Steve, I was surprised when I looked at what your search turned up since
I expected a few more faces. I have at my house copies of pages from a
little booklet that was floating around here decades ago showing locals
who had lost their lives and I thought there were more than eight! I
did a search using Stephenson County rather than Freeport but still only
came up with 11. I think there are 18 (?) names on the Vietnam Memorial
by the courthouse. Considering the large numbers who served, I'm so
thankful we did not lose more classmates. Most of the county losses
were names I knew or guys I slightly knew but other than Dave, I'm not
sure our class actually lost anyone in Nam but here are some interesting
facts:
1) Don Keep's obit says he graduated with us and he was born in 1947
but actually shows as a junior in our senior year book. Does anyone
remember him from earlier grades?
2) Steve Osran of our class died in the Vietnam era but passed at
Lackland Air Force Base in Texas in 1969 of illness.
3) Dale Koertner of our class died in the Vietnam era but passed from an
accident at a Navy Base in Virginia Beach when he fell from a ship.
4) Classmate Nancy Bonebright lost her older brother Bob in 1969 when
his jet fighter-bomber crashed into a tanker plane.
5) Anyone know of others from Class of '65?
If any of you locals have never visited All Veterans Memorial Park just
south of Freeport on Walnut Road, be sure to do so -- but hopefully on a
warmer day. Wonderful, peaceful memorial area honoring local veterans of
ALL eras, whether they served in war or peacetime and whether they
survived war or not. You will be astonished at the number of names on
the Vietnam "walls" and how many of them you will recognize. There is
a small Vietnam Memorial downtown by the courthouse dedicated just to
those who were lost during that era, not all who served.
Karen
On 11/11/2022 11:15 AM, Steve wrote:
Using Mike's suggestion, I did a search for all who were lost with the city of Freeport as the place of record.
Here's what I came up with <https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/search/results/?firstName=&lastName=&homeCity=freeport&homeCounty=stephenson&homeState=IL&birthDateMonth=&birthDateDay=&birthDateYear=&serviceBranch=&serviceRank=&casualtyDateMonth=&casualtyDateDay=&casualtyDateYear=&casualtyProvince=>.
Steve
On 11/11/2022 11:35 AM, Michael Brose (no1knows47) wrote:
Okay, here comes the question of the day. Does anyone know how many of our class were lost in the Vietnam fracas? I only remember one, Dave Kreuger.
If anyone would like to see a photo of someone who died in Vietnam you can go to Wall of Faces on the internet. Just enter the name you are looking for and you will see a picture of the person who is listed on the Vietnam Wall. You may have to scroll through the names displayed because of a similar name, but will be interesting to see who you want to find.
Mike
