Airman killed in Vietnam laid to rest at Fort Logan

Airman killed in Vietnam laid to rest at Fort Logan

(EXCERPT) Written by: Chip Yost, 9NEWS Investigative Reporter created:
10/18/2003 6:17:25 PM updated: 10/19/2003 8:59:09 AM

DENVER - He was shot down over Vietnam more than 32 years ago. On
Saturday, an Air Force navigator from Colorado was laid to rest at
Fort Logan cemetery in Denver.

Capt. Mark Danielson was officially declared dead in 1973 but his
remains weren't found for another 20 years.

Danielson's daughter, Lisa, was only 3 when he was shot down over a
valley in south Vietnam. Growing up, about the only way she had to
remember him, were stories her family told her and letters her father
sent home from the war.

These letters are a window for Lisa Corboy to see a father she hardly
knew. Danielson wrote Lisa's mother nearly three times a day from
Vietnam.

I was 3 years old and didn't really know Dad so it's nice to know
(him) from that perspective, said Corboy.

But in June of 1972, his letters stopped coming. Letters from the Air
Force and later the president - replaced them.

Danielson and more than a dozen others were shot down in an AC-130a
aircraft during a reconnaissance mission. Three men survived - but
Danielson and the others were presumed dead. It would be 20 years
before anyone knew for sure.

My grandmother was a feisty woman - she would carry the torch that he
was still alive, said Corboy.

In 1993, Danielsons remains were found. Afterwards, he and the other
crewmembers were given a burial at Arlington National Cemetery.

On Saturday, he was also given one in his home state - at Fort Logan.
Tom Quinlan - a college friend - and now a deacon - spoke at the
service.

I started wearing his MIA bracelet in 1972 and I've worn it for 31
years, said Quinlan.

Danielson was a 1961 graduate of Rangley High School and went on to
attend Colorado State and the University of Northern Colo...

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---------------------------
Otis Willie
Associate Librarian
The American War Library
http://www.americanwarlibrary.com

"Otis Willie" wrote

Airman killed in Vietnam laid to rest at Fort Logan

This is a joke. These people are already "laid at rest" (much like sailors in
sunken ships) and we are only destroying their resting place.

At the most, these poor people receive a leg bone, or a piece of skull,
or just a damned hunk of bone. Then they bury this in a full size coffin
and everyone thinks a "real" body came home. PEOPLE!! These people
are mostly dust now, there is no real remains except for microscopic
fragments that provide a low grade DNA sample.

****!

"Gene Storey" wrote in message news:zvEkb.2030$5c2.729@okepread03...
"Otis Willie" wrote

Airman killed in Vietnam laid to rest at Fort Logan

This is a joke. These people are already "laid at rest" (much like sailors in
sunken ships) and we are only destroying their resting place.

At the most, these poor people receive a leg bone, or a piece of skull,
or just a damned hunk of bone. Then they bury this in a full size coffin
and everyone thinks a "real" body came home. PEOPLE!! These people
are mostly dust now, there is no real remains except for microscopic
fragments that provide a low grade DNA sample.

****!



Indeed. These people really don't need your tasteless comments. Let
them have what little solace they can get. FWIW about 30 of the guys
I've flown in various squadrons with are still over there.
Walt BJ

"WaltBJ" wrote

Indeed. These people really don't need your tasteless comments. Let
them have what little solace they can get. FWIW about 30 of the guys
I've flown in various squadrons with are still over there.

Which is where they belong. The tasteless thing is robbing their graves.

So you are saying then, that Vietnam vets are special, and that the thousands
of men and women who lie beneath the sea should be located, DNA checked,
and re-buried on land with a 21 gun salute and an 99% empty coffin?

You missed the point which is it gives the family, friends and comrades
closure it removes the doubt of 30 years; Capt. Mark Danielson long ago left
his body to him it does not matter where his body (or part of it) is buried
but it brings comfort to those many people he left behind.

Myc

And what the hell, we're *only* 6.84 trillion in debt...

What about the families of all those sailors missing at sea? Who's going to
pay to bring them home, and also get a fragment buried in a full-size casket?

"Mycroft" david wrote

You missed the point which is it gives the family, friends and comrades
closure it removes the doubt of 30 years; Capt. Mark Danielson long ago left
his body to him it does not matter where his body (or part of it) is buried
but it brings comfort to those many people he left behind.

"Gene Storey" wrote:
"Otis Willie" wrote

Airman killed in Vietnam laid to rest at Fort
Logan

This is a joke. These people are already "laid
at rest" (much like sailors in
sunken ships) and we are only destroying their
resting place.

At the most, these poor people receive a leg
bone, or a piece of skull,
or just a damned hunk of bone. Then they bury
this in a full size coffin
and everyone thinks a "real" body came home.
PEOPLE!! These people
are mostly dust now, there is no real remains
except for microscopic
fragments that provide a low grade DNA sample.

****!


Don't you think that their families would prefer that their loved ones
be given an honorable funeral at HOME? With a grave that the family can visit
on occasion, instead of a jungle or hillside halfway across the globe? The
families want their loved ones brought home, and DOD is honoring those requests.
Even if the remains are not much, the families get closure, and relief that
their loved one is off the MIA list.

Posted via www.My-Newsgroups.com - web to news gateway for usenet access!

Want in one hand, spit in the other; see which one fills first.

"Matt Wiser" wrote

Don't you think that their families would prefer that their loved ones
be given an honorable funeral at HOME?