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Coolidge ManIs County'seooviet nero was deaa plainly saddened many Russians. Oneradio- announcer repeated th*olficial report several timej with deep emotion. The an nouncements were intersperse* with slow funeral music fron Tchaikovskv and Scriabin.23rd Viet LossNo details were given abou the crash.COOLIDGE — A 20 - year -old Coolidge man has become the 23rd Thomas County serviceman to be killed in the war in Viet Nam.He is Pfc. John David Harper Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Harper and husband of Mrs Linda Faye Harper, all of Coolidge.Pfc. Harper was wounded Monday morning and reportedly died about 12:30 p. m. thatsame day.A telegram to the family indicated he was hit by shrapnel from ammunition set off while he was fighting a fire.A native of Thomas County,Pfc. Harper was graduated from Central High School in1 1967 and entered the U. S. Army on Aug. 28, 1967.He took his basic training at Ft, Benning and Ft. McClellan before he was sent to Viet Namon Feb. 4, 1968.He was in the infantry.Pfc. Harper was married to the former Linda Faye Cannon of Moultrie on July 28, 1967Suriving besides his wife and parents are two sisters, Mrs. I^eo Vinson, Meigs and Miss Martha Harper, Coolidge; six brothers, James Gary, Tommy Jack, Jesse J., Danny Dale, William Don and Jimmy Lyn Harper, all of Coolidge.Funeral plans will be announced by Dekle F u neral Chapel.Pfc. Harper's death brings to 23. the total o? Thomas County men killed in Viet Nam.Ninety - eight other men have returned from Viet Nam combat for a total of 121 local men who served their country in that conflict since 1965 when the U. S. became involved.Gagarin’s death was the sec ond tragedy known to have hj the Soviet space program withia year. Last April 24 Col. Vladi mir M. Komarov was kille-when his Soyuz spacecral crashed to earth.Six tJ.s. astronauts have dieiin the line of duty.Gagarin opened the book oi manned space flight on April 12 1961, when he shot skyward ii his Vostok space capsule and or bited the earth once. The tri] lasted 108 minutes and Gagarh landed apart from the capsullt; by parachuting to earth nea the village of Smelovki.On May 5 the same year tl) United States entered the spac race with a suborbital flight b; Alan B. Shepard Jr.“Gagarin’s spectacular _spac flight propelled him from ot scurity to the foremost rank c Russian celebrities.JOHN D. HARPER
Newspaper Details
Thomasville Times Enterprise
Thomasville, Georgia, US
Thu, Mar 28, 1968
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
GA, USA 31 Jul 2020
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