DOG TAG FOUND IN VIETNAM TO BE RETURNED TO
FAMILY ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF MARINES DEATH
.
Feb 6, 2010 - Touring the Ho Chi Minh
trail in 1998, Wall Street trader Manny Santayana stumbled onto a
Vietnamese man who made a living out of extracting bombs from the
ground, grinding up the metal and selling it for profit. Sometime he
would stumble upon dog tags from U.S. soldiers, which he would collect
and store in an ammo bag under his bed.
"He
had 105 of them, and he just harbored them away, thinking perhaps that
they were worth something," Santayana recalled. "Well, that day they
were worth 100 bucks."
Unsure if they were real, Santayana called the Pentagon after
returning to home to New York. Defense officials requested the
information from the identification tags, which Santayana quickly
sent. "The Pentagon analyzed them and they indicated that all of them
were totally legitimate," he said.
Over
the years, Manny was able to return some dog tags to their rightful
owners, but leads were exhausted. A few months ago Tony Halas,
Chairman of the POW/MIA Awareness Committee (NJ-Gloucester/Camden
County), was notified about the project by Senator James Beach and
asked if he'd be interested in helping find the veterans that these
dog tags belonged to. Senator Beach received the dog tags from Manny
last week and is in the process of setting up a Committee. However, in
the meantime, while the details were being sorted out, one member, Sue
Quinn-Morris, of
the POW/MIA AGC Committee, decided to get a head start on the
research.
For no specific reason, the first dog tag
the she decided to hone in on was the last name on the list - H.C.
Yarber Jr, USMC, O, 2227178, Church of Christ - with only that
information to go on, diligent research began and the story began to
unfold.
H.C.
Yarber Jr. is known to his family as Henry Clay Yarber, Jr. - he went
by "Clay". Cpl Clay Yarber enlisted in the Marines in 1966 and served
in Vietnam until 1970 - RVN, DMZ, Co. B, 3d Force Recon, 3d Marine
Division. He served 2 tours of duty with Marine Special Forces Recon
and is a Purple Heart recipient.
On February 12th last year - 2009 - Clay
boarded Continental Flight 3407 headed for Buffalo, NY. Clay hated to
fly ever since a helicopter accident in Vietnam. Yet on this day he
was propelled by the one emotion more powerful than his fear of
flying: Love.
Yarber,
62, a strapping man who went from performing reconnaissance missions
for the Marines to playing guitar onstage with bands, was on his way
to see his girlfriend, Lonnie Vater, for Valentines Day. He was going
to move there permanently the following month. The couple talked about
marriage. But
a few miles short of Buffalo, the plane suddenly pitched forward and
crashed, killing everyone on board and one person on the ground.
Yarber began playing in public at age 14. He played with Bob Seger
before Seger achieved fame, his family said, as well as backing
such artists as Ike and Tina Turner and Ben E. King. Yarber moved from
his native Dayton, Ohio to Florida about 30 years ago – after Vietnam.
He rocked crowds in bars and auditoriums across Ohio, Florida and
other states, playing rhythm guitar in several bands through the 70’s,
80’s and 90’s, including Power Play and Taxi. The music ranged from
Top 40 to funk and rhythm and blues.
His daughter, Pam Jones, said her father suffered from various
physical and emotional ailments because of the war, and was disabled.
She said he wrestled with post traumatic stress disorder for the rest
of his life.
“He
used to have the night terrors,” Jones said. “ I would hear him
punching his headboard when he was in bed at night.”
His brother, Tim Bishop, recalls,”Clay,
we called him "junior", (btw-he never really liked being called
junior), was a 6 ft. 4 in. man that would have your back whether you
were family, friend, or anyone in need. If you were his friend, you
were fortunate; if you were foe, he was your worst nightmare. There
are many that knew him as the "gentle giant" and a "big kid at heart".
Any of his friends would tell you "he would give you the shirt off his
own back or help you if you were in need". He had a very giving and
loving heart. I know this to be true.
On Thursday, February 4th, 2010 - 8 days
before the 1st anniversary of Clay Yarber's unfortunate death in that
fiery plane crash in New York - Sue Quinn-Morris (POW MIA AGC
Committee) made contact with Clays brother, Tim Bishop, who resides in
Ft Worth, TX. After an emotional conversation, Tim was able to confirm
his brothers service number and plans are now being put in place to
get Clay's dog tag to his brother.
"I am so thankful you found me." Tim
exclaimed," When I receive his dog tag I am going to include it with
his Marine Jacket and Medals I have."
The irony of finding Clays brother days
before the anniversary of Clays death .... A Coincidence ... A message
from Clay to his brother... .. Devine intervention...
"Call it what you will," remarked Sue,"
but it sends chills up my spine and confirms my belief in a higher
power. Come hell or high water I can assure you that Tim will be
holding his brothers dog tag in his hand come Friday, Feb. 12th, 2010.
"
....DOG
TAG DELIVERED.....
Feb. 12, 2010 -
While hell and high water didn’t come, the snow did. But what is meant
to be, will be.
Scrambling to beat
the snowstorm in NJ, Yarber's dog tag was sent out just hours before
the snow arrived on Tuesday. Arriving in Texas, John Collins, a
Warriors Watch Rider, received it safe and sound – but called with the
news that a major storm was due to hit in Texas. It had been
planned that an active duty Marine would present
the dog tag alongside representatives of the 3d Marine Assoc,
the Warriors Watch Riders and American Legion Riders - however mother
nature was about to cast her spell. And that she did – unprecedented
snowfall amounts in Ft Worth Texas began Thursday and continued
into Friday morning. While the motorcycles were certainly out, it was
iffy if any cars could safely make the trip – especially as the
closest person to Tim Bishop was nearly an hour away, under good
conditions.
However,
with the importance of the date – John Collins bundled up and headed
out to weather mother natures forces – and while the presentation was
minus all its original members, one is left to venture it turned out
exactly how Clay Yarber intended.
VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL FUND NAMES NEW
MEMBERS TO CORPORATE COUNCILSantayana was
recognized for a personal project he undertook in 1998 while on a
vacation in Vietnam. Given 106 U.S. dog tags, he decided to return
them to their owners and, over the next few years, did return 15 of
them. As a result of his efforts, Santayana was named “Person of the
Week” by “ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings” in 2004 for
his working contribution to Vietnam veterans and their families
Commuter
Plane Crashes Into Buffalo-Area Home; 50 Killed, A
Continental Airlines commuter plane coming in for a landing in
Buffalo, NY, dove into a house in ...
Clay served 2 tours of duty in Vietnam with Marine Special Forces
Recon. The memories from Vietnam haunted him most of his life and
his health was not good and deteriorating as a result. When he
returned home from Vietnam, he began his passion of playing music
and maintained that passion for the remainder of his life. He was
a phenomenal guitarist/musician and had played with countless well
known and not so well known artists over the years. He had
recently re-located to California (Riverside) to be with his son
and help him with his musical career.
Clay, we called him "junior", (btw-he never really liked being
called junior), was a 6 ft. 4 in. man that would have your back
whether you were family, friend, or anyone in need. If you were
his friend, you were fortunate; if you were foe, he was your worst
nightmare. There are many that knew him as the "gentle giant" and
a "big kid at heart". Any of his friends would tell you "he would
give you the shirt off his own back or help you if you were in
need". He had a very giving and loving heart. I know this to be
true.
Clay Yarber - A Hero...A Son...A Father...A Brother...A
Teacher...will never be forgotten.
DOG TAGS TO BE RETURNED TO
VIETNAM VET, GARY “Doc” McKNIGHT
May
2010 - Ray Milligan, a veteran and retired Chief of Police in
Deptford, traveled to Vietnam in 1993 on a medical aid mission and
brought home more than 500 dog tags that were being sold in little
shops in Vietnam. Since that time....read
full story
Over
the years, Manny was
able to return some dog tags to their rightful
owners, but leads were exhausted. A few months ago Tony Halas,
Chairman of the POW/MIA Awareness Committee (NJ-Gloucester/Camden
County), was notified about the project by Senator James Beach and
asked if he'd be interested in helping find the veterans that these
dog tags belonged to. Senator Beach received the dog tags from Manny
last week and is in the process of setting up a Committee. However, in
the meantime, while the details were being sorted out, one member, Sue
Quinn-Morris, of
the POW/MIA AGC Committee, decided to get a head start on the
research. 
H.C.
Yarber Jr. is known to his family as Henry Clay Yarber, Jr. - he went
by "Clay". Cpl Clay Yarber enlisted in the Marines in 1966 and served
in Vietnam until 1970 - RVN, DMZ, Co. B, 3d Force Recon, 3d Marine
Division. He served 2 tours of duty with Marine Special Forces Recon
and is a Purple Heart recipient.
