HONORED ON PANEL 24E, LINE 50 OF THE WALL
EARNEST RAY BYARS
WALL NAME
EARNEST R BYARS
PANEL / LINE
24E/50
DATE OF BIRTH
CASUALTY PROVINCE
DATE OF CASUALTY
HOME OF RECORD
COUNTY OF RECORD
STATE
BRANCH OF SERVICE
RANK
ASSOCIATED ITEMS LEFT AT THE WALL
REMEMBRANCES
LEFT FOR EARNEST RAY BYARS
POSTED ON 4.22.2000
POSTED BY: Steve Elsner
Earnest Remebered
I did not know Earnest well, but I remember him very fondly. He was the best friend of my best friend, Dale Pendleton. I was very saddened upon hearing of his death. He was a brave and honorable young man who gave his life for his country, and me.
read more
read less
POSTED ON 7.7.1999
POSTED BY: Michael Robert Patterson
In Honored Remembrance
From a Press Report: June 9, 1993
Ethel Byars of Houston grieved for months when the helicopter carrying her son and three other Marines crashed in Vietnam in July 1967, leaving the foursome's fate in doubt. Now, 26 years later, the heartache has returned with the Pentagon's announcement that the remains of Byars' son, Lance Cpl. Earnest Ray Byars, has been identified.
The Marine, who died three months before his 19th birthday, will be buried at Arlington Natioal Cemetery beside his fellow Marines killed in the crash. While his brother and three sisters are planning to attend, Ethel Byars said her heart ''couldn't stand it'' to go.
"It tore me up real bad when he first got killed and they had a ceremony at Veterans Memorial Cemetery," said Byars, 74. "I felt like I give him up then."
According to the Pentagon, Byars' remains were found last July during a joint field search by US and Vietnamese search teams. The other Marines have been identified as Captain David Frederick, 23, of Columbus, Ohio; First
Lieutenant Craig Waterman, 24, of Reheboth, Massachusetts, and Lance Corporal Robert Biscailuz, 21, of Midway City, California.
The Marines were flying over the Quang Tri province when the helicopter apparently was hit by ground fire and crashed. A villager had taken the remains of the Marines and buried them in a Russian feed sack about 50 kilometers from the crash site, said the Marine's brother, Donald Byars, who obtained previously classified military documents about the crash.
"They (Pentagon) informed me they had gone back and excavated the crash site for several aircraft known to go down in that area," said Byars, 32, who led his family's attempts to find their relative, whose name is inscribed on
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
The news they received three weeks ago brought mixed emotions, Donald Byars said. "It was a big shock. "I was stunned," he said. "The first thing I thought was, 'Oh, my God, they've found him. He's alive.' But now I'm relieved to a point. I always thought he could be in one of those (prison) camps."
The recently declassified military reports include photographs of the terrain and details about the excavation done at the site.
Earnest Byars' remains were identified through bone and dental remains.
Donald Byars, a resident of Humble, said he refused to give up trying to find his brother, an All-Star shortstop in high school before joining the Marine Corps at age 18. "I was pursuing it for a year and a half, calling the military all the
time, but I had run into a dead end," Byars said. "I wasn't going to to stop. I wanted to find out what was going on. I wanted to know the truth."
While poignant, the Byarses' case is not unusual, said Joe Jordan, executive director of the Houston-based National Vietnam POW Strike Force. The strike force estimates there are 144 Texans listed as missing in action in
Southeast Asia, and 2,267 MIAs nationwide. The organization also claims that Americans taken prisoner during the war are still alive, although that claim has not been substantiated by numerous inquiries made by US officials.
"We know Hanoi is holding 853 live prisoners," Jordan claimed. "We can tell from satellite photos how many there are in the camps. There's 20 camps spread throughout Indochina, and the Vietnam-controlled areas of Laos."
Families suffer the most, Jordan said, when they believe their loved ones are still alive and possibly being tortured in prison camps. Jordan said his organization has information about 130 Houston-area military personnel believed to be alive. "And our government has done very little," he said.
"They resolve, let's say, 5 to 20 cases a year. But there's too much focus on bones, and not enough on live prisoners who are known to exist."
Donald Byers was 7 years old when his brother, Lance Corporal Ernest Byars of Houston, was declared missing in action in Vietnam in 1967. Byers keeps a photo of his brother, along with medals the Marine was awarded.
Ethel Byars of Houston grieved for months when the helicopter carrying her son and three other Marines crashed in Vietnam in July 1967, leaving the foursome's fate in doubt. Now, 26 years later, the heartache has returned with the Pentagon's announcement that the remains of Byars' son, Lance Cpl. Earnest Ray Byars, has been identified.
The Marine, who died three months before his 19th birthday, will be buried at Arlington Natioal Cemetery beside his fellow Marines killed in the crash. While his brother and three sisters are planning to attend, Ethel Byars said her heart ''couldn't stand it'' to go.
"It tore me up real bad when he first got killed and they had a ceremony at Veterans Memorial Cemetery," said Byars, 74. "I felt like I give him up then."
According to the Pentagon, Byars' remains were found last July during a joint field search by US and Vietnamese search teams. The other Marines have been identified as Captain David Frederick, 23, of Columbus, Ohio; First
Lieutenant Craig Waterman, 24, of Reheboth, Massachusetts, and Lance Corporal Robert Biscailuz, 21, of Midway City, California.
The Marines were flying over the Quang Tri province when the helicopter apparently was hit by ground fire and crashed. A villager had taken the remains of the Marines and buried them in a Russian feed sack about 50 kilometers from the crash site, said the Marine's brother, Donald Byars, who obtained previously classified military documents about the crash.
"They (Pentagon) informed me they had gone back and excavated the crash site for several aircraft known to go down in that area," said Byars, 32, who led his family's attempts to find their relative, whose name is inscribed on
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
The news they received three weeks ago brought mixed emotions, Donald Byars said. "It was a big shock. "I was stunned," he said. "The first thing I thought was, 'Oh, my God, they've found him. He's alive.' But now I'm relieved to a point. I always thought he could be in one of those (prison) camps."
The recently declassified military reports include photographs of the terrain and details about the excavation done at the site.
Earnest Byars' remains were identified through bone and dental remains.
Donald Byars, a resident of Humble, said he refused to give up trying to find his brother, an All-Star shortstop in high school before joining the Marine Corps at age 18. "I was pursuing it for a year and a half, calling the military all the
time, but I had run into a dead end," Byars said. "I wasn't going to to stop. I wanted to find out what was going on. I wanted to know the truth."
While poignant, the Byarses' case is not unusual, said Joe Jordan, executive director of the Houston-based National Vietnam POW Strike Force. The strike force estimates there are 144 Texans listed as missing in action in
Southeast Asia, and 2,267 MIAs nationwide. The organization also claims that Americans taken prisoner during the war are still alive, although that claim has not been substantiated by numerous inquiries made by US officials.
"We know Hanoi is holding 853 live prisoners," Jordan claimed. "We can tell from satellite photos how many there are in the camps. There's 20 camps spread throughout Indochina, and the Vietnam-controlled areas of Laos."
Families suffer the most, Jordan said, when they believe their loved ones are still alive and possibly being tortured in prison camps. Jordan said his organization has information about 130 Houston-area military personnel believed to be alive. "And our government has done very little," he said.
"They resolve, let's say, 5 to 20 cases a year. But there's too much focus on bones, and not enough on live prisoners who are known to exist."
Donald Byers was 7 years old when his brother, Lance Corporal Ernest Byars of Houston, was declared missing in action in Vietnam in 1967. Byers keeps a photo of his brother, along with medals the Marine was awarded.
read more
read less