Most of our troops came home from Vietnam. Not all without scars. 58,193 came home as fatal casualties. 1,268 remain missing or unaccounted for. We dedicate this exhibition “Innocent Souls: Vietnam 1968” to one who has not yet returned, Jerry A. Zimmer.
Marine Captain Jerry Zimmer, Glenn’s high school classmate and football teammate, was from Maine, New York. He was an NROTC graduate of Brown University and F4 Phantom jet pilot. He was shot down while on a mission, August 29, 1969, in the mountainous Central Highlands of South Vietnam. Jerry’s wife Elaine traveled to Vietnam in 2004 in an unsuccessful search for his crash site.
Five years later with the help of a former Viet Cong soldier, Do Xaun Du, she was led to Jerry’s crash site in the mountains above his village and the case was reopened. Although no remains have been found to date, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) has not given up hope, nor have Jerry’s family and friends.
A longtime writer, Elaine chronicled her family’s labor-of-love mission in a blog, www.bringingjerryhome.com. She welcomed all visitors to Jerry’s site for an insider’s look at her journey to repatriate his remains. Elaine Zimmer passed away on February 19, 2020 at the Heritage Health Care Center in Peru, Illinois. She was 82 years old.