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THE SPIRIT OF THE AMERICAN SOLDIER
T/SGT. RICHARD M. COLE, JR. USAF
  
"A MAN
IS NOT DEAD UNTIL HE IS FORGOTTEN,"
AND SOME
OF US WILL NEVER FORGET!
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THE SPIRIT OF THE AMERICAN SOLDIER
Dedicated to the memory of T/Sgt. Richard
M. Cole
I am a whisper on the
wind, of times past, of places long forgotten, Valley Forge, Gettysburg,
Bataan, Pearl Harbor, Normandy, Seoul, Laos, Saigon, Cambodia, Kuwait.
I am the heart of countless numbers of scarred and maimed American veterans,
and the soul of the buried unknowns,
I am an integral part
of each white cross in Flanders Field, and I am sealed within each name
on 'The Wall'. I am part of each and every headstone of every American
soldier in every cemetery around the world.
I am deeply enmeshed
in each tiny undiscovered bone fragment of American soldiers, left behind
on foreign soil. I am the unseen shadows, the unheard voices in those many
empty cells that once held my brothers in unspeakable torture.
I am the unbearable pain
in the hearts of every mother, father, wife, husband, brother sister, and
child, of missing American soldiers from all wars. I am within each and
every teardrop shed by these family members for their unaccounted for loved
ones.
I am the essence of each
and every drop of blood shed in the past or in the future, by an American
soldier in the name of freedom. I am the lifeblood of the colors of the
American flag, blue for my loyalty and unwavering dedication, white for
my steadfastness, and red for my pride and love of country.
I am the spirit of those
names on the black Granite Wall, of all those
unaccounted for in every war, of those who went
away to war as gallant young men and came back, older than time...OR NOT
AT ALL.
I AM...THE SPIRIT OF THE AMERICAN SOLDIER!
Beverly Haire, 1998 |
RICHARD'S STORY:
| ON JUNE
18, 1972, Richard Milton Cole Jr. was shot down in an AC-130 Spectre Gunship over Laos, which was the next day changed to read "South Vietnam." |
| Other
Personnel in Incident: Jacob Mercer; Richard Nyhof, Robert Wilson, Leon
A. Hunt, Larry J. Newman, Paul F. Gilbert, Stanley Lehrke, Robert Harrison,
Donald H. Klinke, Gerald F. Ayres, Mark G. Danielson. |
| Richard
only flew missions in Laos and Cambodia, which the US was NOT supposed to
be doing and so this actual crash site and shoot down was COVERED UP by
the US, even to the families of the crew members involved. |
| There
were three survivors of the crash who saw another crewman successfully
deploy from the aircraft at a distance far from the actual crash site.
Richard and 8 other crewmembers were reported missing in South Vietnam. |
| LATER
IN 1978, their status was changed to Killed In Action, with no justification
for this change, as no bodies or crash site were discovered. |
| IN 1994,
two teeth from a crew member (which could have been extracted at a POW Camp)
and a handful of bone fragments which were not DNA tested, were returned
to the US, and a group burial was performed, declaring that these UNTESTED
bone fragments and two teeth were the NINE missing crewmen. |
| Neither
I, nor most of the other families accept these untested fragments or teeth
as positive identification of our loved ones. The US Government REFUSES
to exhume and perform DNA testing, and the site in South Vietnam where
they were SUPPOSEDLY found is not even remotely near the fake coordinates
in South Vietnam where the aircraft "SUPPOSEDLY" went down. Our Government
has been LYING to us for 30 years about our loved ones, and CONTINUES to
LIE. However, we have received "CONFIDENTIAL" information and parts of declassified
information that show there is a cover-up by the US Government. |
| Why
can't they tell the truth after all these years and let us have closure? That
is the least they can do. Richard's Father is deceased now, without
ever having known if his son was dead or alive. Many of the parents and
spouses are ill or aged, and want to know before they too are gone.
Wouldn't you want to know if it was your loved one? |
| We
the American people cannot give up on asking our government to give us
an honest and full accounting of our missing loved ones and, some of us
never will. Please view the link sites I have included in my site, and
see how you can help! It has been a long hard struggle for those of us
who have a missing loved one, over 30 years for some, and you can help!
You can adopt a missing serviceman, or you can join the Yellow Ribbon Campaign,
or plant a tree and place a yellow ribbon on it for a missing American
serviceman! Please check out the links to learn more about what you can
do to help...it won't cost you anything but a few moments of your time. |
|
I SEND MY LOVE TO MY "BROTHERS" GUNNY FALLON AND TED GUY, AND ALL THE OTHERS
WHO ARE WORKING SO HARD FOR AN ACCOUNTING OF OUR MISSING LOVED ONES. |
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GOD BLESS YOU ALL. "A MAN
IS NOT DEAD UNTIL HE IS FORGOTTEN",
AND SOME OF US WILL NEVER
FORGET!
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For those of you reading this, don't ever think, well, I'm only one person,
how can I make a difference, well...look at it this way, have you ever
been in bed with just one mosquito buzzing around you? One, just "one"
can and will make a difference to our forgotten servicemen. They gave their
all to us, can't we give something back to them and their families by attempting
to find the truth? Please help and get involved, your help as American
citizens who care is desperately needed!! |
|
DICK,
YOU ARE GREATLY LOVED AND MISSED, AND YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN! YOU
ARE NOT 'JUST A NAME ON A WALL' YOU HAVE BEEN IN MY THOUGHTS DAY AND NIGHT
FOR 30 YEARS, AND YOU WILL ALWAYS BE MY "KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR." A MAN
IS NOT DEAD UNTIL HE IS FORGOTTEN, NONE OF YOU WILL EVER BE FORGOTTEN,
AND I WILL FIGHT FOR THE TRUTH UNTIL MY DYING BREATH!
I
LOVE YOU, MY KNIGHT!
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| If any family member or loved one reads this and also had
a family member designated MIA/KIA on the same mission as T/Sgt. Richard
Milton Cole, Jr., shot down on June 18, 1972, and wishes to contact
me personally for exchange of information, please call me at: (941) 637-6602,
there are still 3 unaccounted for from this mission, and possibly 12, since
there was no DNA or other forensic testing done on the remains of the nine
who were returned in 1994 and buried in a mass grave at Arlington. I do
not believe from the information that I have, that these remains were "our
family members and loved ones". |
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Awards |
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or unaccounted for. There are over 1,500 still unaccounted for in the VIETNAM
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