THE WALL OF FACES

I was lost without you as a child, I never gave up hope and still don't believe you are gone. All 6 of us miss you greatly. Love you Renee' Clapper Eaton

On December 29, 1967, a C-130E aircraft departed Nha Trang Airbase shortly after midnight on an operational mission over North Vietnam. The eleven man crew aboard the aircraft included MAJ Charles P. Claxton, CAPT Edwin N. Osborne Jr., and CAPT Gerald G. Van Buren (all listed as pilots), and crewmen SSGT Edward J. Darcy, SSGT Gean P. Clapper, SSGT Wayne A. Eckley, LTC Donald E. Fisher, TSGT Jack McCrary, CAPT Frank C. Parker III, CAPT Gordon J. Wenaas, and SGT James R. Williams. At 4:30 a.m., the pilot made radio contact with Nha Trang and said the mission was progressing as scheduled. No further contact was made. The aircraft's last known position was in extreme northwest North Vietnam, in mountainous Lai Chau Province. The eleven Americans aboard the aircraft were declared Missing in Action. When the war ended, and 591 Americans were released from Vietnamese prison camps, the crew of the C-130 was not among them. In October and November 1992, a joint U.S. - Socialist Republic of Vietnam team interviewed five witnesses who had knowledge of the crash site. Two of the witnesses had visited the area of the crash in 1967 or 1968 and provided information about the site. Some of the witnesses turned over identification cards or tags that contained the names of some of the crew members. The team visited the site and recovered some human remains. In February 1993, the government of Vietnam turned over additional remains and a photocopy of more identification media. In October and November a joint team led by Joint Task Force-Full Accounting excavated the suspected crash site where they recovered aircraft wreckage, personal effects and human remains. In 1994 and 1995, Vietnamese citizens and government officials turned over additional remains. Department of Defense analysts concluded from the distribution of the aircraft wreckage that the C-130 hit a mountainside and the crew was unaware of the impending crash. Nine parachutes were accounted for among the artifacts recovered, and there are no unresolved live sighting reports associated with this incident. Analysis of the remains and other evidence by the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii established the identification of the eleven servicemen. (Note: a much more detailed account of this incident is available on pownetwork.org) [Taken from pownetwork.org]

My mother Florence Jarrett of Vandalia, Illinois, purchased a POW/MIA bracelet for about $3.00 in the early 70's.....I can't recall the year. The name on her bracelet was CMSGT Gean P. Clapper. She took the vow to never take it off until her soldier was brought home. She died of cancer September 25, 1993. She wore that bracelet EVERY DAY up until the time she had to take it off for treatment. It was a small statement, but one I remember and carry with me to this day. I'm sure that Mom rests in the comfort of knowing her soldier came home........CMSGT Clapper, you are NEVER FORGOTTEN and we thank you for your service and sacrifice.

He loved us so.
Every day, in a hundred ways, he told us so.
In honesty, in affection, he told us so.
He loved us so.
Every day, in a hundred ways, he showed us so.
With loyalty and bravery, he showed us so.
He was our defender, and he kept us free!
He took an oath to guard us, and fought for liberty!
He loved us so, and we should know.
For we loved him so.
Chief Master Sergeant Clapper, you were the very essence of DUTY!...HONOR!...and COUNTRY! You had flown like the EAGLE, and you had been there and done that in Vietnam! You were one brave man who did brave deeds for our America! You flew and you fought for the right without question or pause! Your name and fame are the BIRTHRIGHT of EVERY American citizen! In your youth and strength...your love and loyalty...you had given all that mortality can give to defend liberty everywhere! Altoona is very proud of you! You had sacrificed your life so that freedom and justice may live! You had lived up to the code of conduct and chivalry of those who guard this beloved land!...an ideal SO NOBLE that it arouses in all of us a sense of pride, and yet, of humility! I strongly and honestly believe that Avonmore's own Jill Corey, whom I( greatly and immensely admire as one of my three top favorite songbirds of all time, the other two being Walton-on-Thames's own Julie Andrews, England's musical queen, and London's own Dusty Springfield, another thrush from England, would be very proud of your service to America, and the sacrifices you made to keep us and our country free! Well done, Chief Master Sergeant! Be thou at peace. AIM HIGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

May God Bless you. You are my cousin, buddy. I was lucky enough to come home. Very sorry that you were not. I placed my medal at your name next to the Vietnam Wall in September 2014 in Washington D. C. , and I talked to you, hope that your were listening.