THE WALL OF FACES

Dear PFC James Edward Widener, 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, Sir

Curt Carter

A memorial stone marker has been placed at the Greater Rochester Vietnam Veterans Memorial to honor POW and MIAs of the Vietnam War from the greater Rochester, NY area. They include Ronald J. Fegan, Joseph Christiano, James R. Moore, Elton L. Perrine, James E. Widener, Hans H. Grauert, James R. Dennison, David E. Lemcke, Timothy S. Owen, Rexford J. De Wispelaere, Francis G. Graziosi, and James E. Crowley.

On 11 June 1967, 1LT Curtis Bohlscheid was the pilot of a CH46A helicopter inserting a seven-man Marine Force Recon team into a predesignated area 11.5 nautical miles northwest of Dong Ha, South Vietnam -- right on the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). A total of four aircraft were involved in the mission, two CH46's and two UH1E helicopter gunships. Bohlscheid flew the lead aircraft. His crew included MAJ John S. Oldham, LCPL Jose J. Gonzales (crew chief), and PFC Thomas M. Hanratty (crew chief). Members of the 3rd Recon Company, 3rd Recon Battalion, 3rd Marine Division who were being inserted were CPL Jim E. Moshier, LCPL Dennis R. Christie, LCPL John J. Foley III, LCPL Michael W. Havranek, LCPL James W. Kooi, PFC Charles D. Chomel, and PFC James E. Widener. The flight departed Dong Ha at about 11:15 a.m. and proceeded to the insertion location. The gunships made low strafing runs over the landing zone to clear booby traps and to locate any enemy troops in the area. No enemy fire was received and no activity was observed. The lead aircraft then began its approach to the landing zone. At an estimated altitude of 400-600 feet, the helicopter was observed to climb erratically, similar to an aircraft commencing a loop. Machinegun men had been waiting for the opportune time to fire on the aircraft. Portions of the rear blades were seen to separate from the aircraft and a radio transmission was received from the aircraft indicating that it had been hit. The helicopter became inverted and continued out of control until it was seen to crash by a stream in a steep ravine. Subsequent efforts by ground units to reach the crash area failed due to a heavy bunker complex surrounding the site. The ground units inspected the site from within 500 meters through binoculars and observed no survivors. All eleven personnel aboard the helicopter were therefore classified Killed In Action, Body Not Recovered. Other USMC records indicate that the helicopter also burst into flames just prior to impacting the ground. Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 June 1990 from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POWMIA families, published sources, interviews. [Taken from vhpa.org]

Classmate killed in Vietnam remembered

By Ron Johnston

May 29, 2010

mariettatimes.com



Marietta Times sports editor Ron Johnston was a teammate and classmate of Jimmy Widener, who was killed in South Vietnam in 1967. Widener's remains were not recovered until 2006. Johnston was also a teammate and classmate of Scott Bechtold, who was killed during the 1968 Tet Offensive.



The 1967 Summer of Love was anything but for the family and friends of 18-year-old United States Marine Corps (USMC) radio operator Jimmy Widener.



It was a season of heartache that would last for over 39 years until a late September day in 2006 when a military representative visited the Widener household in the Churchville-Chili area in upstate New York to confirm what had always been suspected: Widener had been killed in action in South Vietnam on June 11, 1967.



Before, Widener had always been classified "KIA, body not recovered." Many years later, though, Widener's remains were located in a warehouse by the Vietnamese, and through DNA and dental records, they'd been positively identified.



Finally.



After so many, many tears, there was closure. Widener was coming home.



Sadly, since Widener's death, his mother Norrie and older brother Jay, Jr. had also passed on.



An outstanding athlete, Widener was a soccer, track and wrestling letterwinner and an All-County honoree. He was a member of the Paul Setter-coached 1965 Churchville-Chili Saints Section 5 championship soccer team.



"Jimmy was a fellow halfback (midfielder) on the soccer team," recalled teammate and classmate Dick Bareham. "Coach Setter would always be yelling at me, never him.



"He was fast and effective and got the job done."



In track and field, Widener was a pole vaulter, who once broke his arm after landing in a sawdust pit.



As a grappler, Widener was considered one of the best in the area at the time, according to longtime friend Al Sabel.



"The Jimmy I want to remember was the one who could pull off the smoothest wrestling switch of anyone in all of Monroe County," Sabel said.



Sabel also recalls Widener as happy-go-lucky with a mischievous side to him going way back to the first grade.



"That's when Jimmy implanted a pencil in my left arm, which has left a piece of lead to this day," Sabel said.



Sabel paused and smiled.



"All of my memories, of course, are of the boy who was always on the move," Sabel continued. "Even when he and I used to sit at the Sunoco station in Chili on Sunday afternoons during the summer, he couldn't remain motionless. Certainly not the contemplative type of guy.



"He had that little smirk/smile on his face, most likely planted there because of some trick he had just pulled on you."



During the June 25, 1966 graduation ceremony in the Churchville-Chili school auditorium, Widener and some of his friends amused everyone in the audience when on cue they all crossed their legs.



Later that summer, Widener and fellow wrestler John Huskey joined the Marine Corps on the "buddy system." First, there was boot camp at Parris Island. Then, he got a leave and returned home.



Vietnam was heating up.



On Christmas Day 1966, Pfc. Widener waved good-bye to his family from the window of an airplane. Less than a month later, he was sent to Vietnam with the 3rd Recon Company, 3rd Recon Battalion, 3rd Marine Division.



"While most of us were being introduced to life in a sheltered environment, Jim was learning how tentative life can be," Sabel said.



"How everything can change in a flash. He became a man in a faraway place that I knew nothing about."



According to the USMC, there are two versions to what occurred on June 11, 1967 (also Widener's mother's birthday), just south of the DMZ at an obscure place about 12 miles north of Dong Ha, South Vietnam - also well-known NVA (North Vietnam Army) positions.



One has the CHS46A helicopter that Widener was on, spiraling out of control as a result of mechanical failure. In other words, an accident.



That was how Hank Trimble, pilot of one of the VMO-2 gunship escorts, saw it.



What was later revealed to the Widener family, though, in a telegram from General Wallace Greene, Jr., Marine Corps commandant, contradicted Trimble's recollection.



In short, the CH46A helicopter was shot down by NVA enemy fire and landed in flames in a stream in a steep ravine.



A recovery attempt was made 19 days after Widener's helicopter crashed. A Marine platoon entered the area and was ambushed by the NVA in bunkers on the hill. Four were killed and seven others wounded.



Later that same day, another Marine company got to the crash site but discovered nothing except a blackened patch of earth.



Widener and 10 other servicemen on the heliocopter each was classifield KIA, body not recovered.



Widener was the sixth Widener to die for his country in a major war since the Revolutionary days in the late 18th century. He was the first of two Churchville-Chili student/athletes to be killed in Vietnam. Scott Bechtold, a U.S. Ranger, was killed during the 1968 Tet Offensive.



In the immediate aftermath of Widener's death, a memorial was constructed in the back yard of the family's home. Also, the James. E. Widener Memorial Fund, opened at the Marine Midland Bank by the 1966 Churchville-Chili senior class, made it possible for a scholarship bond and symbolic trophy to be presented each year to an athlete of good character and scholastic record.



At 1 p.m. Nov. 3, 2006, Widener was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery in Va. Ten military funerals were held that same day at the site.



The Widener family and several friends and classmates attended the funeral. During the service, near Eisenhower Drive and Leahy Drive, Widener received a full U.S. Marine Corps military funeral.



Widener's father Jay was present when informed that his son's remains had been recovered and also at the funeral in Arlington. He has since passed on as has Widener's younger brother Mark.



During the summer of 2007, the Churchville-Chili Class of 1966 celebrated Widener's life on the school's grounds, and a memorial was dedicated in remembrance of him near the football field.



Today, Widener is survived by older brother Pete (a Golden Gloves boxer) and sister Julie, who was born in 1965.