Veterans and a Navy honor guard pay tribute to the hospital corpsmen whose photos were retired from the POW/MIA wall at the Camp Lester, Okinawa, U.S. Naval Hospital on Wednesday. (Erik Slavin / S&S)
CAMP LESTER, Okinawa — U.S. Navy Hospital Okinawa personnel said a final goodbye Wednesday to three fallen comrades who went missing during the Vietnam War.
The hospital’s honor guard removed the pictures of three hospital corpsmen from their POW/MIA wall after their remains recently were identified.
Corpsmen James Patrick McGrath, Ronald James Manning and Bernard Gause Jr. all died during or immediately after attacks on their air transport, according to Navy records.
Even after 30 years or more of waiting, it’s a relief to families when POW/MIAs are found, said retired Lt. Cmdr. Lawrence Alsop, a veteran of World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
“Families are always wondering what happened,” Alsop said. “Now they can put their ideas to rest. The chapter is finally closed.”
In August 1967, Seaman McGrath, 19, and his reconnaissance team took heavy fire while gathering intelligence south of Phu Bai in Vietnam. Then a recovery helicopter, which had rescued them, took fire and exploded, crashing back to the ground.
McGrath was mortally wounded. Because of the heavy fire, remains of the crew and passengers were not recovered, records show.
On May 15, 1975, Seaman Manning, 21, and Petty Officer 1st Class Gause, 34, set off with joint forces to rescue the captured crew of the American freighter Mayaguez.
Manning and 22 Marines in a helicopter came under fire from Cambodian soldiers near Koh Tang. The helicopter exploded and crashed. Twelve Marines were rescued at sea but Manning’s and Gause’s remains were not found.
The families requested that the pictures of the recovered corpsmen be removed from the wall, which is sponsored by the hospital First Class Petty Officers association. In their places are photos of the Vietnam War Memorial Wall and other scenes. Nine photos of POW/MIAs remain.
The Vietnamese government gradually is allowing recovery teams more access to potential recovery sites, said Petty Officer 1st Class Shannon Dittlinger, for whom the wall holds personal meaning. One of her father’s company members was taken prisoner.
“My dad was in Vietnam and he’s my hero,” Dittlinger said. “He’s always instilled in us that we should never forget.”
Senior Chief Petty Officer Robert Wickboldt, who spoke at the ceremony Wednesday, said he’s honored the memories of POW/MIAs by keeping a personal reminder with him or in his wallet since the 1970s.
“Vietnam is something that everyone tried to put on the back burner,” Wickboldt said. Recently, that has changed, he said.
The hospital unveiled the POW/MIA wall in September. It is on the first floor, to the right of the reception desk.
