Clyde “Butch” Kobbeman Dog Tag Return
Dog Tags returned to veterans family after 43 years
By Jyll Phillips - Lincoln Sentinal Republican (excerpt of article)
Clyde "Butch" Kobbeman, Jr, the eldest child of Esther and Clyde Kobbeman, graduated from Lincoln High School in 1965.
In March of 1966 he enlisted in the US Army. In September of 1966 he was in Vietnam, where he served two tours of duty, first as a member of the 101st Airborne Tiger Force from September 1966 to September 1967, then with the 82nd Airborne during the TET invasion in January of 1968. Butch was discharged in 1969 as an SP4. He passed away in 1990 and is buried in the Lincoln City Cemetery.
In May of 2012, his sister Jody Dukelow of Wichita, received Butch's dog tag through a program initiated by POW/MIA Awareness. (now known as Patriot Connections Dog Tag Project)
The mission of this group is to return dog tags that were found in Vietnam, to the veteran or the veterans family. Butch's dog tag was brought back from Vietnam by a USMC Vietnam veteran and retired Police Chief from NJ. The dog tags are returned in person when possible, said Sue Quinn-Morris, the organizations Director of Research.
Dukelow along with Kobbemans daughter, Meredith Hestand, were invited to attend Rolling Thunder in Washington, DC, to receive the dog tag. Unable to make the trip, however, Dukelow requested the tags be returned by mail.
Even though her brother had been gone for more than 20 years, Dukelow felt very emotional when she received the dog tags.
"It brought back a lot of memories of that part of my brothers life," she said. "It was very sad because Butch was not here to receive the tag himself, but it was such an honor to do so on his behalf. Our family appreciates the sacrifices made by all our men and women who served in Vietnam."
(Click on photos below to enlarge/download)
Comments
Clyde “Butch” Kobbeman Dog Tag Return — No Comments
HTML tags allowed in your comment: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>