Over 40 years later, remains of Vietnam War fighter return home

[douglas9]

FORT WORTH — In the darkness of Wednesday morning, Larry Aldrich finally made it home.

His arrival on American Airlines Flight 8 from Honolulu brought the baggage handlers’ work on the ramp to a halt. People peered out the windows of the largely quiet terminal. Members of an Army honor guard in their spit-shined black shoes and pressed uniforms silently carried the flag-draped casket bearing what is left of Aldrich’s body to a hearse, closing a chapter that opened in 1967 when Aldrich left Love Field for Vietnam.

Spc. Lawrence Lee Aldrich is one of the 58,000 men listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, killed in his 20th year when a 750-pound bomb landed on his position in the middle of a firefight on May 6, 1968.

Until last year, he was also one of the 1,700 men whose remains were not recovered during or after the 10-year war in Southeast Asia.

But one day last autumn, a day almost no one in the family thought would come, a day Larry’s dad died waiting for, the government called Aldrich’s oldest surviving sibling and told him his brother was no longer missing.

http://www.star-telegram.com/metro_news/v-print/story/1928280.html

[Thothmes]

1. A Belated Welcome Home Spc. L.L. Aldrich, Rest in Peace

[old mark]

2. Welcome home.

That war was such a terrible waste...


mark

[Tuesday Afternoon]

3. Rest in Peace

finally. K&R

[DarthDem]

4. Rest In Peace, Sir

K&R.

[Recursion]

5. Welcome home, Spc.

[Berry Cool]

6. A long time coming indeed...Rest in peace, Sir

and may it be some small comfort to your family that is still alive that they were able to get you back home.

[douglas9]

7. Vietnam vet laid to rest after 42 years (Video)

FORT WORTH — For Americans who lose their lives in combat, a military funeral can bring a measure of comfort.

The Aldridge family waited decades for this moment.

On Saturday, Spc. Larry Aldrich of the U.S. Army 173rd Airborne Brigade joined his father at Greenwood Cemetery in Fort Worth.

The elder Aldrich died never fully knowing what happened to his son in the Vietnam War.

"I know even up to his last couple of weeks, he wished he would come home before he died," remembered Janine Peck, the soldier's sister.

Hundreds attended the burial service, including Robert Beemer, who served with Aldrich in Vietnam.

http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Vietnam-vet-laid-to-rest-after-42-years-83191102.html

[white cloud]

8. RIP brother in arms

Welcome home and many thanks to all.