47 Years Later, Vietnam Vet Memorialized In Sacramento

47 Years Later, Vietnam Vet Memorialized In Sacramento
February 19, 2011 10:40 PM.



SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Decades of wrangling have finally paid off.

A local man’s campaign for an old high school friend — and Navy pilot — has ended with a new memorial stone in Sacramento’s Capitol Park.

Lt. Gregory Hodson died in 1964 when his plane crashed into the South China Sea. His body was never recovered.

The crash site was just a couple miles outside of the combat zone in Vietnam, which left his name off memorials for Vietnam casualties, including the Memorial Wall in Washington D.C., according to Bill Spurgin.

“It was the policy of the United States Navy that if you were killed outside the war zone, you were not put on the wall,” Spurgin said.

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http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2011/02/19/47-years-later-vietnam-vet-memorialized-in-sacramento/

Names have been added to the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial ('The Wall') in D.C. over the years in response to changes in DOD's criteria for war casualties, and as veterans have died as a direct result of wounds sustained in the war. Currently, there are 58,267 names on the Wall. Lt. Hodson's name still is not among them.

The Capitol grounds in Sacramento also have a Vietnam Veterans' Memorial whose panels bear the names of Californians who died in the war. Lt. Hodson's name also should be added there.

As for the Wall in D.C., the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Fund has no control over which names can be added--the Fund can only add names that the DOD recognizes as war casualties. Anyone who wants to appeal for the addition of Lt. Hodson's name should contact DOD--both the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Navy.

R.I.P., Lt. Hodson. :patriot: