Gerald Q. Hancock
Date of Birth Dec 13, 1941
Louisville, Ky
Dunn, Hancock, McKinney & Rightmyer all perished on the same day in an unfortunate tragic helicopter crash.
Sgt E5 Army Selective Service
4th Infantry Division
Tour Began on June 25, 1968
Casualty was on Feb 16, 1969
In Kontum, South Vietnam
HOSTILE, HELICOPTER NONCREW
AIR LOSS, CRASH ON LAND
Body was recovered
Panel 32W Line 43
Posted on 12/8/13 – by Curt Carter ccarter02@earthlink.net
Dear SGT Gerald Quinn Hancock, sir
As an American, I would like to thank you for your service and for your sacrifice made on behalf of our wonderful country. The youth of today could gain much by learning of heroes such as yourself, men and women whose courage and heart can never be questioned.
May God allow you to read this, and may He allow me to someday shake your hand when I get to Heaven to personally thank you. May he also allow my father to find you and shake your hand now to say thank you; for America, and for those who love you.
With respect, and the best salute a civilian can muster for you, Sir
Curt Carter
My father is a hero
Posted on 2/16/10 – by Kay Hancock khancock@fox41.com
Thinking of you today…the anniversary of the day we lost you. I think of you everyday and know that you are always with me and my two brothers. We love and miss you daddy.
dad
Posted on 12/9/09 – by his son jqhancock@yahoo.com
we will never forget you although we never knew you
never forget
Posted on 2/16/08 – by Robbie Owens kicker50@wowway.com
You sacrificed the same day as my fiance Robert David Rogers. A poem for you:
How often you will have me near you when wood smoke drifts across the wind, or the sky darkens in a summer storm – think of me in the days to come, as I am thinking of you this minute, not gone or alone or dead, but part of the earth beneath you, part of the air around you, part of the heart that must not be lonely.
Forever Sad and Grateful
Posted on 2/6/07 – by Donald Melanson dmelanson3454@cox.net
Never Forgotten
Posted on 1/6/06 – by Bill Nelson grite@yahoo.com
FOREVER REMEMBERED
“If you are able, save for them a place inside of you….and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the places they can no longer go…..Be not ashamed to say you loved them….
Take what they have left and what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own….And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind….”
Quote from a letter home by Maj. Michael Davis O’Donnell
KIA 24 March 1970. Distinguished Flying Cross: Shot down and Killed while attempting to rescue 8 fellow soldiers surrounded by attacking enemy forces.
We Nam Brothers pause to give a backward glance, and post this remembrance to you, one of the gentle heroes lost to the War in Vietnam:
Slip off that pack. Set it down by the crooked trail. Drop your steel pot alongside. Shed those magazine-ladened bandoliers away from your sweat-soaked shirt. Lay that silent weapon down and step out of the heat. Feel the soothing cool breeze right down to your soul … and rest forever in the shade of our love, brother.
From your Nam-Band-Of-Brothers
Feb.16,1969 was a sad day indeed. You took my team out on the mission that I was to lead. When I got to base camp and they told me the team had all been killed, I was stunned. I couldn’t believe that you took my place. There isn’t a day that has passed in 38 years that I haven’t thought about you and been sad and grateful. Rest in peace my friend! Here is a picture of the stone I purchased for you at the Ranger Memorial, Ft. Benning GA.
Hero
Posted on 2/26/04 – by Kristin Butikofer lil_qt_4u2@hotmail.com
Hello, my name is Kristin Butikofer and I attend Gridley High School in Gridley, Illinois. For my World History class, I was recently assigned to make remembrances for the Gridley High School Posting Project for the soldiers that lost their lives in the Vietnam War. You left many things behind, but the most important thing you left behind was your life. I know I will never have to go through all the pain and suffering you went through, but if you hadn’t done what you did for our country, things would be much different. I respect you greatly. You will never be forgotten and you will always be remembered as a hero. Thank you so much and God bless.