25 February 2019 - After my husband, author Ray Bows received a phone call from Joseph Montoya, of Culver City, California, who has been researching non-combat fatalities of the Vietnam War for many years now, I wanted to write this to make people aware of the scope of Ray's research and how important it has been. Ray and Joseph had a long phone conversation regarding their research techniques, and shared with each other methods of researching archives, previously written articles, and conducting personal interviews.
The personal interview approach, it was agreed by both researchers, is becoming harder due to the numbers of Vietnam veterans, as well as family members we are losing each year. The majority of family members of many of our brave heroes, lost during the Vietnam War, are now their children, who, for the most part, don't remember their dad's because they were mere infants at the time of their father's loss.
Joseph mentioned that "In Honor and Memory: Installations and Facilities of the Vietnam War" was a tremendous reference source and few other documents available to him have come close to his needs in scope and depth. He also referenced Ray's previous tome "Vietnam Military Lore - Legends, Shadows and Heroes" several times.
Joseph also used the example of the photograph of Sergeant (SGT) John L. Houston, who was killed, along with Master Sergeant Gabriel Alamo and Australian Warrant Officer Kevin Conway, during the 6 July 1964 attack on Nam Dong, when Captain (now retired colonel) Roger Donlon received the first ever Medal of Honor awarded for heroism in South Vietnam. Joseph told Ray, "I have for many years had a team photograph in which John Houston appears, however, until I saw your photo of SGT Houston on page 191 of 'In Honor and Memory', I never imagined how young he actually was as a soldier. He must have been a young teenager when he enlisted."
The personal interview approach, it was agreed by both researchers, is becoming harder due to the numbers of Vietnam veterans, as well as family members we are losing each year. The majority of family members of many of our brave heroes, lost during the Vietnam War, are now their children, who, for the most part, don't remember their dad's because they were mere infants at the time of their father's loss.
Joseph mentioned that "In Honor and Memory: Installations and Facilities of the Vietnam War" was a tremendous reference source and few other documents available to him have come close to his needs in scope and depth. He also referenced Ray's previous tome "Vietnam Military Lore - Legends, Shadows and Heroes" several times.
Joseph also used the example of the photograph of Sergeant (SGT) John L. Houston, who was killed, along with Master Sergeant Gabriel Alamo and Australian Warrant Officer Kevin Conway, during the 6 July 1964 attack on Nam Dong, when Captain (now retired colonel) Roger Donlon received the first ever Medal of Honor awarded for heroism in South Vietnam. Joseph told Ray, "I have for many years had a team photograph in which John Houston appears, however, until I saw your photo of SGT Houston on page 191 of 'In Honor and Memory', I never imagined how young he actually was as a soldier. He must have been a young teenager when he enlisted."
Page 191 of Bows' book, "IN HONOR AND MEMORY: Installations and Facilities of the Vietnam War" showing an exert of the Houston BEQ, which was named for USASF SGT John Houston. (Copyrighted material by Ray & Pia Bows)
Joseph went on to say that the first casualty of Vietnam listed on his non-combat database is that of US Army Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) A. Peter Dewey who was killed when the Viet Minh mistook him for a Frenchman on 26 September 1945, two weeks after Ray was born. Although I have some reservations about the colonel's listing, as killed by the communists is not the same as losing your life to friendly fire, I understand that the fog of war can indeed be interpreted in many ways.
Their connection is that both Colonel Dewey and Ray Bows lived at different times in Paris, France, before their service in Southeast Asia. Dewey as a reporter for a Chicago newspaper, from August 1939 to early 1941, while Ray was stationed in Paris with the US Army, from September 1964 until February 1967.
"I don't think I could have written about the colonel's time in France, unless I had experienced Paris for myself," Ray commented. Colonel Dewey had a great impact on our memorialization project, as were it not for available information about the colonel, Ray would have found it much more difficult to discover that many early American casualties of Vietnam are not, or were not, listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Their connection is that both Colonel Dewey and Ray Bows lived at different times in Paris, France, before their service in Southeast Asia. Dewey as a reporter for a Chicago newspaper, from August 1939 to early 1941, while Ray was stationed in Paris with the US Army, from September 1964 until February 1967.
"I don't think I could have written about the colonel's time in France, unless I had experienced Paris for myself," Ray commented. Colonel Dewey had a great impact on our memorialization project, as were it not for available information about the colonel, Ray would have found it much more difficult to discover that many early American casualties of Vietnam are not, or were not, listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Page 102 of Bows' book, "IN HONOR AND MEMORY: Installations and Facilities of the Vietnam War" showing an exert on Colonel A. Peter Dewey and noting the plaque dedicated in his memory which was displayed at the American Legion Post #34, Saigon, Vietnam. (Copyrighted material by Ray & Pia Bows)
Such names, in addition to LTC Dewey's, which are mentioned in Ray's book, "First on the Wall", are those of Seaman William Cook, USN; General Francis Brink, USA; General Wilbur McReynolds, USA; CAT pilots, James B. McGovern and Wallace Buford. While the names of T/Sgt Richard B. Fitzgibbons, Jr., USAF, and Major Stanley M. Staszak, USA, once missing from the wall, have now been added after a long hard battle by veterans to get their names inscribed. Incredibly, the names mentioned in this paragraph died between 1848 and 1959.
It is with great admiration that I view Ray's early research, when his memorialization project began in 1987, and it is evident that others like Joseph appreciate Ray's efforts in preserving this information, just as we appreciate Joseph's database.
Joseph and Ray have agreed to stay in contact and exchange and share information. We encourage others with similar interests to do the same, and bring us into the loop, as well.
It is with great admiration that I view Ray's early research, when his memorialization project began in 1987, and it is evident that others like Joseph appreciate Ray's efforts in preserving this information, just as we appreciate Joseph's database.
Joseph and Ray have agreed to stay in contact and exchange and share information. We encourage others with similar interests to do the same, and bring us into the loop, as well.
On 4 April 1959, Major Stanley M. Staszak, a graduate of the US Military Academy, West Point, and a US Army advisor to the Vietnam Military Academy, Da Lat, Vietnam, at the time, died mysteriously in his sleep, reportedly of a cerebral hemorrhage. His wife and two small children were there with him in South Vietnam. In 2015, Major Staszak's name was added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. on panel 19E, line 7. US Army photo.
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