THE WALL OF FACES

Dear Cap. Howard Purcell, Thank you for your service as a Twin-Engine Medium Bomber Pilot. Glad you were identified in 1996. Welcome home. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Independence Day is this weekend. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. The remembrance from your daughter Sheryl is especially poignant. As long as you are remembered you will always be with us...

My husband was in the USAF and back in the 80’s he bought a stainless steal band with Capt. Purcell’s name and date of 9/2/1963 he was listed MIA. I have worn it and feel it’s a honor to show respect to him. I love it when people ask me about it. We even found his name on a traveling Wall and even though we never met.. we felt emotional.
Thank you for allowing me to share.

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to leave a post for my dad. Not a day goes by that I do not think of him. Though I was only five when he left, his kindness and wisdom has guided me. I am grateful.

On September 2, 1963, CAPT Howard D. Purcell, 1LT Neil B. McKinney and SSGT Raphael Cruz were flying aboard a B-26B aircraft on an air cover mission over Kontum Province, Vietnam. They were observed by their relief aircraft, but never returned to Da Nang Air Base. An extensive search and rescue effort failed to locate the missing aircraft. In 1992, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) repatriated to the United States human remains and identification media for all three crew members. The remains of these three servicemen were identified individually, and are also part of a group remains identification. Mitochondrial DNA testing was used to confirm the three identifications. [Taken from pownetwork.org]