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Gave Some-Some Gave All |
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Remembering
Gale
Herbert Felver and Larry Eugene Yoder
by Doc Gardner - June 2009 |
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These two FMF Corpsmen shown below
were classmates of mine in HM School and FMF School.
They will be remembered for as long
as I am alive.
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Rest
in Peace, shipmates
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GALE HERBERT FELVER
HM2 - E5 - Navy - Regular
Length of service 2 years
Casualty was on Jul 29, 1966
In QUANG NAM, SOUTH VIETNAM
HOSTILE, GROUND CASUALTY
OTHER EXPLOSIVE DEVICE
Body was recovered
Panel 09E - Line 86
The information is re-printed from
The
Vietnam Wall Memorial website. |
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Gale Felver was a Corpsman with 2nd
Bn, 9th Marines and was KIA on July 29, 1966. He took a patrol so that
his fellow Corpsman could have the day off to rest up.
It was his last patrol as he stepped
on a mine while rushing up to treat a fallen Marine.
Gale (known as Stormy to us) was my
classmate at HM A School in 1965; he served at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital
prior to being sent to FMF.
Stormy is buried in Rahway, NJ (his
hometown).
I used to correspond with his mother
before she died and some day I may go to his gravesite to say good-bye. |
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This photo was sent to me by one of
his high school classmates.
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LARRY EUGENE YODER
HM3 - E4 - Navy - Regular
Length of service 4 years
Casualty was on May 2, 1967
In QUANG TIN, SOUTH VIETNAM
HOSTILE, GROUND CASUALTY
GUN, SMALL ARMS FIRE
Body was recovered
Panel 19E - Line 20
The information is re-printed from
The
Vietnam Wall Memorial website. |
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Larry Yoder was also a classmate of
mine at HM A School and FMF School. From Great Lakes we both went to New
London and served together there at the Naval Dispensary. Larry helpd me
find my first apartment so my new bride could join me.
We got our orders to FMF
(Fleet Marine Force) the same day and were in the same Company at Camp
LeJeune. We flew together to Danang where Larry joined Lima 3/5 (3rd Bn
5th Marines). Larry was KIA on May 2, 1967 by a sniper as he went to aid
a fallen Marine.
For years I have tried to locate his
family so that I can visit his gravesite but have been unsuccessful.
I know they were from Latrobe, PA but internet inquiries have proven unsuccessful.
Unfortunately the only photo I have
of Larry Yoder is our group graduation photo from HM “A” School. |
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A little history about how we met.
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| I qualified on USS
Skipjack SSN 585 after going on active duty out of the Reserves in
Detroit.
While aboard Skipjack I shipped over
for HM school and attended from May 1965 to Sept 1965. That's where Gale,
Larry and I all met and were in the same class.
Then, while assigned to the New London
Submarine Base Hospital I passed my tests for HM2 and was planning on returning
to submarines as soon as I was promoted. However, I got my orders to FMF
prior to that and went through Field Med Training at Camp LeJeune, NC.
From there I went to Third Marine Amphibious
Force HQ in Chu Lai, Viet Nam.
III MAF was a support group and I had
the opportunity to do a number of things including being sent to 1/5, 1st
Bn 5th Marines in Tam Ky, 2nd ROK Marine Brigade (Koreans) in Binh Son
and one patrol on a Swift Boat out of Chu Lai.
The rest of my tour (Nov 1966 to Nov
1967) was spent in various duties at 1st Hospital Co, "B" Med Battalion
Aid Station and ferrying medical supplies by convoy and chopper to Marines
in the area.
Upon return from Viet Nam I returned
to submarines and went to NucMed and SubMed in New London. Then got my
orders to USS
Theodore Roosevelt SSBN 600 Gold. I did 4 patrol on Roosevelt and left
the Navy to attend college back here in Michigan.
Fred (Doc) Gardner
HM1(SS) / FMF |
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Click for larger image
Use back button to return here
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| There were about 40 of us in the class
but only five or six of us went to Viet Nam, to my knowledge. Larry,
Gale and two other guys are standing next to each other in the photo.
Two (of the six) were KIA, and two were
WIA.
Standing in a different section of the
photo are myself and the other guy who went to Vietnam and we came back
unscathed, physically anyway. Only God knows
who gets picked. |
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| Yoder is 3rd from left in the 4th row.
Count the nurse as the first row and then go up 4 and the guy with dark
hair is Yoder.
Then starting with Yoder move 3 to his
left and you will see Felver (KIA), John Devine (WIA) and Lou Beck (WIA)
The only other guy from our class, other
than me, that went to Viet Nam (to my knowledge) was Charles Lindsay.
He is in the 2nd to the last row - first on the left side.
I’ve stayed in touch with Lou Beck (he
was with 2/7th Marines) and has a successful medical supply business in
Ohio.
It’s odd that the 4 who are standing
together were killed or wounded and the two who are apart came through
the full tour with no wounds.
Go figure. |
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The Wall - Washington D.C.
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FYI
RE: The class picture: I’m all the way to the right
side of the photo in the first row; I was class Adjutant so I got to stand
up there with the big guns.
Doc |
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