George Ralph Wallace

Warren, Ohio

U.S. Marine Corps – early 1960s

George Wallace joined the Marine Corps on 19 October 1960. He served as an auto mechanic at the United States Navy Amphibious Base in Little Creek, Virginia. He was discharged on 16 October 1964.

After leaving the service, George worked as a Manufacturing Engineer at Wean Engineering in Warren, Ohio, then at Millright Services in Niles, Ohio. He was a member of the American Society of Engineers.

Good Conduct Medal

Born: 23 December 1942, New Castle, PA
Married: 11 February 1967
Family: 1 daughter, 2 grandsons
Died: 10 February 1997, Youngstown, Ohio

Jesse James Coon

Hickory Township, PA

U.S. Army, Vietnam

Sp4 Jesse James Coon had a rare assignment in Vietnam. He was assigned to the 9th Infantry Division Headquarters and Headquarters Company – to play in the division’s band. The 9th Division had a long tradition of bands in combat zone. They had one all the way back in World War II.

One might think that it would be a cushy assignment, away from the dangers that the 9th Division soldiers faced every day as part of the Riverine Force in the Mekong Delta. But the Headquarters and Headquarters Company and Band received a Meritorious Unit Citation, not for playing good music, but for support of combat operations.

During one of these operations, on April 23, 1968, Sp4 Coon was riding in a military vehicle in the Mekong Delta. An enemy hand grenade thrown into the vehicle rolled under the driver’s seat. Sp4 Coon could have rolled out of the vehicle and saved himself. Instead, he grabbed the grenade and tried to throw it out of the vehicle. It exploded before he could do that. Sp4 Coon was killed, but the driver survived.

He was posthumously promoted to Sgt. E-5 and awarded the Bronze Star with “V” device for valor.

Jesse was born in Sharon on August 30, 1947, to Billy Coon Jr. and Mrs. Anna Roman Coon. He attended Farrell High School, but graduated from Hickory High School in 1966. He worked for Sharon General Hospital, Cohen’s Store, and the General American Transportation Corp. before entering the service in October, 1966. His tour in Vietnam started on February 5, 1968.

Jesse left behind his father and stepmother, Julia H. Yourchisin Coon; three brothers, William, John and Richard; one sister, Mary Irene; and grandparents, Mrs. Marie Roman, New Wilmington, and Mr. and Mrs. Nick Yourchisin, Hickory Township.

A message posted on the Internet expressed the feelings of many who came back from Vietnam: “I remember Jesse in basic training. He was always making the rest of us laugh. I am very sorry he died so young. I served in Viet Nam too, and sometimes I feel guilty that I came home and so many didn’t.”

On the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Panel 51E Line 37

John H. Lopochonsky, Jr.

Greenville, PA

U.S. Army – Vietnam

Nine months after graduating from Greenville High School in 1969, John Lopochonsky was drafted into the army. After training to be a helicopter door gunner, he headed to Vietnam in October, 1970 to serve with A Troop, 7th Squadron, 1st Cavalry.
He was assigned as a gunner on an OH-6A “Cayuse” helicopter. That put awesome power at his fingertips, probably 7.62 mm six-barrel minigun, a Gatling-type weapon that could fire at the rate of more than 2000 rounds per minute.

But to use that power, a gunner had to be both crazy and courageous. When teamed on a combat mission with a Cobra gunship, the Cayuse’s mission was to fly in low over suspected enemy positions to draw out their fire so the crew could mark their positions. Then the Cobra would come in with greater firepower and destroy them.

In other words, the Cayuse helicopters were sometimes used like moving ducks in a carnival shooting gallery. But unlike those ducks which flop over when hit with a b-b, the Cayuse could take a lot of serious hits and still take its crew home safely. One of them accumulated 1,340 combat hours, was shot down four times, and had two non-combat accidents. It was repaired every time, and in the end returned to the United States where it performed well for the New York National Guard.

Sgt. Lopochonsky wasn’t so fortunate. During his last mission, the Cayuse he was in crashed after taking too many hits. Before it crashed, however, Sgt. Lopochonsky proved that his core characteristic was ultimate courage. His Bronze Star citation, awarded posthumously, states that “he distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions, Volunteering for recon after the scout team came under intensive fire. . . . On a run over a heavily fortified enemy bunker, Lopochonsky completely exposed himself to enemy fire as he destroyed 5 buildings, one bunker, and four sampans.”

Sgt. Lopochonsky was survived by his brother James, and his grandmother, Mildred Artman.

He was the 37th Mercer County serviceman to die in the Vietnam War.

ON THE WALL Panel 03W Line 109

Joseph W. Baker

Baker, Richard

Joseph W. Baker

West Middlesex, PA

U.S. Navy Corpsman, Vietnam

For Marines in Vietnam, as in most war zones, “Doc” was a Navy medical corpsman, because the Marine Corps had no medics of its own. “Doc” accompanied the Marines into the teeth of the battle, because when a Marine went down, “Doc” had to be right there to help him. With his focus on attending to others rather than on defending himself, the medical corpsman was particularly vulnerable.

Hospitalman Joseph A. Baker was serving with 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, 3rd Marine Division in the province of Quang Tri, just south of the border between North and South Vietnam. His letters home contain vivid pictures of both the courage, vulnerability, and dedication of the Navy corpsmen. “”My platoon saw action today. I wasn’t with them but I had to help with casualties back here at camp. We had two dead and about twelve wounded. I’m not worried anymore about if I will know what to do. When they started bringing them in I just went to work without even thinking.”

Of course, he did often accompany his unit into the field: “We were hit on patrol yesterday and we lost one man and had two other wounded in action.”

Joe had his own close calls: “A corpsman from the 1st platoon was hit and I had to go to his wounded. He had three of them about 75 meters across an open rice paddy and I had to go get them. Our sentry opened up to give me cover and I started across running low. Then I began hearing rounds go over my head and saw them kicking up sand at me feet. I put it in high gear and really began moving. I had to check myself when I got there to make sure I wasn’t hit. A grenade launcher came over after me, then I got scared seeing what I had crossed through.”

In the gallows humor of combat soldiers, such escapes did not go unnoticed: “Most of the corpsmen out here have Purple Hearts already and they are kidding me because I don’t. They can’t understand it.I’ve been in more fire fights and sat through more mortar attacks than they have.”

Unfortunately, Joe’s good fortune ended on March 7, 1968, when he was killed by small arms fire.

Joseph was the fifteenth serviceman from Mercer County, PA, killed in action in Vietnam.

Lt. Commander Earl Paul McBride

Volant, PA

U.S. Navy – Vietnam

On May 12, 1966, the aircraft carrier USS Constitution was deployed to the South China Sea carrying Fighter Squadron VF-161 , “The Chargers,” with their McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II fighters. Lieutenant Commander Earl Paul McBride of Volant was an 18-year veteran assigned to Fighter The Chargers.

During their 111 days in support of combat operations in Vietnam, they flew 1368 combat sorties against roads, bridges, and other targets to slow down the movement of North Vietnamese soldiers and materials to the south. For this action the squadron was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation medal.

Before returning to San Diego in December, 1966, the Chargers had lost 15 aircraft and 16 aircrewmen. One of those was Lt. Commander McBride.

On his last mission on October 22, 1966, his plane went missing over the South China Sea. His body was never recovered. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism and extraordinary achievement for that last flight.

His daughter Roseanne posted this on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund site: “I was only 12 when my father left my life. We tried for years to find him and after 34 years we finally found his co-pilot who was also searching for us. After all these years, this kind man put to rest our fears that our father was captured or died in pain. Bless him, for he has now put peace in our hearts and we can put our father to rest (even tho the Navy says he is missing in action). Bless all those who served our country and gave up the ultimate, their lives. They are not gone as long as we remember them.”

On the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Panel 11E Line 98

Maurice Garrett Jr.

Garrett, Maurice

Lackawannock Township, Mercer County, PA

U. S. Army – Vietnam

In Mercer County, Capt. Maurice Garrett Jr. is one of the most recognizable names among those on the Vietnam War Memorial. That’s largely because of the long-standing uncertainty as to whether or not it should be there.

The doubts started from the time of the initial investigation of his helicopter crash on October 22, 1971. Capt. Garrett was flying an AH1G Cobra on an armed visual reconnaissance mission out of Quang Tri, along with three other helicopters. The weather was “marginal,” so Capt. Garrett ordered the other copters to hold while he flew into a valley to check it out. Five minutes later, he reported that he had zero visibility and would return to Quang Tri on instruments.

He never made it. His helicopter apparently crashed after hitting some trees. The aircraft exploded with such force that few identifiable parts of the aircraft remained. A search of the area found the remains of his co-pilot, but none of Capt. Garrett.

That left investigators with two possible conclusions. Because of violence of the explosion, they concluded that Capt. Garrett couldn’t possibly have survived the inferno, and that his body had been completely destroyed in the fire.

However, there remained the slight possibility that Capt. Garrett had somehow survived because something should have survived, such as helmet, watch, dentures, boot eyelets, and dog tabs. But none of those were found.

This second possibility was reinforced in 1984 when the Garrett family was told by a private source that Capt. Garrett was alive. Seven other families received similar word. Although the U.S. government said the information was false, it renewed the hope that Capt. Garrett was still alive, possibly a prisoner of war – a hope shared by his family, friends, and MIA groups.

Whatever his fate, Capt. Garrett was a true hero in the Vietnam War. A paratrooper during his first tour in Vietnam from December 1967 to December 1968, he was wounded three times, and was awarded his first Silver Star for “utmost bravery and heroism.”

Back in the U.S., he learned to fly the Cobra, then returned to Vietnam in December, 1970. Before his helicopter crashed, he had received a second Silver Star, a National Defense Medal, two Bronze Stars with valor device, three Purple Hearts, the Combat Infantryman Badge, and several Vietnamese medals.

Capt Garrett is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Maurice E. Garrett, Lackawannock Township.

On the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Panel 02W Line 047

Merle Robert Higgins

Jamestown, PA

U.S. Army – Vietnam

Trying to find information about a particular Vietnam fatality is a hit or miss operation. You have to start with the basic facts about the incident you are trying to find.

For example, you could know this about Merle Higgins: arrived in Vietnam on January 5, 1969; assigned to the 25th Infantry Division’s 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry (the “Manchus”); died of multiple fragmentation wounds received on June 5, 1969.

Then you search the Internet for his name, the unit, the date, the location, and anything else you can think of. After coming up dry, you are about to give up when you hit on a document called “Our Manchu Diary.” Forty-four pages long, it contains day-to-day troop movements, field operations, battles, casualties, and remembrances of from 1966 through 1970.

About half-way through, there it is:

“June 5 1969- Charlie Company reported VC in the bunker line; . . . Alpha Company reports that farmers in area said three VC companies moved out of Cambodia at 0300 hours into the Renegade Woods. Delta Company receiving small arms and RPG fire. Dust-off “163” completed (14 Delta WIA casualties) . . . . Sgt Higgins (Bravo Company) was seriously wounded by a claymore mine that was detonated by a sniper—died the next day [06-June-69] at the 45th Surgical Hospital.”

A claymore mine is a curved rectangular weapon, about 8.5 inches wide by five inches high, that projects about 700 steel balls in an arc of about 60 degrees. It certainly produces “multiple fragmentation wounds.”

Sgt. Higgins was born in Farmdale, OH. At the end of Merle’s 5th grade year, the family relocated to Jamestown, PA. After graduating from Pymatuning Joint High School in 1965, he attended Thiel College before entering the army in February 1969. He was survived by his parents, Ellis R. and Ruth Anderson Higgins, and two sisters, Marian and Nelly.

In the spring of 1992, his family established the “Merle R. Higgins Freedom Award” fund at Jamestown High School, not only to honor Merle, but also to remind people that freedom is not a cheap commodity. lt is a fragile ideal that only exists because of the suffering and sacrifice of brave men and women. This award is given annually to two deserving seniors (one male/one female) based on the character qualities of courage, honor, loyalty, determination and service.

Sgt. Higgins was the first Jamestown soldier to die in Vietnam within a two-month period.

On the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Panel W23 Line 74

Miles Bradley Hedglin

Mercer, PA

U.S. Army – Vietnam

The terrain in Vietnam varies from the broad, flat flood plains of the Mekong Delta to the mountainous terrain of the central highlands, covered with triple canopy jungles. Miles Bradley Hedglin of Mercer ended up in the latter when he was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry [photos] in Kontum Province, in January, 1969.

We can get a sense of what he went through there by reading the memoirs of Robert Granger, another soldier who was there at the time. He tells of the things you would expect: night patrols, incoming mortar and artillery rounds, close calls, enemy attacks on their base camps.

But Granger also tells of other aspects of jungle combat in Vietnam. In March, 1969, encamped on a hill designated as Hill 467, Company B was bombarded with artillery, mortar, and rockets for days. A sniper wreaked havoc on them; an airstrike failed to silence him, and patrols sent out to locate him could not do so. Water and food were getting low, and enemy fire prevented helicopters from resupplying them.

Three soldiers brought back several ammo containers of water from a stream that wasn’t far away.

“We were given two canteens each,” Granger wrote. “I filtered the leaches and algae out through the top of a dirty sock, then added the iodine tablets. Later in the day, one of the guys from another platoon offered me $480 for a canteen of my water. I turned him down.”

Granger’s descriptions of events on March 25 are gruesome. Granger sums up the events of March 25 in a few words: “Haven’t had any sleep to speak of in days. The lack of water and food and constant shelling is taking its toll on everyone. A five minute nap is about all I can get at one time. The night time probing and hearing the digging, moaning of their wounded and movement just outside the wire, with it dark enough not to be able to see a thing keeps everyone alert every minute.”

He attributes his survival to his guardian angel, since a B-40 rocket and a hand grenade exploded close to him without even inflicting a wound. PFC Miles Hedglin’s guardian angel must have dozed off. Miles was killed while providing cover fire to free others in his unit.

To get a sense of what PFC Hedglin experienced during his last few days, you can read an after action report covering the 2nd Battalion 8th Infantry from March 17 through March 21, 1969, just a few days before PFC Hedglin was killed.

He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star, Good Conduct Medal, and Combat Infantryman Badge.

On the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Panel W28 Line 36

Paul David McKnight

Paul McKnight

Fredonia, PA

U.S. Army – Vietnam

According to friends who knew Paul McKnight in school, he was a quiet young man. His parents, John and Martha McKnight, once owned a farm that was east of Clarksville, PA, on land that is now under Shenango Lake. His older sister, Elaine, born with spinal bifida, passed away in her 20s.

When he graduated from Reynolds High School in 1965, Paul followed a military tradition in his family. Three of his uncles served in World War II – Paul and Robert Yarian, and Eugene Leiphiemer. Two cousins, Dale Jackson Miller and Harold E. Miller, served in Korea.

Paul enlisted in the Army on April 24, 1966. In January, 1967, he left for his first tour in Vietnam. He was wounded twice in March, 1967, before he returned to the states, for which he was awarded two Purple Hearts.

After a year at Fort Knox, Kentucky, he could have avoided going back to Vietnam because he was the only surviving child. Nevertheless, he chose to go. He was assigned to D Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division which was conducting intense operations in Tay Ninh Province.

During the summer of 1969, the 1st Cav must also have conducted operations in Binh Long to the northeast of Tay Ninh. It was there that Sgt McKnight was killed. For his actions, he was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star with “V” device for valor. Here is an excerpt from his citation for that award:

“On a combat mission in Binh Long, he and the members of his squad came under heavy automatic weapons fire from an unknown hostile force in a night ambush site while trying to retrieve abandoned equipment. Sgt. McKnight returned the fire and directed his fire team during the fight. In the exchange he was killed.”

In addition to the Bronze Star, Sgt. McKnight was awarded a Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge, Vietnamese Service Medal, and an Air Medal.

The medals were presented for heroism in action in the Republic of Vietnam for action on July 31, 1969

His Presbyterian Church in Fredonia, Pennsylvania, honored him by dedicating its Carillon to him.

On the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Panel W20 Line 80

Paul E. Dufford

West Middlesex, PA

U.S. Army – Vietnam

On the evening of December 8, 1967, soldiers of the 1st Battalion 2nd Infantry were complaining that their air mattresses were full of holes from enemy mortar fire. Maybe they were seriously upset, but more likely it was their way of dissipating the stress caused by a rough day.

They were positioned in Phuoc Long Province, not far from the Cambodian border. The day before, one of their recon patrols had encountered the point element of a North Vietnamese army unit. The fight lasted only a short time, with no American casualties. That successful recon alerted the Americans to the presence of the large NVA force.

At 0200 the following morning, Specialist Paul Dufford from West Middlesex was manning a listening post with two other men in front of the battalion’s night defensive position. Detecting movement in the area, he radioed the battalion commander to warn of an impending attack. Their position was quickly surrounded by a large force. In spite of the danger, Specialist Dufford remained at his post so he could advise the commander on the size and movement of the enemy.

With the battalion being hit by heavy mortar fire, the three men were ordered to return to the perimeter, but their position was overrun before they could do so. An enemy grenade wounded all three men. Specialist Dufford killed the grenade thrower, who was only a few feet away. Ignoring the relentless enemy fire, he started to help his wounded comrades back to the perimeter. As the enemy closed in, he provided suppressing fire that allowed his comrades to reach safety.

He himself didn’t make it. He was killed my an enemy mortar round.

That day, the American forces repelled the massive assault with only four dead and a number wounded. The two battalions of the two 273rd NVA regiment that conducted the attack suffered massive casualties.

Had it not been for the bravery of Specialist Paul Dufford, the outcome might have been very different. For his heroism that night, he was awarded the Silver Star.

Paul was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Dufford of West Middlesex, PA. The Hickory High School graduate was decorated not only with the Silver Star, but also with a Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Combat Infantry Badge, and Vietnam Service medals.

On the Vietnam Veterans Memorial – Panel 31e Line 64