Tribute 2021

1st Cav Div Association Newsletter — Remembering SP4 Chester Jon Kmit

Document

Source

Soldiers

Paraphrased from a "1st Cav Div Association" newsletter memorial column by James Glenn "Top Gun" Dotson. The column marks Chester Jon Kmit's birthday (April 11) with a short remembrance: it recaps his birth date, hometown of Williamsburg in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, and his Wall listing at Panel 33W, Line 65. It states his MOS as an infantryman ("11-B," described in the column as "grunt") and places him with D Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, operating in Tay Ninh Province at the time of his death on February 5, 1969.

Dotson, writing on behalf of the unit's veterans, describes Kmit in the column as an unusually good soldier who was well liked by those who served with him, and closes with a brief expression of remembrance and respect. The full clipping is preserved in this folder for provenance; see the discrepancy notes above regarding the tour-start date and MOS, neither of which is treated here as overriding the primary casualty-record sources already on file for Kmit's profile.

Type

Tribute

Date

2021 Date uncertain

Source

Clipping from a recurring memorial column in the 1st Cavalry Division Association newsletter, written by James Glenn "Top Gun" Dotson and saved locally as "1cda-newsletter-clipping-kmit-may2021.png" (a May 2021 issue). The column itself is framed around Kmit's birthday, April 11, suggesting it may have originally run in an earlier spring issue and been reprinted or archived under the May date — the exact publication date is not confirmed either way. Biographical content matches the profile's existing sourcing: born April 11, 1945, Hampshire County, Williamsburg, MA; Wall Panel 33W, Line 65; MOS described as "11-B aka grunt"; assigned to D Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, operating in Tay Ninh Province; killed in action February 5, 1969. Two discrepancies with the primary casualty-record sources, noted rather than silently corrected: (1) the clipping states Kmit's tour in Vietnam began "May 13, 1969" — one year off from Virtual Wall's confirmed May 13, 1968 start date (a start date after his February 1969 death would be impossible, so this is read as a typo in the newsletter, not a correction to the record). (2) The clipping's MOS ("11-B," infantryman) does not match Virtual Wall's 11C20 (Indirect Fire Infantryman) already on file — left as an open conflict between a personal recollection and a primary casualty record, not resolved in Kmit's favor either way. Otherwise valuable as a named, personal tribute from a fellow 1st Cavalry Division veteran describing Kmit as an especially well-regarded soldier, and as a third independent source (alongside Honor States and the Virtual Wall) confirming D Company, 2/8 Cavalry's presence in Tay Ninh Province at the time of his death. Original clipping preserved as kmit-chester-1cda-newsletter-clipping.png in this document folder.

Status

Published

Author

Referenced

1 Soldier

Chester Kmit