Extracted from The Meridian Star (Meridian, MS)
Van McCarty remembers Memorial Day
By Van K. ``Mac'' McCarty
The letter reads...When I got news that Dear Van was missing, ah it is so sad but the Lord knows best in all things. I got word that they found Cot's body and that he was buried in a graveyard. They knew him by some papers he had on him. Van was missing June 6 ...
This letter to my father from his mother was the first of many memorials my family have offered mainly in conversations passed down through the years.
My Uncle ``Cot,'' Frank F. McCarty was killed in action on October 17, 1944 in Northern Italy. My other uncle and namesake, Walter Van McCarty, was part of a bomber plane crew that took off on a mission over the Philippine Islands on that fateful day in June of 1945 and has never been heard from since.
On this Memorial Day I would like to remember my uncles and their sacrifice. While my father F.R. McCarty and his brother James G. McCarty also served in the WWII Theaters, the loss of their two brothers (and the uncles I never knew) had a profound effect on my family.
I suppose by the time the Vietnam War rolled around many of the thoughts of their loss had been tempered, although I remember it was with some hesitation that my parents signed off for me to join the Marines.
By the time I finished boot camp in 1966, Meridian had already recorded at least a half dozen casualties from the war's early fighting -- proud young sons from families like Davis, Dozier, McClellan, Savell, Simmons and Smith. By the time I received orders to go overseas in 1968 a Marine Lance Corporal from Moselle, Mississippi had already thrown his body on a landmine. In losing his life he saved the lives of at least two other Marines. Roy M. Wheat, a Medal of Honor recipient, has become another Memorial Day standard of my remembrances.
All too soon the reality of war was hitting close to home. During the time I served with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 115 we would experience the loss of twelve air crew members. Their names are:
Captain John C. Hurst and First Lieutenant Leonard A. Bird
Captain Robert F. Conley, Jr. and First Lieutenant Steven R. Major
Captain Joseph W. Jones, III and Captain Daniel J. Coonon
Captain Paul D. Derby and First Lieutenant Thomas A. Reich
First Lieutenant Daniel J. Minahan
First Lieutenant William C. Ryan, Jr.
First Lieutenant James R. Bohlig and Captain Richard T. Morrissey
These officers were well educated; leaders of Marines who as fighter pilots and radar intercept officers would strap themselves into F-4B Phantoms and roar into the unknown to support our fighting men on the ground. I remember the helpless, sinking feeling when one of our birds didn't come back from a mission. Eventually we would get a replacement aircraft, but oh the horror of the families who received the news of their loved ones' loss (in several instances their bodies were not recovered). I cannot begin to grasp the horrific anguish their mothers and fathers, wives and children had to bear.
Sadly, in December of 1968 the enemy's fire took the life of one of my squadron members. Lance Corporal Thomas E. Novak, from Ohio was killed during an early morning rocket attack. He was the only enlisted man in our squadron to die due to hostile action during our deployment to Vietnam. To this day it is very unnerving to know that the rocket that I heard screaming overhead was about to wipe out a group of Marines whom I was working with only hours before.
In the summer of 1968, I received a letter from home. In it was a newspaper clipping telling the story of how our local dry cleaning/laundry man had posted a map of South Vietnam in his store and had marked the location of where the local Jasper County boys were serving. Elmon Ware was a proud WWII father who's own son Richard A. ``Dickie'' was on the map as he was doing duty with the Army in Tay Vihn (over 330 miles south of where I was stationed in Chu Lai). On August 24, 1968 Dickie was killed in action. What heartbreak! I know he was a tough soldier to the bitter end. By the time I learned of his untimely death I remember I grieved especially for Mr. Ware and his family. I couldn't believe that someone just two years ahead of me at Bay Springs High School had been killed.
In 1970 as the war dragged on, a member of the class of 1965 of Bay Springs High would lose his life. Marine Sergeant John Thomas ``Johnny'' Thornton was killed in Quang Nam on June 8th. I was on my second tour (still in Chu Lai). While his death occurred considerably closer to me (we were about 44 miles apart), I simply cannot remember how or when I learned of his death. Johnny was a champion on the track team and a very gifted musician. He like Dickie, while only one year older than me, was always well respected and a favorite on campus.
There you have it -- the core of my Memorial Day remembrances. Uncles Cot and Van, collectively the dozen aviators from VMFA-115, Tom, Dickie & Johnny. As Americans remember our men and women who gave their all for our freedom, I hope that you'll consider finding a family, a friend or co-worker who can share a specific story about a lost loved one. While sometimes it is appropriate to do a blanket thought, as in ``to everyone who lost their life,'' it becomes a lot more personal when you can identify a specific name or face and hear first hand about the price they paid.
With the ongoing war on terror there is a fresh new list to consider. Local families like Mabry, McNail, Pugh, McSwain and Lee who have lost sons and now Mississippi has recorded our first daughter to die in combat in Iraq.
Every year about this time I become more intrigued with the endless ways I can keep our fallen warriors' legacy alive and what their sacrifice means to me and our country.
Semper Fidelis.
Sunday, May 25, 2008