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This article appeared in June,
2005, in the Dallas Morning News, Farmersville Times, Princeton Herald,
and The Collin County Chronicles.
At one time, Farmersville’s own Audie Murphy had one of the most recognizable names and faces in the world. He was extremely successful as a movie star, songwriter and poet, which came about due to his heroics in World War II. Murphy received every medal the United States can award for bravery, including The Congressional Medal of Honor. Since World War II 742 Medals of Honor have been issued. Of those, Collin County can claim two. The second was earned on the night of February 1, 1970, in the Cu Chi area of South Vietnam. First Lieutenant Russell A. Steindam, a University of Texas graduate from Plano, was leading a night patrol into the jungle when his squad was ambushed by Viet Cong with machine guns and rocket propelled grenades. After taking cover from the deadly fire in a bomb crater, an enemy thrown grenade landed in the midst of his squad. In order to save the lives of his fellow soldiers Lt. Russell dove onto the grenade and absorbed the blast. For that heroic action he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Russell Steindam was 23 years old when he died. He would never get to see his son who was born three weeks later. One of the most visited places of interest in Washington, DC, is the monument dedicated to the men and women who were killed in that war in Southeast Asia, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, referred to by vets as "The Wall." Not all veterans are able to travel to the nation’s capitol to visit The Wall, so a version of the monument was created in order to take it to them. The "Wall That Heals" will be in Farmersville for the Audie Murphy Day Celebration on the weekend of June 17, 2005. The celebration will come to a close on Monday, June 20, with a parade on the square in downtown Farmersville, to honor all veterans, at 5:00 p.m. on Monday. The Wall has 58,178 names etched into its shiny black granite. Twenty-one of those names are of Collin County men. The first of which is PFC Royce G. Scoggins, of McKinney, an eighteen-year-old Marine who died March 5, 1966, while manning a machine gun in the first battle that would pit US Marines against soldiers of the Army of North Vietnam. His names is listed a Panel 5E, Row 124. On August 19, 1967, another Marine from McKinney, Cpl. Darrel U. "George" Mahan, was killed when his jeep was ambushed near Chu Lai, as his team returned from a night listening post. His name is at Panel 25E, Row 17. Cpl. Robert R. Brown, US Army, grew up in Frisco and went to school in Plano. He had been in Vietnam for only thirty days when he was killed while serving as a mortar man in the Mekong Delta. Robert was 20 years old, and is listed at Panel 27E, Row 36. Thomas G. Caraway, grew up in Farmersville where he was a star running back for the Fighting Farmers. On November 28, 1967, 21-year-old US Army PFC Caraway was killed while leading a charge against an enemy bunker in the jungle near the border of Cambodia. The young hero left behind a young wife and a baby he would never get to see. His name is listed on The Wall at Panel 30E, Row 100. Marine Corps PFC Thomas B. Holdbrooks, a graduate of the 1967 class of McKinney High School, arrived in Vietnam on December 11, 1967, and was killed seventeen days later on the 28th, in a bloody battle at a place called Go Noi Island. Tommy was 19, and is listed at Panel 32E, Row 87. Charles W. "Bill" Bryan is one of three members of the McKinney High class of '66 whose name is on The Wall. Cpl. Bryan was killed while leading a small recon team deep in the jungle near Khe Sanh. The twenty-year-old Marine died while attempting to save the lives of his teammates who were severely wounded and was awarded the Navy Cross, America’s second highest award for bravery. His name is listed at Panel 34E, Row 83. The second member of McKinney’s class of '66 is PFC James E. Malone, a paratrooper with the legendary "Screaming Eagles" of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division. James was 21 when was killed on February 3, 1968, in Quang Tri Province. He also left behind a daughter he never got to see. He is listed at Panel 34E, Row 10. Lanny Hale graduated from Wylie High School in 1961 and attended the Christian College of the Southwest before entering the Army. PFC Hale died at the age of 25 on Feburary 8, 1968, in the Battle of Lo Giang, six miles south of Da Nang. His name is listed at Panel 38E, Row 29. One day later on February 9, 1968, SP4 (Specialist 4th Class) Charles E. Hoffman, a US Army medic, was killed during a mortar barrage while attempting to render aide to the other fallen members of his unit. Hoffman, 19, was the third member of the McKinney High class of '66 to die a hero’s death. He is listed at Panel 38E, Row 51. PFC Lawrence E. Jones, an Army paratrooper from McKinney, was a participant in the infamous Battle of Kontum, deep in the jungle covered mountains of the Central Highlands. He died on March 3, 1968, at the age of 22 in that fight, and is listed at Panel 42E, Row 52. Jerry W. Fraze would become the fifth Marine from McKinney to be killed in Vietnam. On March 12, 1968, Cpl. Fraze, 21, was killed while leading an assault on a fortified-bunker complex in a small village near the DMZ. His name can be found at Panel 44E, Row 26. Jerry W. Combest graduated from Wylie High, along with Lanny Hale in the class of '61. He and Lanny were best friends. Six months after Lanny’s funeral, where Jerry had served as a pallbearer, he too was involved in a fierce battle against an overwhelming enemy force. On the morning of August 21, 1968, deep in a dark forest known as the Ben Cui Rubber Plantation, waves of enemy soldiers poured out of the jungle and overran his small unit. SP4 Combest died at the age of 25 while trying to save the lives of his wounded comrades. His name is listed at Panel 47W, Row 16. November 27 was the day before Thanksgiving in 1968. An intense battle was raging in an area near the border with Cambodia and reinforcements were needed. One of those reinforcements was radio operator SP4 Joe A. Johnson, of Westminster. When the helicopter he was riding in touched down at a landing zone in the midst of battle he followed right behind his commanding officer, Lt. Mike Parr from Ft. Worth, and the hit the ground running. Minutes later they were both dead. Joe Johnson’s name can be found on The Wall at Panel 38W, Row 75. Joe S. "Steve" Huston grew up in Garland where his father was pastor at the Emmanual Baptist Church and later moved to Plano. Sgt. Huston was killed on March 19, 1969, when his unit was ambushed in a jungle on the Ho Chi Minh Trail on the Laotian border. In the initial NVA machine gun barrage, three men of his squad were seriously wounded. In complete disregard for his life, Joe immediately ran to their aid. He administered first aid to one of the soldiers, picked him up, and began carrying him to a place of safety. He never made it. Steve Huston, 20, is listed at Panel 29W, Row 79. Charles L. King, from Prosper, was a ten-year veteran of the Army. At 28, SP5 King is the oldest of the twenty-one Collin County men whose name are on The Wall. On June 4, 1969, a few short weeks before he was to go home, Charles King was killed by an explosive device, near Saigon, in an area controlled by the Viet Cong. His name is listed at Panel 23W, Row 65. The Wall contains 7,455 names of men who died non-hostile or accidental deaths. Military life is a dangerous way of life, in peacetime or in war. Cpl. Vernon Wayne Woody was a crewman on an armored attack vehicle, which turned out to be the deadliest military occupation in the war. On January 30, 1970, he was killed when ran over by a large track vehicle. His wife Linda, gave birth to a daughter less than a month later. The name of Vernon W. Woody can be found on The Wall at Panel 14W, row 82. Russell A. Steindam was the next Collin County hero to be killed in Vietnam. In his honor, the ROTC building on the campus of the University of Texas carries his name, as well as an officer’s quarters at Ft. Knox, Kentucky. In Plano, at 4497 Quincy Lane, there is the Lt. Russell A. Steindam Park. On The Wall his name is listed at Panel 14W, Row 88.Martin L. Rodgers was only 18 when his helicopter went down on the Mekong River. Sp4 Rodgers was crew chief on a "Longknife" transport ship, the job of which was to insert and extract soldiers on the battlefield, many times under intense hostile fire. On July 26, 1970, his chopper crashed in the river. He drowned before he could be rescued. Marty’s name is listed at Panel 8W, Row 56. Engineman 4th Class Johnny C. Jones, of McKinney, was a sailor in what was called the "Brown Water Navy." He was a crewman onboard a riverboat that prowled the many waterways of the Delta Region. Johnny Jones, like Wayne Woody, was one of those who died accidentally. On September 22, 1970, his boat was operating on a body of water called the Grand Canal, near the Cambodian border. Monsoon rains had caused the river to rise out of its banks and was running with a deadly current. Just before dark that evening, Johnny fell overboard. Before a rescue attempt could be made, he disappeared in the raging floodwaters. His body was found two days later by Vietnamese fishermen. He was 22, and is listed at Panel 7W, Row 84. Like Martin Rodgers, Bobby G. Harris, of McKinney, was a helicopter crewman. On March 17, 1971, while serving as a door gunner, his chopper’s mission was the insertion of South Vietnamese soldiers onto mountaintop deep in the jungles of Cambodia. While inserting the soldiers in the midst of a heavy battle, his chopper was hit by an enemy rocket and crashed. SP4 Harris, 19, was killed in the crash. For 31 years he was listed as "Missing In Action," until his remains were recovered and identified by DNA tests. On September 3, 2004, Bobby Harris was finally laid to rest with full military honors at the National Cemetery at Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. He is listed at Panel 4W, Row 56. In the thirty-three years since Bobby Harris was killed in action, Collin County has lost two more young men in the worldwide fight for freedom, both in the current war in Iraq. As a Vietnam vet myself, seeing all those names on The Wall is a very moving and emotional experience. I am sure I speak for all veterans when I say that hopefully a memorial of the magnitude of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial will never have to be built again. God Bless America.
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