Another email received today.....

USMC/COMBAT HELICOPTER ASSOCIATION MAILING LIST
-------------------------------------------------------
Marines, Corpsmen, & Others,

FROM THE COMMAND BUNKER

MIKE CLAUSEN MEMORIAL FUND



“The enduring emotion of war, when everything else has faded, is comradeship.  A comrade in war is a man you can trust with anything, because you have trusted him with your life.”   William Broyles Jr., “Why Men Love War,” in Esquire, 1984

Sgt Greg Davis USMC gregbobbette@bellsouth.net   has popped a green smoke grenade in the zone.  He has alerted our USMC/COMBAT HELICOPTER ASSOCIATION that one of our own is in need.  Fifteen months ago, our brother and Medal of Honor winner, Mike Clausen was laid to rest in a common grave with no visible marker to honor his memory. See site address www.mikeclausen.com 

J.D. Barber our President/Chairman of the Board has come up with a mission plan to complete this noble mission.  As an association, we don’t want to get involved with any fund raising.  But, as individual Marines [A FEW GOOD MEN], we can step up and lend a hand. If we can find 100 good men to donate $100 each, we will accomplish the goal of a proper grave marker honoring Mike, which will cost about $10,000.

J.D. and your editor have kicked in our $100.  I know we can find 98 other good men.  Please help us by making a donation today so we can get a proper memorial for our fellow Marine.  Together, we can make this mission a success.  Mike Clausen, Medal of Honor winner, represents our best.  We owe his memory our full support.  Visit site www.mikeclausen.com  .

Any contribution can be sent [snail-mail] to the following:

Mike Clausen Memorial Fund
P.O. Box 2161
Hammond, LA 70404


A Marine is not dead until he is forgotten. OOORAH!!!

Semper Fidelis.

Charles Maddocks,
Editor POPASMOKE



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Raymond M. Clausen Jr., a helicopter crewman in the Vietnam War who was awarded the Medal of Honor for rescuing fellow marines stranded in a minefield under enemy fire, died May 30, 2004 at a hospital in Dallas, Texas. At 56 years old, Mike Clausen, who lived in Ponchatoula, La., died of liver failure.


Mr. Clausen, a native of New Orleans, enlisted in the Marines in May 1966 after attending Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond.


On Jan. 31, 1970, Private First Class Clausen, assigned to Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 263 of the First Marine Air Wing, flew as crew chief on a mission to rescue marines who had inadvertently entered an area containing American-laid mines while pursuing enemy troops near Da Nang.


Private Clausen guided the pilot to a landing in a patch of tall grass cleared by one of several mine explosions. Twenty marines were nearby, 11 of them wounded, one already dead, and the other 8 in place, fearful of setting off additional mines if they moved.


Private Clausen disobeyed an order by the helicopter pilot to remain on the craft. "I told him, `No, sir, I'm going off the plane,' " he recalled in an interview with The Dallas Morning News last January.

He leaped from the helicopter, ignored the presence of hidden mines, picked up a wounded marine and carried him back to the craft. Several other marines followed his path to the helicopter, knowing it would be clear of the mines.


Private Clausen then directed the helicopter to another spot and resumed his rescue efforts. His citation said that despite the threat of further mine explosions, he made six trips out of the helicopter. On one of them, a mine detonated while he was carrying a wounded marine, killing another member of the stranded platoon and wounding three other men.


"Only when he was certain that all marines were safely aboard did he signal the pilot to lift the helicopter," his citation said.


President Richard M. Nixon presented Mr. Clausen with the Medal of Honor at the White House on June 15, 1971.


Soon after leaving military service in 1970, Mr. Clausen was in an auto accident that left him in a coma for several months and impaired his ability to work, The Times-Picayune of New Orleans reported. But he spoke often to veterans' organizations.


His wife, Lois, two brothers and a sister, survives Mr. Clausen.


Medal of Honor

CLAUSEN, RAYMOND M.


Rank and Organization: Private First Class, U.S. Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 263, Marine Aircraft Group 16, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing



Place and date: Republic of Vietnam, 31 January 1970
***********************************************************

-------------------------------------------------------
USMC/COMBAT HELICOPTER ASSOCIATION
http://www.popasmoke.com