VIEW ALL PHOTOS (2)
HONORED ON PANEL 4E, LINE 44 OF THE WALL
JESSE DONALD PHELPS
WALL NAME
JESSE D PHELPS
PANEL / LINE
4E/44
DATE OF BIRTH
CASUALTY PROVINCE
DATE OF CASUALTY
HOME OF RECORD
COUNTY OF RECORD
STATE
BRANCH OF SERVICE
RANK
REMEMBRANCES
LEFT FOR JESSE DONALD PHELPS
POSTED ON 1.27.2014
POSTED BY: Curt Carter [email protected]
Remembering An American Hero
Dear CWO Jesse Donald Phelps, sir
As an American, I would like to thank you for your service and for your sacrifice made on behalf of our wonderful country. The youth of today could gain much by learning of heroes such as yourself, men and women whose courage and heart can never be questioned.
May God allow you to read this, and may He allow me to someday shake your hand when I get to Heaven to personally thank you. May he also allow my father to find you and shake your hand now to say thank you; for America, and for those who love you.
With respect, and the best salute a civilian can muster for you, Sir
Curt Carter
As an American, I would like to thank you for your service and for your sacrifice made on behalf of our wonderful country. The youth of today could gain much by learning of heroes such as yourself, men and women whose courage and heart can never be questioned.
May God allow you to read this, and may He allow me to someday shake your hand when I get to Heaven to personally thank you. May he also allow my father to find you and shake your hand now to say thank you; for America, and for those who love you.
With respect, and the best salute a civilian can muster for you, Sir
Curt Carter
POSTED ON 4.8.2010
POSTED BY: CLAY MARSTON
MISSING IN ACTION SOLDIERS FROM VIETNAM WAR ARE IDENTIFIED AND RETURNED HOME FOR MILITARY BURIAL
MISSING IN ACTION ARMY SOLDIERS FROM VIETNAM WAR ARE IDENTIFIED AND RETURNED HOME FOR MILITARY BURIAL
The Department of Defense POW / Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of four U.S. Army servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and returned to their families for burial with full military honors.
A group burial for U.S. Army servicemembers -
Chief Warrant Officer
KENNETH LEON STANCIL
of Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chief Warrant Officer
JESSE DONALD PHELPS
of Boise, Idaho
Specialist
THOMAS RICE, JR.
of Spartanburg, S.C.
and
Specialist
DONALD CARROLL GRELLA
of Laurel, Nebraska
as well as Rice’s individual remains burial will be on Friday 9 April 2010 at Arlington National Cemetery.
Stancil, Phelps and Grella were buried individually last year.
The four men were aboard a UH-1D Huey helicopter which failed to return from a mission over Gia Lai Province, South Vietnam to pick up special forces soldiers on 28 December 1965.
The exact location of the crash site was not determined during the war, and search and rescue operations were suspended after failing to locate the men after four days.
From 1993-2005, joint U.S.-Socialist Republic of Vietnam teams led by the Joint POW / MIA Accounting Command attempted unsuccessfully to locate the site.
But in April 2006, a joint team interviewed two local villagers, one of whom said he had shot down a U.S. helicopter in 1965.
The villagers escorted the team to the crash site where wreckage was found.
In March 2009, another joint team excavated the area and recovered human remains and other artifacts including an identification tag from Grella.
JPAC’s scientists employed traditional forensic techniques in making these identifications, including comparisons of dental records with the remains found at the site.
POSTED ON 10.1.2009
POSTED BY: Arnold M. Huskins
An American patriot
POSTED ON 10.1.2009
POSTED BY: Arnold M. Huskins
The Argonaut article
Fallen Idaho vet returns for burial: Jesse Phelps, killed in Vietnam in 1965, to be buried in Boise
by Sebastian Edgerton
The Argonaut
Monday, 28 September 2009
In 1955, just out of high school, Dolores “Dee” Eychison and Jesse Donald Phelps were married — Eychison was 16, Phelps was 17.
Both were Boise-area natives. Jesse Phelps, killed in action in 1965, will be buried in Boise on Thursday.
Jesse Phelps entered the Idaho Army National Guard in 1955, and the next year he entered the Army proper.
“It wasn’t a bad career,” Dee Phelps said.
Jesse Phelps was deployed all around the world in his time with the Army. From their home in Boise, they went to Japan, Hawaii, California, Germany, Texas, Alabama and Georgia.
During this time they had four children — Ronald, Jeffery, Dan and Lori — all born before Dee Phelps was 22.
Jesse Phelps was in the intelligence division until being accepted into flight school at Fort Rucker, Ala., in 1963, graduating as class president.
When Jesse graduated, he was assigned to A Company 229th Helicopter Battalion, 11th Air Assault Division. His crew chief was U.S. Army Master Sergeant Dave Bradley. He and his family were then based out of Fort Benning, Ga.
Jesse’s first conflict as a helicopter pilot was during the communist takeover in the Dominican Republic in May 1965. His helicopter was the second to touch down at San Isidro, and he was deployed that year to Vietnam.
Before he went he wanted the family to move back to Boise to be closer to his in-laws. Dee Phelps said he wanted to do this because if anything happened to him, he didn’t want to leave them alone, across the country from any family.
Within the first four months of being in Vietnam, Jesse went on 125 missions and flew in the Battle of Ia Drang, later depicted it in “We Were Soldiers Once... and Young” and the film adaptation thereof.
For his work there, Phelps received the Distinguished Flying Cross for staying on the ground to help the wounded in the face of enemy fire.
On Dec. 28, 1965, he and three other men were selected to fly a supply run mission from an airstrip in An Khe, located in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Jesse was just a co-pilot on this flight, No. 808, because his own helicopter, No. 778, was down for repairs.
Dee Phelps said in the area they occupied, they used Highway 1 for a landmark to see where they were. Highway 1 at the time was little more than a low-cut section of jungle with saplings and other vegetation growing out of the pavement
About 10 minutes into the flight, Jesse and Flight No. 808 reported some bad weather ahead and were not heard from again.
Searches ensued, but a year later Jesse Phelps was declared dead by non-hostile means.
“I would have probably fallen apart if I had stayed in Georgia,” Dee Phelps said.
Dee Phelps said she, her mother and her children all went to Harlington Cemetery in Bremer, Iowa, to have a small service for Jesse. Phelps was survived by his children, Ronald, 9, Jeffery, 7, Dan, 6, and Lori, 4.
“I remember him holding us, and that’s about it,” Dan Phelps said.
From that point forward, the Army wasn’t the same for Dee Phelps.
“I’ve resented it ever since,” she said.
Dee Phelps said he was an excellent father, but the Army job took him away a lot.
In the years after Phelps’ death, his father-in-law became the children’s second father figure, whom they would call “Pop.”
As the children grew up, none of them wanted to go into the military, and Dee Phelps said she wouldn’t have allowed it.
Ronald and Jeffery both graduated from the University of Idaho, and both were in the Sigma Nu fraternity.
Fifteen years ago, Carrie Huskinson was at Dan Phelps’ home. Huskinson is a friend of the family and a UI alumnus.
As Huskinson was passing through their sitting room she noticed an old picture on the mantelpiece. At the time she said she thought it looked a lot like Mel Gibson. Becky Phelps, Dan’s wife, told her it was Dan’s dad, missing in action and declared dead in the Vietnam War.
Over the next few weeks, her curiosity took hold and she went on the Internet to the Adopt a POW/MIA Web site. She adopted the cause of finding Jesse Phelps’ remains by writing letters and making phone calls.
Huskinson said about ten years into the process, the military found out Jesse’s helicopter hadn’t simply crashed in bad weather, but had been shot down.
The military found a plaque in a nearby village honoring the Vietnamese villager who had shot down the helicopter, and discovered the crash site in Nov. 2008.
The U.S. government started talks with local tribes in the area to allow access to start excavation. It wasn’t until the following March that they were allowed in, and when they started to remove remains they found that the site had been pillaged.
The casualty officer for Phelps, Maj. Matthew Wilson, said the remains of the fallen soldiers were transferred to the Casualty Mortuary Affairs Operations Center at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii.
Dental records provided identification for the soldiers.
On Aug. 24, Dee Phelps was notified of her husband’s identification. Jesse Phelps will be only the second MIA soldier to return to Idaho from Vietnam, with nine more missing from the state out of about 1,500 nationwide.
Dee Phelps said two of her sons, Ronald and Jeffery, will escort the remains of their father back home to Idaho this afternoon.
Wilson said they’ll land at Boise Airport and Gowen Field Army Base, where his casket will be moved to Cloverdale Funeral Home to await funeral services on Oct. 1.
The service will be held at Capital Christian Church, before Phelps is interred at Idaho Veteran’s Cemetery on Horseshoe Bend Road in Boise.
Governmental and military dignitaries are scheduled to attend and speak, including Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter. In addition, Dee Phelps said her husband will be awarded a Purple Heart.
“We are very glad to finally have him home,” Dee Phelps said.
Dan Phelps said that the service and the return of his father’s remains is “definite closure.”
by Sebastian Edgerton
The Argonaut
Monday, 28 September 2009
In 1955, just out of high school, Dolores “Dee” Eychison and Jesse Donald Phelps were married — Eychison was 16, Phelps was 17.
Both were Boise-area natives. Jesse Phelps, killed in action in 1965, will be buried in Boise on Thursday.
Jesse Phelps entered the Idaho Army National Guard in 1955, and the next year he entered the Army proper.
“It wasn’t a bad career,” Dee Phelps said.
Jesse Phelps was deployed all around the world in his time with the Army. From their home in Boise, they went to Japan, Hawaii, California, Germany, Texas, Alabama and Georgia.
During this time they had four children — Ronald, Jeffery, Dan and Lori — all born before Dee Phelps was 22.
Jesse Phelps was in the intelligence division until being accepted into flight school at Fort Rucker, Ala., in 1963, graduating as class president.
When Jesse graduated, he was assigned to A Company 229th Helicopter Battalion, 11th Air Assault Division. His crew chief was U.S. Army Master Sergeant Dave Bradley. He and his family were then based out of Fort Benning, Ga.
Jesse’s first conflict as a helicopter pilot was during the communist takeover in the Dominican Republic in May 1965. His helicopter was the second to touch down at San Isidro, and he was deployed that year to Vietnam.
Before he went he wanted the family to move back to Boise to be closer to his in-laws. Dee Phelps said he wanted to do this because if anything happened to him, he didn’t want to leave them alone, across the country from any family.
Within the first four months of being in Vietnam, Jesse went on 125 missions and flew in the Battle of Ia Drang, later depicted it in “We Were Soldiers Once... and Young” and the film adaptation thereof.
For his work there, Phelps received the Distinguished Flying Cross for staying on the ground to help the wounded in the face of enemy fire.
On Dec. 28, 1965, he and three other men were selected to fly a supply run mission from an airstrip in An Khe, located in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Jesse was just a co-pilot on this flight, No. 808, because his own helicopter, No. 778, was down for repairs.
Dee Phelps said in the area they occupied, they used Highway 1 for a landmark to see where they were. Highway 1 at the time was little more than a low-cut section of jungle with saplings and other vegetation growing out of the pavement
About 10 minutes into the flight, Jesse and Flight No. 808 reported some bad weather ahead and were not heard from again.
Searches ensued, but a year later Jesse Phelps was declared dead by non-hostile means.
“I would have probably fallen apart if I had stayed in Georgia,” Dee Phelps said.
Dee Phelps said she, her mother and her children all went to Harlington Cemetery in Bremer, Iowa, to have a small service for Jesse. Phelps was survived by his children, Ronald, 9, Jeffery, 7, Dan, 6, and Lori, 4.
“I remember him holding us, and that’s about it,” Dan Phelps said.
From that point forward, the Army wasn’t the same for Dee Phelps.
“I’ve resented it ever since,” she said.
Dee Phelps said he was an excellent father, but the Army job took him away a lot.
In the years after Phelps’ death, his father-in-law became the children’s second father figure, whom they would call “Pop.”
As the children grew up, none of them wanted to go into the military, and Dee Phelps said she wouldn’t have allowed it.
Ronald and Jeffery both graduated from the University of Idaho, and both were in the Sigma Nu fraternity.
Fifteen years ago, Carrie Huskinson was at Dan Phelps’ home. Huskinson is a friend of the family and a UI alumnus.
As Huskinson was passing through their sitting room she noticed an old picture on the mantelpiece. At the time she said she thought it looked a lot like Mel Gibson. Becky Phelps, Dan’s wife, told her it was Dan’s dad, missing in action and declared dead in the Vietnam War.
Over the next few weeks, her curiosity took hold and she went on the Internet to the Adopt a POW/MIA Web site. She adopted the cause of finding Jesse Phelps’ remains by writing letters and making phone calls.
Huskinson said about ten years into the process, the military found out Jesse’s helicopter hadn’t simply crashed in bad weather, but had been shot down.
The military found a plaque in a nearby village honoring the Vietnamese villager who had shot down the helicopter, and discovered the crash site in Nov. 2008.
The U.S. government started talks with local tribes in the area to allow access to start excavation. It wasn’t until the following March that they were allowed in, and when they started to remove remains they found that the site had been pillaged.
The casualty officer for Phelps, Maj. Matthew Wilson, said the remains of the fallen soldiers were transferred to the Casualty Mortuary Affairs Operations Center at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii.
Dental records provided identification for the soldiers.
On Aug. 24, Dee Phelps was notified of her husband’s identification. Jesse Phelps will be only the second MIA soldier to return to Idaho from Vietnam, with nine more missing from the state out of about 1,500 nationwide.
Dee Phelps said two of her sons, Ronald and Jeffery, will escort the remains of their father back home to Idaho this afternoon.
Wilson said they’ll land at Boise Airport and Gowen Field Army Base, where his casket will be moved to Cloverdale Funeral Home to await funeral services on Oct. 1.
The service will be held at Capital Christian Church, before Phelps is interred at Idaho Veteran’s Cemetery on Horseshoe Bend Road in Boise.
Governmental and military dignitaries are scheduled to attend and speak, including Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter. In addition, Dee Phelps said her husband will be awarded a Purple Heart.
“We are very glad to finally have him home,” Dee Phelps said.
Dan Phelps said that the service and the return of his father’s remains is “definite closure.”
