Welcome to the
Our God Reigns Ministries
This page is dedicated as a living memorial for:
Joe Cecil Hodgson
Rank/Branch: E7/US Army Special Forces
They fought for us, now let's fight for them, and bring them home!!!
Sacrifice
The sacrifice of love we give,
Takes less and yet gives more;
An everlasting hand of love,
The heart an open door.
The willingness to give of self;
To lay down your own life;
To touch another persons heart,
In loving sacrifice.
The chance that God has given you,
To reach another soul;
Forever changed by kindness,
A life your love made whole.
For life is but a circle,
Each life part of the chain;
Each link is joined by sacrifice,
That causes man to change.
To turn and reach a hand of love,
To touch and other's life;
Will cause the circle to be whole,
In loving sacrifice.
This Poem was Graciously Donated by: Allison Chambers
Coxsey
©1996
Name: Cecil Joe Hodgson
Rank/Branch: E7/US Army Special Forces
Unit: B-52 Delta, 5th Special Forces Group
Date of Birth: 28 July 1937 (Campbell TX)
Home City of Record: Greenville TX
Date of Loss: 29 January 1966
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 143704N 1085242E (BS719172)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Refno: 0242
Other Personnel In Incident:
Frank N. Badolati; Ronald T. Terry (both
missing); Wiley W. Grey (survived) (other survivors)
"Source"
Compiled by Homecoming II Project
30 June 1990 from one or more of
the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence
with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W.
NETWORK 1998.
"Remarks"
LEFT AMBD PATSD RECOV 1 - J
"SYNOPSIS"
Frank N. Badaloti and Ronald T.
Terry were riflemen on a Special
Forces reconnaissance team operating in An Lao Valley of Binh Dinh Province, 12 miles west
of Tam Quan in South Vietnam when his team was split during a firefight.
The patrol came under enemy fire on
the afternoon of 28 January
1966 during which time Badolati was hit. Cecil Hodgson, the patrol leader,
from Detachment B52 Delta, was apparently treating Badolati's wounds as the patrol
traveled in small groups from the location where Badolati was hit.
Badolati was with two other
individuals who survived, and as he was too
badly wounded to continue, the three remained for about two hours in their
position.
Badolati's condition worsened, and when the two survivors left the area,
they reported that Badolati was dead. They had no choice but to leave his
body behind.
Hodgson and Terry evaded for the rest of the day. On January 29, they moved at first light
into a defensive position, whereupon they encountered enemy forces and another firefight
ensued. Terry indicated that he had been hit, and others thought he had been killed. When
they looked for Hodgson, he was gone. Survivors heard additional shots, which they
believed were shots fired at Hodgson, and they believed he also had been killed.
The team could not search for Hodgson because of the heavy enemy activity, and were forced
to move to a rallying point. They evaded capture for the remainder of the day, and were
ultimately picked up by helicopter.
Searches for all three missing were conducted for the next 4 days with no
results. Hodgson was classified Missing In Action. Badolati and Terry were classified
Killed/Body Not Recovered.
Since the end of the war, over 10,000 reports relating to Americans
prisoner, missing or unaccounted for in Southeast Asia have been received by the U.S.
Government. Many authorities who have reviewed this intelligence material, including a
former Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, believe that hundreds of Americans are
still alive, held captive. Hodgson could be among them. If alive, what must he be thinking
of us?
Cecil J. Hodgson was promoted to
the rank of Master Sergeant during the
period he was maintained missing.
