thedrifter
05-22-09, 08:42 AM
Local Marine who died in Vietnam buried last week
The woman who organized funeral services for Lance Cpl. Kurt La Plant 40 years ago said last week's ceremony in Arlington was emotional.
La Plant grew up in Broughton and moved to Lenexa after the town was abandoned because of the Milford Lake reservoir. The marine had requested that he be buried in Broughton Cemetery if anything should happen to him.
He was killed in action in Vietnam on June 6, 1968 when small arms fire shot down the helicopter he was aboard. He had been in Vietnam for eight months. However, it was not until recently when his remains were brought back to the United States.
Burying La Plant at Broughton Cemetery isn't possible because his remains could not be separated from remains of the other Marines he died with. Military personnel began recovering the remains in 2000, took seven years to excavate them and recovered them like they would in an archaeological dig. A military forensics lab in Hawaii confirmed the identity of the remains. Most of what was recovered was DNA, though there were some bone fragments, dental samples and personal effects.
Cathy Haney, Clay Center, organized La Plant's funeral services in 1968 and attended last week's burial in Arlington where La Plant's remains, including his dog tags, were buried along with remains of five other marines in the same grave.
Haney said the family had had closure 40 years ago because they had received a letter from La Plant's commander indicating how he had died.
"It was not a weeping ceremony," she said "It was a situation in this case they knew he could not have survived, but it was a nice ceremony. It was emotional, but not highly emotional."
Like the service 40 years ago, the Arlington burial came with full military honors, including a color guard, an honor guard and a bugler and Marines presented La Plant's family with a flag. Haney said it was nice that the burial was done outside because that wasn't possible at the service 40 years ago at Countryside United Methodist Church. The bugler had to play taps inside from the church balcony, which isn't traditionally done. The wind at Arlington was just strong enough to keep the flags flying, she said.
"It was very interesting," she said. "The idea that you were in Arlington gives it a different feeling all together."
At the ceremony Haney met the Navy corpsman who recovered the remains in Vietnam and the Marine escort who accompanied the remains as they were shipped back for burial.
Haney organized the La Plant services because they attended the same church. She recalls that he was eight years younger than she, and while they weren't close friends, she said he wrote to her while he was in Vietnam.
"Kurt wanted mail, so he would write to anyone who would write back," Haney said.
Haney has kept La Plant's letters, but said she had never read them. She has donated them to Clay County Museum, but said she isn't ready for anyone else to read them.
"He was just a kid writing to a friend," she said. "He didn't tell me what was going on."
The youth group at Countryside Methodist Church paid for Haney's trip and expenses to attend the burial. Haney has worked with the kids at the church for 40 years "and they decided it was payback time," she said.
Ellie
http://images.zwire.com/local/Z/ZWIRE1160/zwire/images/2009/05/story/0521laplantINET_sokasi_story.gif
The woman who organized funeral services for Lance Cpl. Kurt La Plant 40 years ago said last week's ceremony in Arlington was emotional.
La Plant grew up in Broughton and moved to Lenexa after the town was abandoned because of the Milford Lake reservoir. The marine had requested that he be buried in Broughton Cemetery if anything should happen to him.
He was killed in action in Vietnam on June 6, 1968 when small arms fire shot down the helicopter he was aboard. He had been in Vietnam for eight months. However, it was not until recently when his remains were brought back to the United States.
Burying La Plant at Broughton Cemetery isn't possible because his remains could not be separated from remains of the other Marines he died with. Military personnel began recovering the remains in 2000, took seven years to excavate them and recovered them like they would in an archaeological dig. A military forensics lab in Hawaii confirmed the identity of the remains. Most of what was recovered was DNA, though there were some bone fragments, dental samples and personal effects.
Cathy Haney, Clay Center, organized La Plant's funeral services in 1968 and attended last week's burial in Arlington where La Plant's remains, including his dog tags, were buried along with remains of five other marines in the same grave.
Haney said the family had had closure 40 years ago because they had received a letter from La Plant's commander indicating how he had died.
"It was not a weeping ceremony," she said "It was a situation in this case they knew he could not have survived, but it was a nice ceremony. It was emotional, but not highly emotional."
Like the service 40 years ago, the Arlington burial came with full military honors, including a color guard, an honor guard and a bugler and Marines presented La Plant's family with a flag. Haney said it was nice that the burial was done outside because that wasn't possible at the service 40 years ago at Countryside United Methodist Church. The bugler had to play taps inside from the church balcony, which isn't traditionally done. The wind at Arlington was just strong enough to keep the flags flying, she said.
"It was very interesting," she said. "The idea that you were in Arlington gives it a different feeling all together."
At the ceremony Haney met the Navy corpsman who recovered the remains in Vietnam and the Marine escort who accompanied the remains as they were shipped back for burial.
Haney organized the La Plant services because they attended the same church. She recalls that he was eight years younger than she, and while they weren't close friends, she said he wrote to her while he was in Vietnam.
"Kurt wanted mail, so he would write to anyone who would write back," Haney said.
Haney has kept La Plant's letters, but said she had never read them. She has donated them to Clay County Museum, but said she isn't ready for anyone else to read them.
"He was just a kid writing to a friend," she said. "He didn't tell me what was going on."
The youth group at Countryside Methodist Church paid for Haney's trip and expenses to attend the burial. Haney has worked with the kids at the church for 40 years "and they decided it was payback time," she said.
Ellie
http://images.zwire.com/local/Z/ZWIRE1160/zwire/images/2009/05/story/0521laplantINET_sokasi_story.gif