Vietnam vet finally laid to rest

VIENNA — Capt. James Cross has been dead more than 38 years, having been shot down over Laos on April 24, 1970, while serving as a Air Force pilot during the Vietnam War.

But scrapbooks full of letters he wrote to government officials and to newspapers after graduating from Warren G. Harding High School in 1962 testify to his keen interest in conservative politics and writing.

There also is a photograph of him with future President Ronald Reagan and letters to him from Ohio Gov. James Rhodes, a Republican, and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

There is a letter saying Cross worked for 17th District U.S. Rep. John Ashbrook after graduating from Ohio University in 1966.

But along with the yellowing photographs and papers are the people who knew Cross and who knew that he had bold plans for a future in politics.

They came today to Crown Hill Burial Park here, where a funeral service with full military honors was held for him, and he was buried near his mother.

The funeral was possible because a government body called the Joint Personnel Accounting Command Central Identification Lab in Hawaii determined last July that it had positively identified remains found in Laos as being those of Cross.

For the complete story, see Saturday's Vindicator or Vindy.com.