12 Jul 2003 REMEMBERED Marigolds have been planted on Jerry Hickerson's grave this year, and the iris that bloomed there earlier, neatly trimmed. Someone has suspended a basket of silk flowers from a wrought-iron standard over his headstone, cleaned a faded flag ornament leaning among the flowers against the back of it and polished the metal government-issue grave marker at his feet. Buried on a gentle slope in South Lawn Cemetery at the south edge of Seymour in Wayne County, Iowa, Jerry Warner Hickerson has not been forgotten. Jerry was born 23 February 1948 at St. Joseph Hospital in Centerville, a few miles northeast of Seymour, according to his obituary, published in the Corydon (Iowa) Times-Republican of 18 September 1969. His parents were Wendell Ray Hickerson, who lived in Des Moines when Jerry was killed in action in Vietnam on 6 September 1969; and Ann (McClain) Clubb, who lived at Mount Clemons, Mich., with Jerry's younger half-siblings, Bobby and Debbie Clubb. At the age of 7, Jerry came to Wayne County, Iowa, to make his home with his grandparents, Roy and Icle Hickerson. He was a student in the Corydon schools from second grade until his graduation with the class of 1966 and was active in athletics. Following graduation, he attended Centerville Community College (now Indian Hills Community College) for two years, then enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. According to his obituary, he reported for duty on 20 February 1969, received his basic training at San Diego, Calif., and arrived in Vietnam on 11 August 1969. Assigned to B Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, he had been in Vietnam less than a month when he died. Accounts of his death, published in both Corydon and Seymour newspapers, state that he died on Saturday, 6 September 1969, of head and body grenade fragmentation wounds sustained "while in contact with hostile forces at an ambush site." Casualty reports state that he was a possible victim of friendly fire. Jerry's body arrived home on Monday, 15 September, and funeral services were held on Thursday, 18 September, at the United Methodist Church in Corydon with the Rev. Paul Williamson and the Rev. Robert Boyd officiating. Pallbearers were Jack Davison, John Woodruff, Tom Patterson, Jay Milner, Bill Little and Russell Neely. Jerry's death was the second loss during the summer of 1969 for his grandmother, Icle, widowed in 1960. Her daughter, Evagene (Mrs. Robert) Harris had died on 3 July, leaving three young children. The Hickersons are an old family in the Seymour area, and so Evagene was buried at Seymour's South Lawn Cemetery, as her father, Roy, had been. The Hickersons chose a burial place for Jerry just east of the grave of his Aunt Evagene, and graveside rites were performed there by a U. S. Marine Corps honor guard. In addition to his parents, half-brother, half-sister and grandmother, Icle, Jerry was survived by his maternal grandmother, Mrs. Hada McClain, of Promise City, aunts, uncles and cousins. Seymour is a small Iowa town of 870 in southeastern Wayne County 6 miles from the Missouri state line whose churches and town-square buildings, many now vacant, recall grander days. It lost three young men with close ties to the community in combat in Vietnam: The first was Navy Engineman Terry Franklin Leazer (PBR-101), who died 24 May 1967 and is buried at Shriver Cemetery in the nearby countryside. Jerry was the second. The third, U. S. Army Sergeant Dennis Richard Levis (B/2/1st Infantry), died 20 July 1970 and is buried at the Allerton Cemetery in southwest Wayne County. From a Southern Iowa neighbor and Vietnam vet, Frank Myers fmyers@netconx.net

 

11 Jun 2005 In the last paragraph of Frank Myers' tribute, there has been one other soldier from Seymour inadvertently omitted. He was WO1 Albert Crouch. He graduated in the class of '66, went to college for a couple years, then enlisted in the Army as a helicopter pilot. He was killed on May 18, 1970 while dropping ARVN soldiers off at an L.Z. He had been in Vietnam less then a month. From a high school friend. E-mail address is not available. A Note from The Virtual Wall Warrant Officer Albert Crouch (B Troop, 7th Sqdn, 1st Cavalry) was flying copilot in UH-1H tail number 66-16680 during an opposed insertion of ARVN troops. Following off-load in the landing zone, 66-16680 lifted to a 10-foot hover. At that point, WO Crouch was struck in the head by a single gunshot. The pilot, Bernie S. Goldenzweig, flew the Huey to an aid station at Tan An; Crouch then was medevaced to the 24th Evacuation Hospital where he died. He had arrived in Vietnam on 30 April 1970, 19 days before his death. WO Crouch's military Home of Record (the place from which he entered active service) was Numa, Iowa.

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