been asked by the family to pass this along to you. It is our hope that closure and mourning will be different this time for the Thomas family and that healing can happen, when we say goodbye together. This family needs help dealing and coping with this tragedy. Now they have lost two parents to Vietnam.Memorial Services for Julia Ann Thomas wife of James R Thomas, MIA 11-25-71 will be held on Wednesday December 16th at 6PM at the National Cremation Society
4945 East Bay Drive Clearwater, FL 33764
813/536-0494The funeral home will accept flowers or monetary donations can be made to assist with the cost of funeral arrangements. Please make checks out to Kim Thomas-Bowles, care of SDIT Tampa Bay, Jen Branch Denard at 470 Third Street South #505, ST Pete FL 33701
Thank you...Jen of "Sons and Daughters in Touch"
I know you all of you have worked very hard to push on the Russian document, but we despartely need to get more news coverage on this outside the Wash Times. Despite the great articles by Gertz, the Times is isolated. We need other news orgs to pick this up.
Updated News---KGB Document
We need more news articles on the Russian Document
Sent in by: Jay VeithI am working on the Phila Inquirer, but that won't happen until sometime next week. But in talking to sources close the issue, they are deeply concerned that this critical doc will die on the vine.
I know that I am asking the impossible, but please try to get other press to publish.
Jay
An addition to Jay's letter, sent in by Gunny:
This matter is so critical to the full accounting that I am hesitant to rely on email. Bill Snyder of the Republican National Committee says that email rarely gets read and even when it does it is deleted without any action beyond an auto response.Call, fax, snailmail and follow up regularly on this one. Make it more personal. Demand specifics - ie:
If we can get everyone to keep at it, to let the lawmakers know we expect results in a timely manner and that we don't give a damn for diplomatic niceties, they will have to follow up and follow through.
- When can we expect an answer? A month? 3 months? A year?
- What exactly did Gore ask?
- What is the nature of the results the administration anticipates?
- Was this just a diversion to appease POW activists with no intention of following through unless a PR crisis arises?
That's the message we need to get out
*For the full story on the KGB document mentioned in Jay's letter, please go to:
KGB Document UpdatesAlso read:
Response to Mr. Schlatter
Regarding KGB Document from:
Steve Golding,Executive Director, PoW/MIA Forum
--and--
[And another update on the KGB document can be found in the Announcements Section below]
Two More Important Announcements
Please read the following announcements to see what you can do to help.The National Alliance of Families Needs Your Help
"Special Tribute for Pearl Harbor Day"
Remember Pearl Harbor
Sent in by Veterans News and Information Services
"The Moonduster Chronicles"
December 1998
"Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others...he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance." ...Robert Francis Kennedy (1925 - 1968)
Special Items This Month Holiday Message from the Secretary of Defense Thirty Years Ago 1968--A Tribute
Happy Holidays!
This in from Brig. Gen. Bob Clements (USAF Ret)
Holiday's, Special Friends Remembered!
This in from Dave MurrayTribute to Gunny
from Bob Collins115,118 Servicemembers to Celebrate
Holidays Deployed OverseasCohens' Bring Music, Gifts to Deployed Forces
My Christmas Wish
"A POW/MIA's Christmas Prayer" "My Christmas Wish" "My Christmas Wish for All of Mankind" "One Christmas Wish"
Announcements "Albright Delayed Pressing Russians POW Report" "Convention to Educate Congress by Mail" "DoD Announces Uniform Tuition Assistance Policy" "Defense Prisoner Of War/Missing Personnel Office Memorandum" "Hanoi Hilton History" "Hispanic-American Roy Benavidez, MOH Recipient Fights Last Battle" "Negotiations Begin With North Korea" "Pentagon Publishes Vietnam POW" "Remains of Three American Servicemen Previously Unaccounted for Have Been Identified" "Status of the POWMIA Issue" "UK POWs Call on Government to Help Claim Against Japan" "US/North Korean Negotiators Agree to Remains Recovery Operations" "VA Commits $50 Million to New National Nursing Initiative" "Vietnam's Ability to Account for Missing Americans"
"Creativity Corner" Poems: "Christmas Wish" "I Volunteered" "Pearl Harbor Remembered" "Prison Camp Number Three" Stories:
"The Greatest Gift of All" "POW--Debunkers Hunker Down" (A Satirical Piece)
Editorials "Money Over Men--Albright's Priorities"
Feature Stories "A Soldier's Christmas" "Hope Not Forgotten" "The Father's Eyes"
"An Interview with..."
Chuck *Doc* Stewart
A Vietnam Veteran
Links of Interest
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*Updated regularly*
POW/MIA's This Month 30 and 35 years ago this month
Special Items of Interest "Armed Forces Salute Senator John Glenn" "Apollo 8" "Aurora Borealis" "First Man-made Comet" "Last Member of WWI Unit Dead at 103"
This Month in History "Battle of the Bulge", "Boston Tea Party", "Pearl Harbor Day", and "Plymouth Rock".
Veterans' News and Views "Active Duty, Reserve Pay Tables" "DoD Proposes Largest Military Pay Hike in Generation" "Disabled Veterans to Receive Increase in Benefits" "Military Health: Is a Chiropractor in Your Future?" "National Guard to Celebrate 362nd Birthday at Capitol Hill Ceremony" "NAUS Update December 4, 1998" "New Policy...National Guard and Reserve Forces "Petition Drive for VA Claims Process Improvement" "Revised List of POW/MIA Organizations" "SGLI Dividend Hoax Appears on the Internet" "Terminally Ill Vets To Receive Accelerated Death Benefits" "Troops Applaud Pay, Benefits Proposal" "VA Insurance Hoax Resurfaces on the Internet" "We Hear You,’ Cohen Tells Troops"
Promoting Your OJC Website For Your Adopted POW/MIA Everyone knows the old expression, "By word of mouth". Spreading the word on the Internet works in much the same way. One way to promote the POW/MIA issue is by entering one of those 'Internet contests'. People submit their site and others can vote daily for the site they believe is the best. To vote, people browse through each entry into the contest. They will read about the POW/MIA issue and OJC from your page and hopefully attract more members. Below are a few of the URL's for Internet contests. Military Web Wars A friend and fellow OJC member is competing in the Military Web Wars. His name is Chris Rick and you can vote for him by visiting Chris' homepage, Let's Bring Him Home and clicking on the "Yoda" graphic.
Chris' website is a tribute to his father, Captain Richard Rich USN, MIA since 5/19/67. You can also read an interview with Chris featured in the October issue of "The Moonduster Chronicles"Patriot Promotions This excellent website gives you help with building and promoting your POW/MIA webpage. OJC Website Remebrance Award And remember, you can apply for the OJC Website Remebrance Award for your POW/MIA webpage.
If you feel your OJC website meets the requirements for the award, send an email to award@ojc.orgVisit the pages of past recipients of the OJC Remembrance Award at the following URL:
OJC Site Remebrance Award Recipients
Here are a few other ways to promote the POW/MIA issue:
How You Can Become a Part of Operation Just Cause
Important Operation Just Cause Links
Learn More about your adopted POW/MIA
Click on the links below to read back issues of "The Moonduster Chronicles"
* Disclaimer *
Submissions of original work posted in all issues of "The Moonduster Chronicles" do not necessarily represent the views of Operation Just Cause, the Operation Just Cause Staff, or its members as a whole. All comments, criticisms and points of view are welcome.
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