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thedrifter
08-27-05, 11:53 AM
Borrowed from my hubby Mark aka The Fontman

MOPH kicks off effort to provide headstone for Mike Clausen
Aimee Yee
The Daily & Sunday Hammond Star
Aug. 27, 2005

COVINGTON, La. -- The Northshore chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart has made a $300 contribution to kickoff a fundraising effort to provide a memorial headstone honoring local Hammond resident and Medal of Honor recipient Mike Clausen.

Clausen, 56, was laid to rest more than a year ago, but there is still no marker at his gravesite. A two-foot brass plaque is all that rests on the Marine's grave.

Clausen participated in a rescue mission to extract members of a platoon who became trapped in a minefield. He skillfully guided the pilot to a safe landing area and jumped from the helicopter in the face of enemy fire and carried 11 wounded Marines to safety.

Only after he was certain that all were safely aboard did he signal for the pilot to lift off.

This is the first of many fundraising activities which will fund the memorial headstone. Anyone wishing to make a contribution or participate in the fundraising activities should call Lane Carson, 985-893-7480, Ron Ciresi at 985-845-3704, or Roy Kellum at 985-878-2163.

Contributions can also be mailed to the Mike Clausen Memorial Headstone Fund, to the Military Order of the Purple Heart, 321 N. Vermont, Covington, LA, 70433.

Ellie

http://p089.ezboard.com/bthefontmanscommunity

thedrifter
08-29-05, 09:19 PM
Bump...

Ellie

thedrifter
08-30-05, 12:51 PM
September 05, 2005
A crew chief’s mission
Marine wants headstone for Medal of Honor recipient

A Marine helicopter crew chief needs another $8,000 to properly mark the grave of the only Marine crew chief to receive the Medal of Honor.

Lance Cpl. John Vicnair grew up in Springfield, La., where Raymond “Mike” Clausen Jr. was a local hero, one of only a handful of living Medal of Honor recipients.

Clausen, who earned the nation’s highest award for combat bravery as a private for actions in Vietnam, died in Dallas in May 2004 and was buried near his home in Louisiana.

As a fellow Marine helicopter crew chief, Vicnair visited the grave to pay respects to Clausen and his legacy but was shocked to discover the leatherneck’s final resting place was marked only with a small plaque on a stake jammed into an otherwise bare plot.

“It brings a certain bit of disrespect for this hero’s plot to be bare as if no one remembers what he has done for others,” Vicnair wrote to Marine Corps Times. “This victor has yet to receive any type of marker stating his significance to our history or the valor this Marine has shown to his fellow devil dogs.”

Vicnair is raising money for a granite headstone etched with an artist’s rendering of Clausen pulling wounded Marines from a minefield under enemy fire. Through a Web site, www.mikeclausen.com, $2,000 has been raised to fund the $10,000 headstone.

— John Hoellwarth-

Ellie