[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 53 (Thursday, April 22, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E623-E624]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 TRIBUTE TO UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS STAFF SERGEANT DENNIS W. HAMMOND

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ROBERT E. ANDREWS

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 22, 2004

  Mr. ANDREWS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to United 
States Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Dennis W. Hammond who was captured 
by the Viet Cong on February 8, 1968 and died in a Prisoner of War camp 
in March, 1970. Staff Sergeant Hammond was one of several American POWs 
who were held at a camp in Quang Nam Province numbered ST18. He 
attempted escape with the other POWs in the spring of 1968 and was shot 
in the leg by Montagnards in a nearby village. After 36 long years, the 
Department of Defense has positively identified Staff Sergeant 
Hammond's remains and will lay him to rest with full military honors in 
Bremond, Texas on May 22, 2004.
  Staff Sergeant Hammond's story was brought to my attention by a 
patriotic and thoughtful newspaper reporter for the Gloucester County 
Times named Jim Six. Mr. Six has collected more than 400 dog tags from 
Vietnam and has spent over ten years trying to return these 
identification tags to their rightful owner or next of kin. As part of 
this statement, I am submitting three columns published by Jim Six to 
be included as part of the Record.

            [From the Gloucester County Times, Feb. 4, 2004]

                   Marine's Lengthy Journey Nears End

                              (By Jim Six)

       They found him! After 36 years, U.S. Marine Sgt. Dennis 
     Wayne Hammond is on his way home from Vietnam.
       You may remember a story I wrote back in 2001. I have more 
     than 400 dog tags that I gave a friend a hundred bucks to buy 
     from a street vender in Vietnam in 1993. The dog tags may or 
     may not have belonged to American servicemen. The jury is 
     still out on that.
       But one of the dog tags matched a real person.
       Denny Hammond was captured by the Viet Cong on Feb. 8, 
     1968, almost exactly 36 years ago. He was shot trying to 
     escape and never quite recovered. By March 1970, the once-
     strapping Marine weighed about 89 pounds. He died, some say, 
     while reciting the military oath of allegiance.
       Previous efforts by the U.S. government to find Denny's 
     body had been unsuccessful. In 1995, a former POW who had 
     helped bury Denny was able to lead searchers to the grave, 
     but it was empty.
       On Jan. 20, 2001, in Mexia, Texas, I handed Carlene Tackitt 
     a dog tag bearing the name of her brother, Denny Hammond. 
     Carlene's mother, Opal, had died in 1981, out of her mind 
     with grief for the son who had been captured in the jungles 
     of Vietnam. Before Carlene's dad died, he said it was 
     probably the not knowing that had killed Opal, the not 
     knowing where her boy was.
       My visit to Mexia was brief, just long enough to be the 
     recipient of Carlene's Texas hospitality and to hand her a 
     donated jewelry box containing that old dog tag.
       She clasped that little piece of metal tightly, not wanting 
     to let go of something that might have been her 
     brother's. ``Keep that next to me . . . I ain't never 
     giving that up,'' Carlene said back then. ``You don't know 
     how much we appreciate this. You have no idea.''
       The story about the dog tag and the man it might have 
     belonged to was probably one of the most important things I 
     have written. Denny Hammond, for some reason, became part of 
     my life. I have a POW bracelet with his name on it. His high 
     school graduation picture is somewhere on my desk at home. I 
     have an ancient arrowhead Denny's nephew gave me. I think 
     about Denny Hammond a lot.
       Last week, Carlene Tackitt was notified by the government 
     that her brother's remains had been located and were now in 
     Hawaii. I got the news Sunday in an e-mail from Carlene's 
     daughter-in-law. ``We wanted you to know this because you had 
     played a part in finding a piece of him and thought you might 
     want to know how his story ends finally . . . his family has 
     gotten the peace we need.'' When I got the news, I cried, 
     then wanted to smoke a cigar, drink some champagne, dance, 
     sing. I hope to talk to Carlene soon. Dennis Wayne Hammond's 
     long journey is almost at an end. He will be buried in Texas, 
     next to his mother and father, sometime in March. Boy, I'd 
     like to be there for that.
                                  ____


            [From the Gloucester County Times, Apr. 6, 2004]

                    Marine's Journey Home Nears End

                              (By Jim Six)

       The U.S. contacted Carlene Tackitt earlier this year to 
     tell her they finally had her brother's remains. Marine Corps 
     Staff Sgt. Dennis W. Hammond was captured by the Viet Cong on 
     Feb. 8, 1968 and died in a Prisoner of War camp in March, 
     1970.
       I've been anxiously awaiting news of how they finally found 
     Denny's remains. As it turns out, the U.S. may have had 
     Denny's remains for almost 20 years.
       A team went to Carlene's house in Mexia, Texas, Saturday--a 
     full-dress Marine, a DNA expert, someone from mortuary 
     services. Carlene chose to bury her brother in Bremond, 
     Texas, rather than Arlington, because Bremond is where his 
     parents, Opal and Ernest, are buried.
       Having given Carlene what we think was her brother's dog 
     tag in January, 2001, it was pretty exciting news when I got 
     word on Feb. 1 that they'd identified Denny's body. I thought 
     he might have been one of four GIs whose remains had been 
     found in north central Vietnam in mid-January. It seems I was 
     wrong about that.
       ``Daddy was probably right,'' Carlene said when she called 
     me Monday. Back in 1985, the government believed they had 
     found Denny's body. Somebody changed their mind, though, and 
     announced the remains they had found were really too small to 
     be those of a Caucasian and were probably those of a 
     Montagnard tribesman. Carlene's father didn't quite buy that 
     story and thought those remains probably really were his 
     son's.
       Finally, modern technology caught up with Dennis Hammond. 
     Carlene gave the government a DNA sample two years ago. 
     Recently, they told her Saturday, they started rechecking 
     more than 860 boxes of remains from Vietnam. They showed her 
     a picture of bones they believe are her brother's. They made 
     a DNA match through a tooth.
       Carlene signed a paper Saturday saying she accepts the 
     proof and believes these particular remains are those of her 
     brother, Dennis.
       When I wrote about this in February, several people 
     contacted me immediately to offer to pay my way to the 
     funeral. Others, when it appeared Carlene might be 
     responsible for some costs of a funeral in Texas, agreed to 
     make up any difference. I'll let you know later who those 
     folks are. She's asking the government to pay for an airplane 
     ticket so her other brother, Willie, can make it out to 
     Bremond from Detroit for the funeral. Carlene's the oldest. 
     Willie is next. Denny was the baby--he was only 23 when he 
     died in the jungles of Vietnam.
       When she sets the date, a Marine will be assigned to guard 
     Dennis Hammond's casket 24 hours a day as it travels from 
     Hawaii to Bremond, Texas. There will be a full-tilt military 
     funeral, complete with 21-gun salute.
       My pal, Gene Lillie, himself a Marine Corps Vietnam 
     veteran, has already mailed Carlene his POW bracelet that 
     bears Denny's name. I'm still wearing mine. I figure I'll 
     give it to Carlene in person--at the funeral.
       I plan to be there when Dennis Hammond's long journey home 
     finally ends.
                                  ____


           [From the Gloucester County Times, Apr. 20, 2004]

                    Marine's Charisma Touching Many

                              (By Jim Six)

       How does a Marine who died in Vietnam more than 34 years 
     ago wind up affecting the lives of so many people, many of 
     whom never knew him in life? It's a mystery, so far.
       On Saturday, May 22, I'll be attending the funeral of 
     Dennis W. Hammond, a Texas boy by way of Detroit who joined 
     the Marines, served two tours in Vietnam, was captured by the 
     Vietcong in 1968 and died in a POW camp in 1970.
       I got drawn into his life, and death, when I was able to 
     present one of his dog tags to his sister, Carlene Tackitt, 
     in Mexia, Texas in 2001. Dennis' parents, Ernest and Opal, 
     are buried nearby in Bremond, Texas. After all these years, 
     Dennis is coming home. His remains--possibly found in the mid 
     to late 1980s but only recently identified thanks to DNA 
     testing--will be returned to Texas.
       Mike ``Tiny'' Readinger served with Dennis in 1968 in a 
     Combined Action Program unit that lived and worked among the 
     Vietnamese. Dennis was ending his second tour in the country, 
     had just a couple weeks left until he'd go home.
       Dennis went out with a hastily assembled rescue team to 
     help an ambushed unit. They were overrun by something like 
     300 Vietcong fighters. Most were killed, only one or two 
     escaped and a couple, including Dennis, were captured.
       Dennis tried to escape, got shot, was beaten and nearly 
     starved by his captors. In March 1970, he died, weighing 
     something like 89 pounds, They say he was reciting the 
     military oath of allegiance, more probably the military Code 
     of Conduct, when he died.
       Mike found out about Dennis' recovery only a few days ago. 
     His voice cracks when he tells about starting to read the e-
     mail. He had to get up and go out into his backyard for a 
     while before getting his wife to read the rest of the 
     message. He read it several times after that.
       Andy Anderson is a school teacher in Fort Worth who 
     ``adopted'' Dennis Hammond after getting a POW bracelet 
     bearing his name. Anderson is so involved with Dennis, he has 
     had his students write about the POW every year on Feb. 8. 
     Anderson usually felt quite depressed on Feb. 8 each year. 
     This year, he didn't and, in retrospect, wonders whether he 
     subconsciously knew Dennis Hammond had been found and was on 
     his way home.
       Marty Eddy spent 17 years heading the Michigan POW/MIA 
     Committee and, because Dennis had enlisted in Detroit, has 
     followed his amazing story. She never met Dennis,

[[Page E624]]

     but has a friend who went through boot camp with Hammond.
       Now comes the funeral. We'll all meet--his sister from 
     Texas, his brother from Detroit, the comrade-in-arms from 
     Indiana, the teacher from Fort Worth, the woman and boot camp 
     pal from Michigan, the journalist from Gloucester County.
       Maybe then I'll find a clue to this incredible mystery, to 
     the charisma of this remarkable hero who died never knowing 
     how much he'd affect lives of family, friends and complete 
     strangers.

                          ____________________