Dennis Wayne Hunter

DENNIS WAYNE HUNTER

CPL - E4 -(Pay grade at loss E3. Posthumous Promotion as indicated.) Army - Selective Service - 101st Airborne Division - Santa Ana, CA. His tour began on Mar 2, 1970. Casualty was on Apr 29, 1970 in THUA THIEN, SOUTH VIETNAM (FIREBASE GRANITE), HOSTILE, GROUND CASUALTY, MULTIPLE FRAGMENTATION WOUNDS. Body was recovered. Panel 11W - Line 68

MEDALS AND AWARDS

Silver Star Medal
Bronze Star Medal
Purple Heart Medal
National Defense Service Medal
Vietnam Service Medal
Vietnam Campaign Medal
Combat Infantryman Badge

UNIT CITATIONS

RVN Gallantry Cross with Palm Unit Citation
RVN Civil Action Honor Medal, First Class

PHOTOS



101st Airborne Division, His tour began on

BIRTH 4 Apr 1951, Santa Ana, CA
DEATH 29 Apr 1970 (aged 19)

BURIAL - Fairhaven Memorial Park, Santa Ana, Orange County, California, USA
PLOT Lawn A, 4th FULL row from south edge, MEMORIAL ID 167934058

OBITUARY

Dennis Wayne Hunter is buried or memorialized at Fairhaven Memorial Park, Santa Ana, Orange County, California.

Lisa Hunter Pompa wrote the following in memory of her brother Dennis in April 2020:

50 years ago, on April 29, 1970 we lost our brother, son, friend, fiancé in Vietnam. Each of us in our family have a distinct memory when we learned he was killed in action. I was a little girl and watched through the window as an Army officer began to walk up our long driveway. Because Dennis had left the last time in uniform (as pictured in my profile), I was acutely aware he was an Army man. As I stood at our dining room window and pointed to the officer, my mom literally fell apart at the seams. As a child, I will never forget the uncontrollable wailing that followed. It scared me. As I grew older, I learned that on the day Dennis was killed, she was sick to her stomach each time she passed his picture that hung among the other children in the hallway. A letter had been returned. She knew. She knew her son was gone in her heart and before the officer made it to the door she was on the floor in a heap of tears.

For almost 50 years, a flagpole lived in the courtyard of our Methodist Church in remembrance of Dennis and his bravery. Our family has always embraced the words inscribed on the plaque from John 15:13 which reads, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” We are proud of the Purple Heart, Bronze Star and Silver Star that he was awarded because his actions on that day saved other soldiers in his platoon.

Our mom became a Gold Star Mother and was very active for many years. Each Sunday after church, we went to the cemetery and we cleaned Dennis’s headstone and placed new flowers at his graveside. She attended every single Memorial Day service at Fairhaven Cemetery until her passing in 2017. The pain of losing her son never left her. We buried her next to Dennis wearing her Gold Star pin.

While the pain never leaves when a family member is killed in war, it surely leaves it mark. Our mom lead the way in service to others as a school teacher, Sunday school teacher and volunteer. Other family members have dedicated their life’s work to the service of others in ministry and public service, but all of us have a sense of service to others in our daily lives. In this way, hopefully we honor those who have given all.

As I reflect on our family’s loss in the midst of such a troubling time in our world, I want to say thank you. Thank you to all first responders. Particularly, those who have fought wars on foreign soil, some whose remains have not been recovered and those who have returned with severe bodily injury and PTSD. Thank you to those who are on the front lines of a world-wide pandemic. I am grateful for the doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers, the firemen and police officers who show up to work every day for those of us who stay home. Thank you to people in the service business driving trucks of food and toilet paper (?), stocking shelves at grocery stores and picking vegetables in the fields. Thank you to our civic leaders who are trying their best to make the best decisions they can. Thank you to all of the caregivers of our elder population and those with special needs. And, thank you to the those in ministry who seek to be the hands and feet of God’s love in the world.

NOTES FROM FAMILY AND FRIENDS

On 4-28-2021 Ed Mitchell posted on Facebook:

29-30 Apr 1970…WE REMEMBER…A COMPANY, 2-501ST INFANTRY
IN MEMORIAM: We mourn the loss of these nine brave warriors who gave their lives at FSB GRANITE. As “brothers”, we fought for one another and each man listed below gave the rest of us the gift of just one more day. Lest anyone of us forget, eight of those lost were returned home to their families and loved ones and to a final resting place. One remains unaccounted for (Ed Bishop) and we will not rest until he returns and his story has been completed.

Track Alpha Company members lost under the command of Captain Ed Mitchell as the Commanding Officer of Alpha Company here.

See more about FSB Granite here.