Dear Sir
Thank you for the web site honoring my uncle and the accident that killed him. I will type in some things about my uncle.

Charles Wayne Clinard
July 3, 1951-October 1, 1972

I don't remember much about my uncle because I was only 6 years old, so i never had the pleasure of knowing my uncle, i know he was very loved by his family and friends. I will never forgot that phone call that day when they had called and told my mother, it was so sad, i didn't know what exactly was going on but i knew it was bad she was crying, i can still see and hear that to this day and i am 34 years old. I have a copy of the last letter that Uncle Charles had wrote to my grandparents, it was dated September 27, 1972 and in the letter he said that he couldn't wait to get home, because my grandmother was sick, and he told my grandfather to use all his (my uncle) savings if he had too, because when he gets out that he would dig ditches to make a living, but he could not dig ditches and make another mother and daddy like them because they were the best. Then he goes into detail that it would be the 20 of December before they would get back to the states, then he says that he has served his time and that he would be out of the Navy in 7 months and he would be home to take care of them. Then he closes and that the last time they heard from him. My grandmother kept notebooks on her family and she would write down everything in those books, she had in those books when uncle Charles had gone down to apply and when he left everything was to the tee. I don't know if everybody gets there are not, a letter was sent to my grandparents about my uncle had been awarded the Purple Heart, in addition he earned the National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with one bronze star and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal As a child Charles was the baby of 12 children. He was born in Belton, Tx. He grew up in the Mayfield, TX area and he went to school at Cameron Public School. This is the information out of his file:

Charles Wayne Clinard
Gunner's Mate Third Class, U.S. Navy, Vietnam War
Service No: 459-78-9403
Born: July 3, 1951 Belton, TX
Died: Oct 1, 1972 aboard the USS Newport News (CA-148)
Home of Record: Maysfield, TX
Age at time of loss: 21
Race: Caucasian
Marital Status: Single
Attended: Cameron High School, Cameron, TX
Religion: Protestant- No Preference
Entered Service: May 2, 1969 to Oct 1, 1972
Ship/Unit: USS Newport News (CA-148)
Parents: Chester Clinard and Velva Birdie Crow (which are deceased now)
Siblings: Lee Roy (deceased now), Ronnie, Gilbert, Hulen, Raymond, Lonnie, Darlene, Mittie Lou, Barbara, Hester.
Grandparents were Owen Clinard and Mittie Mae Pratt and Thomas Roger Crow and Mary Lue Adams.
Death cert is located in Milam Co, Tx
He was buried in Marlow Cemetery, outside of Cameron, TX.
He is on the Vietnam Wall, Washington, DC Panel 01w-row 077

My grandparents were proud of him as for the family was too, i am very proud also because i now do genealogy and i have seen the wall in DC and i have seen the memorial in Va. He maybe gone, but not forgotten.

Now, he and my grandparents are seeing each other again in Heaven. Bless all the families that have lost someone, and Bless all the families of people that our out there fighting for us!!!

I will send a picture, as soon as i get one from my mother, i now live in north carolina and she lives in Texas. Let me know, what else i can do.

thanks again Jeannie