An Update From Carol Geerdes Kossack
I received an e-mail last night from Terry Monk, Jan's brother - he is in Arizona now visiting Hal & Jan. He told me Jan is in a rehab facility and is doing much better. He said her room is full of cards and flowers and she is so thankful for all of them. So glad our classmates sent cards.
Thanks! Carol
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True Heroes
Cliff Welding and SGT Green were flying my wing that day. We were covered by two cobras and were following a fresh trail from an over-night contact into the foothills. We caught a group of 8-10 VC on the trail. Cliff and I both engaged with mini-guns and fire from our observers. We dropped smoke and the cobras rolled in as we moved off to the west. After making several passes, the cobra lead called us back for a BDA (bomb damage assessment). Cliff's mini-gun had stopped working so he led back into the area and I followed to cover him. As we neared the smoke from the cobra's rockets we received small arms fire. Then Cliff's aircraft was hit by an RPG (rocket propelled grenade). It went down immediatley! I tried to land but could not because of small arms fire. I could see that Cliff was still in the burning aircraft and that SGT Green was out, but that he was burned very bad. I stayed on station until the Blues arrived and confirmed that Cliff was KIA (killed in action) and SGT Green was medevaced.
Submitted by Joe Shepherd, Scalp Hunter 15
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Gone But Not Forgotten
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