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- [S1259] FaceBook- Coudersport, Coudersport HS, 7th grade 1963 Class of 1968. Lanny Nunn September 21 at 1:41 PM · 2020.
Linda Diane Wetzel (1) fact
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20201007HAv-
Lanny Nunn
September 21 at 1:41 PM · 2020
Coudersport HS, 7th grade
1963 Class of 1968
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- [S1993] Newspapers.com: Potter Journal Leader Enterprise-, SOME GAVE ALL- Nine Potter County soldiers died in Vietnam, Halie Kines Sep 13, 2018 20240117GHLn-.
Thomas A. Maynard (1) fact
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20240117GHLn-
SOME GAVE ALL
Some gave all: Nine Potter County soldiers died in Vietnam
Halie Kines Sep 13, 2018
Potter-Leader-Enterprise
U.S Army Sgt. Bruce Maynard
U.S. Army Sgt. Bruce Maynard had a dedication to serving his country that can be traced to early childhood.
“Ever since Bruce was a small boy, he was fascinated by the army and soldiers,” his brother Tom Maynard recalled.
The son of Alfred and Blanche Neefe Maynard, Bruce graduated from Coudersport Area High School in 1965 and joined the Army. He served for four years, including a hitch in Germany, and had signed up for another six years.
Sgt. Maynard was serving as an infantryman with B Co., 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry, 25th Infantry Division in South Vietnam, when he was killed in action on June 6, 1969, at the age of 26. In a small town in the Tay Ninh Province, Maynard rounded the corner of a building, stood in the doorway, looked inside and was shot by an individual there.
U.S Air Force Capt. Edgar W. Nuschke
Capt. Edgar Erwin Nuschke was just three months from his anticipated retirement from the U.S. Air Force when he lost his life as the aircraft he was piloting was struck by enemy ground fire on Jan. 21, 1967. He served his country with distinction in three separate wars.
Capt. Nuschke was born May 17, 1922, to Edgar Erwin and Mabel Carlson Nuschke. He graduated from Austin High School in 1940 and attended college in Pittsburgh before entering the Air Force in September 1941.
He served in the European Theatre during World War II, flying 100 successful missions and attaining the rank of Captain on July 15, 1944. He later completed his education at the Northern Illinois School of Optometry, and then decided to return to the Air Force, serving in both Korea and Vietnam.
He was survived by his mother, his wife Ethel, who was living in California, and brothers Charles Nuschke and John Nuschke.
Nuschke is buried in the veterans’ section of Glen Oaks Cemetery in Chico, Calif.
U.S. Army PFC Clark R. Douglas
PFC Clark Robert Douglas of Galeton made the supreme sacrifice for his nation and his Army brothers on Nov. 11, 1969, while serving in the Vietnam War. He is recalled by the PFC Clark Robert Douglas Memorial Bridge over Pine Creek on Mill Street in Galeton.
PFC Douglas was a 1966 graduate of Galeton High School and was serving as a medic with the United States Army 1st Air Cavalry Division, Charlie Company. He had been scheduled to leave Vietnam in May 1970.
Douglas, 21, was in an aircraft landing zone, Firebase LZ Jen in Phouc Long Province, when the area came under attack by hostile forces. Although thrown to the ground by a burst of impacting mortar round, he persistently crawled in to the fusillade to assist his fellow soldiers when he was mortally struck by another round of fire.
His wife, Linda, was residing in Cameron Mills, N.Y., at the time of his death. In addition to his wife and parents, Mr. and Mrs. Clark Douglas Jr. of Galeton, he also left a daughter, a sister and two brothers. Burial was in West Hill Cemetery.
PFC Douglas was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, second only to the Medal of Honor.
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Gerrith L. Kibbe
Staff Sgt. Gerrith Lowell Kibbe, 24, of Roulette, was killed June 24, 1967, when lightning struck while he was working on a military generator in South Vietnam.
SSGT Kibbe was a metal working foreman, serving with the 98th Maintenance Co., 86th Maintenance Battalion in general support of Army operations.
The 86th Maintenance Battalion was deployed to the South Vietnam Cha Rang Valley in November 1966 under the U.S. Army Support Command, Qui Nhon. Its 98th Maintenance Company was a small, highly efficient unit of 10 men. SSGT Kibbe was one of two company members who lost their lives during the assignment.
He was born in Wellsville, N.Y., and joined the Army in 1961. His father, Grayle Kibbe, was living in Roulette when he learned of his son’s death. Also surviving were his mother, Jeanette Chandler Hubbard of Phoenix, N.Y.; his wife, the former Arlene Joy Carlile, who died in 1995; a son, George; a daughter, Teresa; and a brother, John “Jack” Kibbe, who was serving with the U.S. Navy at the time of SSGT Kibbe’s death. John Kibbe died in 2012.
Army veteran George Bowman, who served with Kibbe in Vietnam, recalled his friend as “a great man and a great soldier.”
Gerrith is buried at Fort Riley Post Cemetery in Geary County, Kansas.
U.S. Army SP/4 Kenneth W. Lampman Sr.
A bridge carrying Pa. Rt. 49 over the Cowanesque River in Harrison Valley is designated the Army SP/4 Kenneth Wayne Lampman Sr. Memorial Bridge.
Lampman, a resident of Harrison Valley, served in the U.S. Army as an aircraft maintenance mechanic with the 1st Cavalry Division. He and seven other soldiers were killed on March 5, 1967, when their helicopter crashed in Binh Dinh Province, South Vietnam. He was 21 years old.
Army records show that there was no direct evidence of enemy fire, but the cause was believed to be a combat strike. Kenneth W. Lampman is buried in Ulysses Cemetery.
He left behind a wife and their young son. Kenneth W. Lampman Jr. feels as if he has come to know his father better through an extraordinary occurrence in 2016. Anna Alger, executive director of senior living community in Victor, N.Y., opened a sealed envelope dropped on her desk and found a Purple Heart, a service medal ribbon and a note asking her to find a home for them.
PFC Edward Ritsick
PFC Edward Ritsick entered the Army in November 1966, six months after his graduation from Austin Area High School.
He was serving with the 25th Infantry Division, 65th Engineering Company, as a light vehicle driver when he was killed in action in Hua Nghia province on the perimeter of Saigon in the early hours of March 11, 1968, just 19 days after his arrival in Vietnam. He was 20 years old.
An avid hunter and outdoors lover, Eddie grew up in a home along Rt. 872, about two miles north of Wharton. He was the son of Andrew and Dorothy Watson Ritsick of Austin, and was also survived by a brother, George Ritsick, and a sister, Dorothy (Ritsick) Conerby.
After basic training at Fort Knox, he received advanced infantry training at Fort Dix, N. J., and Fort Devens, Mass.
A bridge carrying Route 872 over the East Fork of Sinnemahoning Creek in Wharton Township is now named the PFC Edward Ritsick Memorial Bridge. He’s buried in St Augustine Cemetery, Costello.
Army Pvt. Edwin F. Tubbs
Eddie Tubbs’ battlefield heroics weren’t widely known until December 2014, when his family, friends and community members gathered to name a Coudersport bridge in his memory. Emotions ran high as his cousin, Roy Baker of Tioga County, quietly revealed some details of Tubbs’ final minutes in the jungles of South Vietnam. Published reports noted that the 19-year-old Army private had died due to small-arms fire after laying down his rifle to help a fallen comrade.
Family members said Eddie Tubbs knew the risks when he decided to leave Coudersport High School and join the Army in August 1967. The son of Russell Tubbs and Marie Tubbs-Baker, he grew up in modest circumstances at the family home on Water Street in Coudersport.
His decision to enlist was a tough one to swallow for another teenager, Jane Marie Haviland of Emporium. She and Eddie had just become engaged. Jane Marie died in 2010.
Pvt. Edwin Franklin Tubbs was deployed to Vietnam with D Co., 6th Battalion, 31st Infantry Reg., 9th Infantry Division on Dec. 4, 1968. Just five weeks later, while stationed at Dinh Tuong, he was fatally wounded.
His brother Robbie also left school early to join the Army. He was serving in Vietnam at the time of his brother’s death. Laura recalled how Robbie turned down the invitation to escort his brother’s body home so that another soldier could leave Vietnam for a period of time.
Among survivors today, in addition to his sister, Laura Hemphill; his stepfather Robert Baker, and a brother, Russell “Junie” Tubbs.
SP/4 Gerald D. Stonemetz
U.S. Army SP/4 Gerald Duane Stonemetz lost his life in South Vietnam on Jan. 8, 1969, having served overseas since April 1968. He was just 21 years old.
A Shinglehouse resident, he died as a result of injuries sustained in a military accident at a work site, while a passenger in a vehicle that overturned.
Specialist Stonemetz was a construction equipment repairer, serving with the 15th Eng. Co., 299th Eng. Battalion, 937th Eng. Group, 18th Eng. Brigade in Kontum Province, South Vietnam. He was the son of Gerald and Edna Dean Stonemetz of Shinglehouse.
Specialist Stonemetz’s service was recalled when a bridge carrying Rt. 44 over Oswayo Creek
in Shinglehouse Borough was named in his memory. During the ceremony, his brother Ken discussed his family’s rich tradition of military service.
Like others who have entered military service, Ken Stonemetz said, his brother was aware of the risks and accepted them as a condition of serving his nation. He is buried in Maple Grove Cemetery.
Specialist 4th Class Donald L. Stiles
Donald Lavern Stiles was just 19 years old when he lost his life in service to his country during the Vietnam War.
A native of the Rubbertown section of north Coudersport, he was raised by his grandparents, Edward and Belle Austin Stiles, after his mother Vivian Stiles died when Donnie was less than two years old.
Friends in his childhood neighborhood recall that Stiles was one of the boys who enjoyed playing army. Among the other regulars was his good friend, Bruce Maynard, who also lost his life in the Vietnam War.
Stiles enlisted in the U.S. Army at age 17. Following basic training at Fort Dix, N.J., he attended special infantry training in Texas. He married the former Linda Ruggiero. The two had met at Fort Dix.
Soon after the wedding, he was deployed to Vietnam as an atomic demolition munitions specialist, serving with A Battery, 1st Battalion, 7th Artillery, 1st Infantry Division.
Specialist Fourth Class Stiles was killed in action in Binh Duong Province, South Vietnam, on April 2, 1968, after taking another soldier’s place on a mission. He suffered wounds from bomb fragments after stepping on a land mine.
His uncle, the late Ted Stiles, recalled, “They gave him a two-week leave. He came home, got married, went back and was killed. My mother and father raised him, and they thought the world of him.”
Ted and his son visited the Moving Wall and found Donald’s name when the exhibit was set up in Smethport several year ago.
“It brought back a lot of memories,” he added.
This article has been updated.
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Abt 1948 - 1968 (20 years)
