A hero's poignant return

Hutchinson News - Hutchinson, KS, USA

A hero's poignant return
Burial of area vet's remains to end long chapter for brother.

By Kathy Hanks - The Hutchinson News - khanks@hutchnews.com

When Gib McKain and his family gather at Arlington National Cemetery on Aug. 11, it will be the second time he'll have attended his brother Bobby's funeral.

In 1968, at Garden City's United Methodist Church, there was only a memorial service for Chief Warrant Officer Bobby L. McKain, who was killed in action when his helicopter was shot down along the Vietnam-Laos border.

Back then, the U.S. government told the family no body had been recovered.

Now, 40 years later, there will be a piece of Bobby's jawbone with two teeth, and an upper arm bone, matched by Gib's DNA, placed in a flag-draped casket. Taps will be played, then 21 guns will fire, and Gib is certain he'll cry again.

Memories

The McKain brothers were not only close in age - just 15 months apart - but also close in spirit. Bobby was the big brother, Gib said, and the two had an ornery streak.

"We were smart," Gib said. "We just did stupid things."

Their parents, Bobby D. and Lillian McKain, moved the family to Garden City from southeast Kansas in 1955. Bob owned a Mobil gas station on East Fulton.

The brothers shared a love of flying while in high school and took flight lessons at the Garden City Municipal Airport.

"He was a really good pilot and he got his commercial license," Gib said, recalling the stop-and-go flights they took together cross-country to get their licenses. After graduating from Pierceville High School, Bobby enlisted in the U.S. Army with plans to become a helicopter pilot.

"The draft was on, and I didn't want to be a foot solider," Gib said, so he, too, enlisted.

"Bobby told me he liked flying over there. He said he liked the danger and it would keep me from going over there because they can't send two brothers at the same time into a war zone," he said.

By the time Bobby was shot down, he was 22 years old and on his second tour of duty in Vietnam. Gib was stationed at Fort Monmouth, N.J., when he learned his brother was missing in action.

On July 12 of that summer, the Army informed the family there was no reason to believe Bobby was alive.

"They went ahead and changed his status from missing in action to killed in action with no body recovered," Gib said.

"He was the first MIA I was aware of," said Garden City resident Tim Regan, a close friend of Gib. "The day the news got back that Bobby was for sure MIA, it was a very gray day. That's when the reality of Vietnam hit Garden City for a lot of us."

According to the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office, "McKain and Warrant Officer Arthur F. Chaney, of Vienna, Va., were flying an AH-IG Cobra gunship on May 3, 1968, on an armed escort mission to support a reconnaissance team operating west of Khe Sanh, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam.

"Their helicopter was hit by enemy antiaircraft fire, exploded in mid-air and crashed near the Laos-Vietnam border. The U.S. crew flying over the area immediately after the crash reported no survivors, and heavy enemy activity prevented attempts to recover the men's bodies."

Closure

A memorial service was held for Bobby that August in Garden City.

"It was a traumatic time for me. It altered our family's life," Gib McKain said. "My mom mentally never was the same again. I became two kids in one."

Gib put in for a hardship transfer to Kansas and then, because of the family stress, was eligible for the sole survivor's discharge. In November 1968, Gib moved back to Garden City to be with his parents.

"We never had a body," said Gib, 61, a retired federal worker speaking from his home in a suburb of Denver. "There was that minute chance ..."

And a glimmer of hope came in 1985, when an American citizen with ties to Southeast Asian refugees turned over to U.S. officials human remains that were linked to McKain and Chaney. In 2001, Gib was mailed a swab kit for DNA samples. He did as instructed and returned it to the military in a sterile package. He heard nothing, and forgot about it.

He was shocked when he received a phone call five weeks ago saying the DNA extracted from Bobby's tooth pulp matched the sample Gib had provided long ago.

In a few weeks, there will be a small gathering of McKains at Arlington National Cemetery. There are not many of them left. Bobby D. McKain died in 1997, Lillian in 2005. Gib and his wife, Barbara, and one of their two children will be on hand for the full military honors.

The government is paying all funeral expenses, including flights and limousine service to the cemetery.

"My brother was a hero who is finally getting his due," Gib said. "I am very proud of what my country is doing."