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By BILL ADAIR, Times Staff WriterVeterans of Vietnam who didn't die from combat or wounds don't have their names etched on a wall. But they, too, gave their lives.
WASHINGTON - Don Chamberlain was a casualty of the Vietnam War who died in a Tampa hospital more than 20 years after he came home.
Like hundreds of other victims who did not die in Vietnam, the Bradenton pilot is not listed on the polished black granite of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. But this week, his name was read aloud with nearly 200 other soldiers who are considered victims of the war.
For his widow, Carol Chamberlain, it was an emotional moment.
"I haven't felt his touch, I haven't heard his voice in 13 years," she said. "Everything came flooding back."
To be listed on the wall, people in the armed services must have died in Vietnam, died from wounds received in the combat zone or died while they provided support to a combat mission in the war.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, a nonprofit group that conceived and built the wall, established the annual In Memory program to honor people who cannot be listed but are still considered victims because they died from war-related causes such as Agent Orange and suicide. Most died after they returned home from the war, although a few died on their way to Vietnam.
Jan Scruggs, the founder and president of the fund, said the In Memory program is intended to help surviving family members "heal and get on with their lives and feel some sense of closure." Nearly 1,400 people have been honored at the annual ceremonies at the wall.
Next month, Scruggs' group will install a plaque near the wall to pay tribute to the additional victims who have been identified so far. Their names won't be listed on the plaque, but they can be found on the group's Web site (www.vvmf.org)
Chamberlain, an Army lieutenant colonel, is one of the oldest to be honored. He was 47 when he was sent to Vietnam as a helicopter pilot.
He grew up on a farm in Michigan and dreamed about flying after watching cropdusters. He joined the Army during World War II and flew L-4s and L-5s, small planes used for reconnaissance.
He left the Army briefly in 1946 to get a master's degree in economics. But he got concerned about the flood of people leaving the military and decided to rejoin and make the Army his career.
In the Korean War, he flew planes and helicopters on dangerous border patrols, flying "low and slow" to look for the enemy. When he was off-duty, he volunteered to fly wounded soldiers to MASH units.
He and Carol adapted to the nomadic Army life - 23 homes in 23 years, a blur of bases from Alabama to Germany and Japan. They had four children who got to see the world.
As the United States became more involved in Vietnam in 1968, Chamberlain was about to retire with more than 20 years of military service. But the Army wouldn't let him retire because it needed helicopter pilots.
While he served in Vietnam in the late 1960s, his son Phil was there in the Army at the same time, in a noncombat role.
As a commander of an air base, Chamberlain had the difficult duty of writing letters to family members of soldiers who were killed. He did not tell Carol much about his Vietnam experience, except to say it was "just a dirty little war."
Like thousands of soldiers, Chamberlain was not concerned when he was sprayed with Agent Orange, a chemical used to defoliate the forest and expose the enemy. Occasionally, when the powder was sprayed on the trees, some wound up on his clothing. He just brushed it off.
James Henderson, an Air Force chief master sergeant from Tampa, had the same reaction. While he was stationed at an air base in Vietnam, he often took advantage of the bare trees to get a suntan.
"He was a Florida boy," said his daughter Lee Ann Howlett, now a medical librarian in Tampa. "He loved the sun."
Both Chamberlain and Henderson discovered years later they had cancer that doctors determined was caused by Agent Orange. Chamberlain had a soft-tissue cancer that doctors removed in surgeries, but it kept coming back. He died in 1991 at age 70.
Carol Chamberlain said she understands why her husband's name does not appear on the wall, but she is grateful for the recognition he received this week.
Hearing his name "was sort of a catharsis - to weep openly and say "I sure miss him, I loved him and I'm proud that he served,"' she said.
Henderson, who became the manager of a Tampa car dealership after he retired from the Air Force, developed prostate cancer and died in 2002 at age 72. The Veteran's Administration determined the cancer was most likely caused by his exposure to Agent Orange.
Howlett, Henderson's daughter, said she had mixed feelings about whether her father should be listed on the wall. She said her sisters believe people such as their father should be listed, even if they didn't die in Vietnam, but Howlett isn't sure her father would want to be listed.
Either way, she is grateful that he was recognized at the ceremony this week.
She is amazed the Vietnam conflict continues to claim new victims.
"We really thought the war was behind us."
- Staff writer Bill Adair can be reached at 202 463-0575 or adair@sptimes.com