By Allene Maloney, Trenton Republican-Times
Vietnam Veterans of America logo
To many Americans the Vietnam War was the most puzzling of U.S. wars.
No president ever requested a formal declaration of war nor did Congress approve one. A website has the date of March 8, 1965 as the beginning, while on Feb. 13, 1962, James Reston wrote in the New York Times “The United States is now involved in an undeclared war in South Vietnam.”
By the end of Eisenhower’s presidency, a total of 685 “military advisers” were in South Vietnam along with mountains of military equipment, including large numbers of helicopters. By December 1963, the end of John F. Kennedy’s 34 months of presidency, the U.S. military personnel stood at 16,000. By the end of 1968, under President Lyndon Johnson, the U.S. had 541,500 men in South Vietnam.
As American casualties rose and draft calls were stepped up and draftees were thrown into the jungle war, many students fled to Canada rather than serve in Vietnam. During the 11-year war some three million GI’s had served in South Vietnam. This war would become the longest and among the costliest in America history, with 46,063 U.S. combat deaths, including one from Grundy County.
Under President Richard Nixon, by the end of 1971, a total of 156,800 GI’s remained in Vietnam. On Jan. 27, 1973, Secretary of State Dr. Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho, North Vietnamese Politburo member, signed a peace treaty and the last U.S. troops were withdrawn from Vietnam on March 29, 1973. By April 1, the 590 American POW’s had been released, including one from Grundy County.
The number of Grundy County men serving in Vietnam is unknown, but one of our brave serviceman was killed in action:
Robert Dean Lewis
Pvt. First Class Robert Dean (Bobby) Lewis, 25, a former Trenton resident who was a forward observer with the First Infantry Division, was killed in action in Vietnam on May 15, 1969. He was born in Trenton on Dec. 18, 1943, the son of John Alien and Frances Nadine Bonta Lewis. After his junior in Trenton High School, he moved to Louisville, KY, where he graduated from Shawnee High School in Louisville in 1961.
In 1966, he married Emily Herbert of Louisville and was attending the University of Indiana when drafted into the U.S. Army in 1968. After basic training at Ft. Bragg, NC and advanced individual training, Robert was sent to South Vietnam on Oct. 21, 1968. He was buried in a military section of Evergreen Cemetery on Preston Highway in Louisville.
He was survived by his wife, Emily of the home in Louisville; a brother, James A. Lewis, serving on the USS Gurke along the coast of Vietnam; a sister, Mrs. Janice Sharp of Richmond; his grandfather, Willard Bonta of Trenton; and several aunts and uncles in and around Trenton.
Four Grundy County servicemen, during different stages of service for their country, died of injuries from automobile crashes.
Richard E. Powell
Master Sgt. Richard E. Powell with the U.S. Army, stationed at Milwaukee, WI, died as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident in Milwaukee on April 21, 1962.
M. Sgt. Powell was born on May 8, 1920 at Trenton, the son of Charles and Alma Evans Powell. He attended Trenton schools and enlisted in the U.S. Army just prior to WWII. He had served in the armed services continously since that time.
During WWII, he served in Germany and the Pacific Theater and also served in Korea during the Korean War. He was wounded in action in Korea and during WWII. During the Korean War he was decorated a number of times for bravery, his highest decoration being the Silver Star.
The body arrived in Trenton on Rock Island No. 39, escorted by M. Sgt. Fred Miller. Awaiting the arrival was a colorguard, colorbearers and uniformed pallbearers of Joseph L. Norton Post 919, Veterans of Foreign Wars. Funeral services were held from the memorial chapel of the Davis-Blackmore Funeral Home.
Following the services, the body was taken to the Memorial Cemetery at Ft. Leavenworth, where military rites were conducted by members of the Ft. Leavenworth Post complement, with the post chaplain officiating. Burial was in the memorial cemetery at Ft. Leavenworth.
Survivors included his wife, Jean, the former Jean Miller Vaughn; a stepdaughter, Janice Vaughn of Milwaukee; a son, Robert of Independence; his mother. Alma Powell of Trenton; and two brothers. Bob and Jim Powell, also of Independence.
Read the full article by Allene Maloney from Trenton Republican-Times.
