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  • 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.

     

    (CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE)

     

     

    REFERENCE ARTICLES

    ABC NEWS PERSON OF THE WEEK ARTICLE (2004) - Dog Tags Found in Vietnam - Manny Santayana  http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/PersonOfWeek/story?id=131847&page=1

    9/11 Widow Among Plane Crash Victims  - http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/13/national/main4799203.shtml

     

     

    To contact American Legion Post 372 email Don McDonough at donmac0412@yahoo.com.

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