Fort Wayne man killed in Vietnam getting military honor

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) -- An Indiana-born soldier killed during the Vietnam War will be honored this month with a posthumous Purple Heart thanks to the efforts of his sister.

Fort Wayne native Capt. Herbert Crosby was 22 when his helicopter went down in southern Vietnam in January 1970. His father, who died in 1991, never knew exactly what happened to his son or his body and at one point considered traveling to Vietnam to try and find his son's remains.

Crosby's remains were finally identified in 2006, 17 years after they were found. The following year, he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

But Crosby's sister, Marylou Wade, still had some unfinished business to complete for her brother, who grew up in Fort Wayne before the family moved to Georgia when he was 11 to start a boat company.

Crosby had received many medals during his service in Vietnam, including the Air Medal with 17 oak-leaf clusters, but he was never awarded the Purple Heart.

"I wondered why he didn't get one," Wade told the Journal Gazette.

The military told her the reason was because her brother's helicopter crashed while returning from combat, not while it was in combat. But in 2011, she learned that her brother's co-pilot, who also died in the crash, had been awarded the Purple Heart. She pushed ahead with her efforts to get the same honor for her brother.

This week, the military notified Wade that, 43 years after her brother's death in Vietnam, he will be awarded the Purple Heart on March 28. The medal will be presented to Crosby's mother, who is 94 and lives in a Florida nursing home.

"It took now 43 years to get the Purple Heart in recognition for his ultimate sacrifice," Wade said in an email. "We are thrilled. That word seems almost inappropriate, but it's such an honor for my brother. I'm just happy Mom is here to experience it."
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Information from: The Star Press, http://www.thestarpress.com