March 29, 2024 to the McMinnville News-Register
Appreciate the
Oregon Veterans Memorial Traveling Wall is in McMinnville and to read
News-Register story in the March 29, 2024, about it.
The story focuses
appropriately on ‘Servicemen from Yamhill County who died in the Vietnam War.”
Mike Barrow
(Linfield College Class of 1968) was not from Yamhill County. But, he lived in
McMinnville while a student (and Wildcat student-athlete) at Linfield College.
He grew up in Prineville, Crook County, Oregon. When he died his parents had
moved to Portland. Nonetheless, Mike had Yamhill County connections. He
deserves attention in the N-R.
Mike’s Army tour of
duty began April 3, 1969, in Vietnam. A private first class in the 199th Light
Infantry Brigade, he died during combat less than three months later. His death
on June 23, 1969, in Long Khanh was a "hostile ground casualty" as a
result of "multiple fragmentation wounds." He was 23 years-old.
Thank you.
Vietnam memorial visits Evergreen this weekend
The News-Register staff 3/29/2024
Servicemen from Yamhill County who died in the Vietnam War will be honored on a memorial wall set up today through Sunday morning at the Evergreen Aviation Museum.
Viewing of the Oregon Veterans Memorial Traveling Wall is free.
The wall, patterned after the Vietnam memorial in Washington, D.C., includes names such as Cpl. Brian Lyle Wilson of Amity, who was just 19 when he was killed by an explosive device on March 4, 1970. He was a light weapons infantry specialist in the Army’s 11th Light Infantry Brigade, 4th Battalion, 21st Infantry A Company.
Another name on the wall is Sgt. Roger W. Shipley of McMinnville, who died in Binh Duong Province, Vietnam, on June 6, 1968. The 24-year-old left a wife and 2-year-old son. He is buried in Evergreen Memorial Park. Shipley, a sergeant in the Army, was a halftrack commander and an armor reconnaissance specialist with the 11th Armored Cavalry.
Petty Officer Third Class Robert Dale Buswell, a Navy Corpsman, also is memorialized on the wall. He was serving in Vietnam with H&S Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines. He was 20 when he was killed while on a minesweeping mission on July 26, 1969. He is buried at Greencrest Memorial Park, Sheridan.
Other Yamhill County names are:
Lafayette – Pfc. William Arthur Oberg McMinnville – 1st Lt. Jon W. Layton III, Pfc. Richard E. Traster, Lance Cpl. Michael G. Turner
Newberg – Col. Edward H. Johnson, Cpl. Michael C. Kamph, Cpl. William W. Newton Jr., Spc.4 Dick E. Whitney
Sheridan – Capt. Robert W. Altus, Pfc. David M. Barrett, Spc.4 Ronnie O Bigelow
Roseburg Chapter 805 of the Oregon Veterans of Vietnam are bringing the wall to McMinnville. They will set it up Friday morning and take it down Sunday morning before returning to Southern Oregon.
An opening ceremony will be held at 1 p.m. today, Friday, at the museum. Speakers will talk about the sacrifices made by men and women during the war and how the veterans were often vilified when they returned to the U.S. Viewing the wall is a way to thank them, organizers said.
.......................................
MIKE BARROW is
buried at Willamette National Cemetery
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/330957/michael-edward-barrow
Born 3 Jul 1945 Brownwood, Texas
Died 23 Jun 1969
(aged 23) Vietnam
Buried Willamette National Cemetery, Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, USA
Plot Section S Site 3849
OREGON
PFC CO D 2 BN 3 INFANTRY
VIETNAM
BRONZE STAR MEDAL - PURPLE HEART
