skywarrior
Banned
R2, Sgt. David E. Lemcke, USA, Viet Nam MIA Recovered, Fri/Sat, 11/11-12/2011
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We have been invited to attend services for Sgt. David E. Lemcke. Ride Captain will be Nigel Heaton
Much more information will be sent out very soon. Please see below for some information regarding this mission. WELCOME HOME SGT. LEMCKE! The Patriot Guard Riders of NY will be there to honor your service and sacrifice.
Mark Plyter
PGR NY
Region 2 SRC
Taken from Rochester D&C:
More than 40 years after U.S. Army Sgt. David E. Lemcke of Hilton was killed in a bunker explosion in Vietnam, his remains are finally coming home.
"This final closure feels pretty good, actually," said his sister, Darlene Wallace of Rochester.
Her family never gave up their fight to see Lemcke's remains brought back, although their quest to learn the circumstances surrounding his death was challenging.
Lemcke, a 1965 graduate of Hilton High School who was drafted in 1966, had been part of a forward advance team in Quang Tri Province, just south of the demilitarized zone that separated North and South Vietnam.
His mother was notified in May 1968 that her son was missing in action.
A few months later, the family was told that Lemcke was presumed dead, but the details of his death were not divulged.
Neither his father, Howard Lemcke, who died in 1973, nor his mother, Elise Lemcke, who died in 1995, would ever learn what happened to their eldest son.
It wasn't until the early 2000s that Lemcke's three sisters and brother learned the truth.
That's when Don DeLano of Port Huron, Mich., wrote a letter to the Democrat and Chronicle about Lemcke's death.
Spurred by finding Lemcke's name on the "still missing" list of a POW-MIA website, DeLano wrote that he had arrived on the scene of the May 21, 1968, accidental explosion that had mortally wounded Lemcke. Although Lemcke's remains hadn't been identified, DeLano said he was told by other soldiers that Lemcke was one of three who died after a soldier accidentally discharged his weapon into a bunker of trip-flares and smoke grenades.
DeLano provided the military with details about the location of the bunker.
Wallace credited DeLano and the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii for locating and identifying her brother's remains.
According to the JPAC website, the group "is a jointly manned organization of more than 400 military and civilian specialists that has, with its predecessor organizations, investigated and recovered missing Americans since the 1970s."
Since 2003, JPAC has identified more than 750 Americans. Since the accounting efforts began in the 1970s, more than 2,000 Americans have been identified.
Officials with JPAC could not immediately comment on Lemcke's case.
When his remains return to Hilton, Lemcke will be buried near his parents in Parma Union Cemetery.
"I'm glad they're coming back because they weren't where they needed to be," said another Lemcke sister, Deborah Almeter of Clarkson.
| Print |
We have been invited to attend services for Sgt. David E. Lemcke. Ride Captain will be Nigel Heaton
Much more information will be sent out very soon. Please see below for some information regarding this mission. WELCOME HOME SGT. LEMCKE! The Patriot Guard Riders of NY will be there to honor your service and sacrifice.
Mark Plyter
PGR NY
Region 2 SRC
Taken from Rochester D&C:
More than 40 years after U.S. Army Sgt. David E. Lemcke of Hilton was killed in a bunker explosion in Vietnam, his remains are finally coming home.
"This final closure feels pretty good, actually," said his sister, Darlene Wallace of Rochester.
Her family never gave up their fight to see Lemcke's remains brought back, although their quest to learn the circumstances surrounding his death was challenging.
Lemcke, a 1965 graduate of Hilton High School who was drafted in 1966, had been part of a forward advance team in Quang Tri Province, just south of the demilitarized zone that separated North and South Vietnam.
His mother was notified in May 1968 that her son was missing in action.
A few months later, the family was told that Lemcke was presumed dead, but the details of his death were not divulged.
Neither his father, Howard Lemcke, who died in 1973, nor his mother, Elise Lemcke, who died in 1995, would ever learn what happened to their eldest son.
It wasn't until the early 2000s that Lemcke's three sisters and brother learned the truth.
That's when Don DeLano of Port Huron, Mich., wrote a letter to the Democrat and Chronicle about Lemcke's death.
Spurred by finding Lemcke's name on the "still missing" list of a POW-MIA website, DeLano wrote that he had arrived on the scene of the May 21, 1968, accidental explosion that had mortally wounded Lemcke. Although Lemcke's remains hadn't been identified, DeLano said he was told by other soldiers that Lemcke was one of three who died after a soldier accidentally discharged his weapon into a bunker of trip-flares and smoke grenades.
DeLano provided the military with details about the location of the bunker.
Wallace credited DeLano and the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii for locating and identifying her brother's remains.
According to the JPAC website, the group "is a jointly manned organization of more than 400 military and civilian specialists that has, with its predecessor organizations, investigated and recovered missing Americans since the 1970s."
Since 2003, JPAC has identified more than 750 Americans. Since the accounting efforts began in the 1970s, more than 2,000 Americans have been identified.
Officials with JPAC could not immediately comment on Lemcke's case.
When his remains return to Hilton, Lemcke will be buried near his parents in Parma Union Cemetery.
"I'm glad they're coming back because they weren't where they needed to be," said another Lemcke sister, Deborah Almeter of Clarkson.
