From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 5/26/2006

Vietnam vet remembered
Marine pilot gave life in '68

By RON MARTZ
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 05/26/06

Maj. William Seward of Atlanta did not have to fly the mission on which he died in 1968.

But Seward, a Marine Corps helicopter pilot and one of the senior officers in his squadron in Vietnam, volunteered for the risky flight because he led from the front, said his co-pilot on that fateful day.

"He carried the load and showed what true leadership should be," retired Marine Col. Jerry Gartman of Morehead City, N.C., said Thursday during ceremonies to remember the fallen aviator.

Seward was honored by the Atlanta Vietnam Veterans Business Association with a permanent plaque and a flagpole at Perimeter Place near Perimeter Mall. It is the 20th consecutive year the nonprofit organization, founded to raise the image of Vietnam veterans, has dedicated a plaque just before Memorial Day weekend to an Atlanta-area veteran who did not come back from Southeast Asia.

Hank Seward of Athens, one of Seward's two sons, said the public location of the plaque — it's in the middle of a roundabout on land donated by the Sembler Co., developers of Perimeter Place — will help those who see it remember all veterans and not just his father.

"And, it will make people aware of the sacrifices they made," he said.

Lt. Gen. John Castellaw, deputy commandant of Marine aviation and the keynote speaker at the ceremony, paid tribute to Vietnam veterans such as Seward, Gartman and those in the AVVBA.

"They had that wisdom that only comes from combat," said Castellaw, a helicopter pilot who was trained by Gartman.

"The Vietnam generation shaped us," he added.

Gartman went into some detail in his remarks about the day he and Seward were shot down in heavy jungle near the Laotian border.

After the helicopter crashed through the trees and hit the side of the mountain, Gartman said he and Seward were trapped in the cockpit of the burning aircraft. Gartman was freed by the crew chief, but the two could not rouse Seward.

"I believe he was deceased at that point," Gartman said.

The injured Gartman was rescued that day, but the remains of Seward and Army Lt. Col. Robert Lopez of Albuquerque, N.M., a passenger, remained trapped in the wreckage until separate excavations in 1993 and 1994.

Those remains were not identified until 2000, however, and then only through DNA matching. Still, some of the remains could not be definitively identified as either Seward or Lopez and a joint burial was held at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia that year.

Remains that were positively identified as Seward's were buried in a ceremony at Arlington Memorial Park in Atlanta.

William Seward, a former Georgia Tech student, was on his second tour in Vietnam when he was shot down. He was the great-great grandson of the William Seward who served as Abraham Lincoln's secretary of state during the Civil War.

Pat Hood of Sandy Springs, who became a widow at 27 with two young sons when William Seward died, accepted the flag on behalf of her family. It was presented by Lt. Col. Lance Maffett of Marine Aircraft Group-42 from Naval Air Station Atlanta in Marietta.

Hood, who remarried in 1972, said in an earlier interview that these ceremonies were difficult to deal with after so many years but were important for her children and grandchildren.

Charles Seward, William Seward's other son, who also lives in Athens, said this week was the first time he had been able to talk to anyone who flew with his father.

"It was great to hear from somebody who was actually there and who could tell me exactly what happened," he said.

Gartman, who was a captain when William Seward died, said he did not know the Atlanta native well, but respected him for his devotion to his family, his toughness and his calmness under pressure.

"He was a guy who went out there and set the example for us all," Gartman said.