"A man is not dead until he is forgotten."
Commander Jay Scott of American Legion Post 9 was asked to help locate relations of George Pawlish, a member of Unit Heavy Attack Squadron 4, USS Kitty Hawk, reported missing on March 8, 1967 in North Vietnam, over water. Seeking the information was Jay's son, Brian, who had been contacted by David Smith of Loveland, Colorado, in possession of the Missing in Action flag flown over the War Memorial for 30 days in the name of George Pawlish. Commander Scott talked with Post Historian Jody Bracy, whose mother Marilyn Coffield Bracy had been a classmate of George Pawlish at Las Animas High School. She knew he had a brother, Andrew, and Bracy was able to locate him. Andrew Pawlish now lives in Windsor, Colorado.
The presentation of the flag is scheduled for for 9:30 a.m. on May 9 in Longmont, Colorado, at the American Legion District 4 Convention at Post 32, 315 South Bowen Street, Longmont.
From George Pawlish's biography in Ancestry.com, one learns that he was born Feb. 23, 1941, to Mike and Anna Pawlish, in Bristol, Colorado. He had two brothers, Andrew and Tom, and one sister, Mary. In an interview with his mother, Anna Pawlish, she said, "George was always for the underdog!" He was a member of the Future Farmers of America in high school. He graduated from Las Animas High School in 1959.
George enlisted in the United States Navy while attending college at Colorado State University at Fort Collins, Colorado, as an agriculture business major. He attended flight school after his enlistment and became a member of the Unit Heavy Attack Squadron 4, USS Kitty Hawk.
