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Perhaps some of you might remember me. I'm Barry Solomon's Florida cousin. In the months leading up to the Roll of Honor ceremony in November 2010, Barry contacted me and asked me if I could help locate families of some squadron KIAs who couldn't be found and let them know that their loved ones were about to be memorialized and to invite them to the ceremony. At the time, I was an investigator for the Federal Public Defender's Office and my specialty was finding difficult to find people. Being a U.S. Navy vet myself (US Navy Hospital Corpsman) from that era, I was honored to help. There were a handful of families who had no surviving family members. One, Howard Michael Meute, known as Mike, had a brother named Remy who I initially located but who was reluctant to give me much information about himself or his address. I also located a nephew and spoke briefly with him but in both cases, I lost contact with what remained of Meute's family. His case went unresolved, to my disappointment.
I attended the ceremony as Barry's guest and got to meet quite a few of you and was stricken by the camaraderie between y'all. When the roll of honor was called, there was no one there to accept the plaque Meute so I accepted it and made a vow to myself that I would never give up trying to locate his family until I could either find someone or determine there was no one left. The years went by and I tried from time to time to no avail. Eventually, I lost track of my data folder, as well as the plaque, nametag, printed program and 1996 dedication of Enlisted Combat Aircrew Roll of Honor. Earlier this week, during a household reorganization I came across my information and materials and started anew on my quest.
I'm proud to report today that former U.S. Navy HM3 has fulfilled his final mission for his Naval brothers. Today, I located and spoke with Meute's niece, Jennifer, in California. Her father is Meute's brother, Remy, who's in very poor health. She was so happy to hear the news about her uncle. She didn't know much about him from her dad except that he'd been shot down in Vietnam, along with several others in his squadron. I was able to tell her some of the details from my notes and from a post on Seawolf Stories about the Battle of Ha Tien. Jennifer also heard for the first time details about her uncle's famous and highly decorated squadron. In a few days, I'm going to forward her everything that I have of her uncle's. I'm also going to write a newspaper article next week about my quest for the family of Mike Meute and the completion that was ten years in coming, thanks to the annoying reality of Facebook, which wasn't nearly as capable in 2010 as it is today.
May God bless all of yours and your families and grant eternal rest to those who were not able to come home.
Joe Palmer
Fernandina Beach, FL
treysurf@comcast.net
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