The US Naval Forces Vietnam Command History contains the following entry: "The most serious incident reported by CB units occurred on the last day of the month at 1445H on a waterway near Kien Binh (WS 406 036) where the bodies of five USN Seabees were found. All the bodies contained gunshot and fragmentation wounds. Investigation of witnesses disclosed that five U.S. personnel armed with 3 M-16s and one pistol had been sighted in a Boston Whaler by Vietnamese personnel an hour and a half before, and ARVN units reported seeing U.S. personnel in a firefight in the same area. A Vietnamese eyewitness account indicated two VC sampans engaged the whaler, which was later found abandoned, with grenade and AK-47 fire on the Kinh Thot Not Canal. The five Seabees were attached to NMCB 74 and traveling from Cho Moi to Binh Thuy for minor medical treatment." The five Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 74 were PO2 Jerry Baxter Edmonds, Crossville, Tennessee; PO3 Harold E. Asher, Tulsa, Oklahoma; CN Edgar Peter Beck, Gowanda, New York; CN John Frank Neubauer, Mount Vernon, New York; and CN Wayne Sterling Rushton, Eastlake, Ohio. Petty Officer Third Class Harold E Asher was survived by his wife, Doris Ann Woodruff Asher, Sand Springs Oklahoma and his parents, Thelma Iris and Irvin E Asher (July 15, 1925 - September 17, 2003), Tulsa. He was also survived by his paternal grandmother, Hattie Asher (1899 - 1984) and predeceased by his paternal grandfather, Hugh Elroy Asher (1890 - 1963). The Virtual Wall is trying to confirm where PO3 Asher may be buried. His father is buried in Woodland Memorial Park Cemetery, Sand Springs. His father and an uncle were veterans of World War II, serving as Marines in the Pacific. Kansas and Oklahoma area newspapers in early March, 1945 gave a similar accounting for Harold's dad and uncle with such titles as: Brother Fights For Tulsan Who Paid With Life; SOMEWHERE IN THE PACIFIC; and Corporal Gets Revenge for Killing of Brother. The articles read like: Marine Corporal Irvin E. Asher, 19, has a special reason for fighting the Japanese. On Nov. 18, 1942, his brother, Doyle Asher, 23, also a. Marine corporal, from Tulsa, was killed on Guadalcanal. Now Irvin Asher has transferred to the same company roster to take his brother's place. He got some revenge on Tarawa, some more in the assault wave at Saipan. Then Japanese shrapnel stopped him. Recovered now, he awaits his third chance. "That 30 minutes on Saipan was all I needed to be good and tough for the next trip," he said. Irvin is a native of Ponca City, Oklahoma, attended high school in Chanute, Kansas (2 hours north of Tulsa), and worked for the Golden Rule Oil Company, at Wichita, Kansas.

Contact Us

© Copyright 1997-2019 www.VirtualWall.org, Ltd ®(TM)

Last update 09/12/2019