Terry Longpre 05-21-18

American Patriots

Welcome Home
After missing for 47 years the remains of Army Maj. Donald G. Carr (Texas) were recovered and identified by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Major Carr was assigned to Mobile Launch Team 3, 5th Special Forces Group, Republic of South Vietnam.

There are still 1,598 American service personnel as well as civilians declared missing from the War in Vietnam. We will keep looking and bring them all home.

Medals of Honor
Retired U.S. Navy SEAL, Master Chief Special Warfare Operator (Sea, Air, and Land) Britt K. Slabinski, will receive the Medal of Honor on May 24 for gallantry on the early hours of March 4th, 2002 during ‘Operation Anaconda.’

He led a team up a mountain peak attempting to rescue teammates. During that time, he led an assault on two bunkers and continued to fight and stabilized casualties until the peak was secured by a quick reaction force and his team was extracted.
During the fight, 7 Americans were killed, with 12 others wounded. Air Force Technical Sgt. John Chapman was presumed killed in the fighting however it was determined he died after the teams were off the mountain. John Chapman will receive the Medal of Honor posthumously for actions during the battle. He is also the first combat controller in history to receive the Air Force Cross.

A Final Resting Place
A riderless horse closely followed a funeral hearse which contains the remains of WWI Medal of Honor recipient Army First Sergeant Chester Howard West. What makes this story special is two things, number one, it involves a Boy Scout by the name of Derrick Jackson (Boy Scout Troop 259) who was working on his
Eagle Scout Badge project. Number two, an acquaintance of mine, Herschel “Woody” Williams a 94-year-old Medal of Honor recipient was involved.

Scout Derrick Jackson located Chester Howard West’s gravesite in Mason County in 2013 while cleaning up an abandoned overgrown cemetery with the help of his family and other Boy Scouts. Derrick located Chester Howard West’s headstone (which showed no mention of the Medal of Honor) under a fallen tree, along with a second grave.

Chester Howard West was a 20-year-old First Sergeant (Automatic Rifle Section), 363rd Infantry Regiment, U.S. Army’s 91st “Wild West” Division).

After mustering out of the military he moved to the Pliny area of Southside, WV working on a farm owned by Sam McCausland who was the son of Civil War Confederate Gen. John McCausland. During the time Chester was working on the farm, McCausland shot and killed him for unknown reasons. McCausland was tried and convicted of second-degree murder.

Chester West was buried in his wife’s family graveyard on the ridge above Southside, WV and over the years forgotten.

Once his grave was located it took years to get permission to exhume his remains and move them to the Donel C. Kinnard Memorial State Veterans Cemetery in Dunbar, WV where he would rest in peace, with a new headstone proclaiming his Medal of Honor.

The Military Burial Ceremony was officiated by West Virginia National Guard Major General James along with remarks by West’s family and “Woody” Williams.

God bless America and all those who serve to protect us.

Terry Longpre