Herschel Lee Epps, Jr
Private First Class
HHC, 1ST BN, 5TH INF RGT, 25 INF DIV
Army of the United States
22 February 1942 - 17 January 1967
Alton, Illinois
Panel 14E Line 043
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Photo courtesy of his daughter, Marla Epps
REMEMBERED
by his comrades in the
5th Infantry |
A Note from The Virtual Wall
On 17 Jan 1967 a UH-1H Huey (tail number 64-13726, 118th AHC) was returning from a resupply trip to the 1/5 Infantry battalion forward base to the main camp at Cu Chi when it crashed. The aircraft lost its main rotor, which then impacted and chopped up the tail boom; the UH-1 crashed and burned. While the possibility that the aircraft had been hit by enemy fire could not be absolutely ruled out, the accident board concluded that the probable cause was mechanical failure. Four crewmen and four passengers were killed in the crash:
- Aircrew:
- Cpt Richard B. Brookman, Columbia, SC, pilot, A Co, 9th Avn Bn
- CPT Edgar J. Saffle, Los Angeles, CA, pilot, 118th AHC
- SP4 James A. Harden, Aberdeen, crew chief, WA, 118th AHC
- SP4 Anthony P. Magistro, New York, NY, gunner, 118th AHC
- Passengers:
- SP4 Herbert H. Crowder, Pulaski, VA, HHC 1/5
- PFC Herschel L. Epps, Alton, IL, HHC 1/5
- PFC Larry G. Gray, Milan, MI, HHC 1/5
- PFC Frank J. Krebs, Mount Clemens, MI, A/1/5
The point-of-contact for this memorial is a fellow Bobcat, Randy Kethcart randy@bobcat.ws
13 Dec 2004
[The information and graphics for this "In Memory" profile were copied from VirtualWall.org. mhl]
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Randy Hausmann
Herschel died in Vietnam a few years after we graduated.I made a rubbing from the Wall in Wash.D.C. and gave it to his dad.Herschel and I played a lot of good-time football for Alton High.Larry Donahue
On the Football field he was a tiger,he was small, but hit big. When he ran the High hurdles it looked as though he was running through them instead of over them, he was smooth. He was a gifted athlete, and a even better person. All of us who knew him will never forget him.
Larry Donahue
Cindy Kodros (Garvey)
I had to agree with Larry Donahue. Hershel was a great football player. I wanted to add a little news worthy item that I thought you all might want to know about Hershel. Back in the late 50 & early 60's Alton was having lots of bomb threats. My husband, myself, and some close friends were all at Tony's downtown Alton one night for a pizza. Hershel was sitting at a table either with his girlfriend or maybe he was married (I don't know) but someone threw a smoke bomb into Tony's and it was very frightening. Everyone sat and did nothing but Hershel (that great Alton High School Football player) got up out of his seat, ran, got the smoking bomb, and threw it out the door onto the street. I remember thinking "What a guy" For all of us that just sat there and did nothing, I was ashamed. Hershel was a wonderful person and a gentleman. It is so sad his life was shortened. He will long be in all of our memories.
Gary Shackelford
My wife Penny and I spent a week in Washington, DC, last month with our daughter and her family during our granddaughters’ spring break. During the trip we visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall, where we viewed the inscribed name of Herschel Epps, who was killed in Vietnam in 1967. I didn’t know Herschel well, but I remember him as a quiet individual who excelled at athletics, especially football and track and field. I’m including a photo I made of Herschel’s name, which is inscribed on Panel 14E, Line 43 of The Wall. Herschel is the only member of our class whom I know to have died in the Vietnam War.
Roger Cooke
Thanks for that note, Gary. I remember watching Herschel carry a football into the end zone a number of times. He was, as everyone has said, a great athlete. And a great guy, though I didn't know him well.
Very possibly, he is the only one of our class who died in Viet Nam. From my older brother's class, there was another very light, slender guy who played football extremely well. Steve Childers, whose sister Margaret is one of ours. I knew he had died there on a river boat, due to hostile fire, in 1967. Last time I was in Washington DC, I made a point of finding his name on the Wall. Wish I had taken a picture of it.