“Nobody’s even said anything about it being Memorial Day,” he wrote. “All the men that died over here, you’d think something (sic) would say something about them. It kind of looks like people are ashamed because they died in this war that nobody wants. … If something happened to me over here, I sure hate to think people thought I died for no reason.” -- U.S. Army Capt. Herbert C. Crosby, written six months before he died. ***
The family of Capt. Herbert C. Crosby laid him to rest in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery, our nation's beautiful and sacred resting place for her heroes.
U.S.Army Capt. Herbert C. Crosby Laid to rest 25 May, 2007
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery
As family and friends filed out of the chapel, a horse-drawn caisson waited to carry Capt. Crosby's casket to the grave site while a 20-member troop escort stood at attention with rifles on their shoulders. The Army band played hymns.***
"A horse-drawn caisson bears the flag draped coffin of Capt. Herbert C. Crosby's remains. In 1989, the Vietnamese government turned over a dog tag with Crosby’s name. Five years later, an excavation of a suspected burial site turned up remains thought to be those of Crosby and his crew. Last year, DNA from Wade and her older sister were used to identify a tooth found among the remains." -- Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
"The three-man Blackhawk Helicopter fly-by honored Capt. Crosby. It was 37 years, four months, two weeks and two days ago – Jan. 10, 1970 – that 22-year old Herby Crosby’s Firebird went down in Quang Nam province in southern Vietnam. For many of those years, Crosby’s family hoped he would be found alive. Then they hoped he would be found so they could honor him in a military burial." -- Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
Friday's funeral was a fitting tribute to her son, Jane Crosby Wesley said, especially considering how he entered the world. She described how her mother-in-law came to visit her in the hospital with a full-size flag for her new grandson. Wesley said she thought it a bit odd at the time.
"Now we know there's some meaning to it," she said. "Herby came into the world with a flag, and he went out of this world with one." -- Florida Today
"The flag will always fly at half-staff not only in honor of his birthday, but also in honor of his sacrifice," Army Chaplain William "Whiz" Broome told more than 150 relatives and friends during a chapel service. Thirty-seven years after his helicopter crashed in bad weather in Vietnam, Crosby would have turned 60 on May 30, the traditional Memorial Day." -- Florida Today
One by one, Herby’s family placed flowers on his coffin, and members of the Patriot Guard Riders laid tokens among the roses and daisies. They saluted smartly then left their comrade among the 300,000 others who served in peacetime and in war.
As a child, Herbert Charles Crosby teased his sisters that the nation threw parades and waved the American flag for his Memorial Day birthday. So, it's only fitting, his family said, that this weekend, Crosby officially joins the ranks of the fallen soldiers honored on this holiday.
Panel 14W, Line 22Vietnam War Memorial
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The Medals***
Well done, good and faithful servant.A grateful nation thanks you for your sacrifice.
*****
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