Marine Charlie Danberry, 19, of West Amwell was killed just six days after arriving in Vietnam.
By Mae Rhine, Managing Editor
Charlie Danberry is gone but not forgotten.
But his memorial stone may be.
Mr. Danberry, a West Amwell resident, was one of the 16 men in Hunterdon County killed during the Vietnam War. The 19-year-old Marine died May 23, 1968, killed by mortar fire at Khe Sanh in the Quang Tri Province just six days after he arrived in Vietnam.
After his death, the memorial was placed on Ely Field in Lambertville. But when the ball field was moved, the stone remained behind.
Now his family wants it moved so people can see it and remember the boy who so loved sports.
Heidi Galloway is pushing to have the stone placed near the new ball field as a permanent reminder of her brother’s sacrifice.
”My blood pressure burst Memorial Day when I went by and didn’t see an American flag there,” she said.
She contacted the American Legion in Lambertville, which places flags at the graves and memorials of all veterans during holidays such as Memorial Day that commemorate American servicemen.
”They (the Legion) said they didn’t know it was there,” Ms. Galloway said.
Now the family wants the memorial moved and a flagpole erected next to it.
Working with Ms. Galloway and her family are Sneddon’s owners, John Zambella and his wife, Donna Buchanan Zambella, who went to school with Mr. Danberry; Pat DeChirico of Delaware Township, head of the Vietnam Veterans Association of Hunterdon County; and members of the Lambertville Legion. They are trying to raise the money needed to have the pole erected and the stone moved.
Ms. Galloway said she doesn’t know who put the memorial to her brother there or who even owns it.
She’s upset, but said she’s trying not to place blame, saying the memorial, perhaps, wasn’t forgotten, “just kind of pushed aside.”
The response to her pleas for help has been heartwarming. Mr. Danberry’s classmates just celebrated their 40th reunion this year and have pledged to help, she said.
And she’s finding many people still remember the shy boy who was nicknamed Big Red because he blushed so easily.
Although she was only 3 when he died, Ms. Galloway’s memories of her brother are still vivid.
She browsed through a letter her aunt recently found that Mr. Danberry wrote to his grandfather, Edward Kitchin, while he was training at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
In it, Mr. Danberry wrote he hoped his grandfather does well with his new antique business.
He wrote he would graduate “about Feb. 8” from boot camp and “can’t wait until it comes around.”
He also wrote, “The food down here is alright, but it isn’t like back home.”
Ms. Galloway recalled the boy who was always holding her, “always carrying me around.”
”He would go in the barn with me and play basketball,” she remembered. “He’d hold me up and let me put the basketball in.”
She also remembers being in the car with her brother after they had picked up a kitten someone had given the family. When they got back home to the family farm off Route 518, the cat got loose when the car door opened, and Ms. Galloway said she “went hysterical.”
It was a rainy day, and she was worried about the cat being outside. She cried all night, but remembered waking up the next day, and her brother saying to her, “Look, here’s your kitty.”
Those were happy times. But she also vividly remembers when the family found out Mr. Danberry had been killed.
”A military car pulled up alongside the house,” Ms. Galloway said. “My mother made my brother (Kenneth) take me and my sister (Jill) upstairs.”
The siblings stood at the top of the stairs trying to hear what was being said, Ms. Galloway said.
”I was crying and pushing at my brother, and, finally, my mom said to let me come down.”
She recalled, “My mother was sitting in the chair and looking outside. She was crying hysterically. My father collapsed.”
Her other brother, Chris, came home later after hearing the news from his future in-laws.
”Chris was in such hysterics,” his sister said. “He came in the kitchen, lifted the kitchen table and flipped it over.”
The two older brothers were very close. They had a plan that once they graduated from high school, they would join the Navy, then become policemen.
Only one of them made it, although Chris chose to go into the Air Force, then became a policeman. He now is retired from the Ewing Township Police Department.
Ms. Galloway said he and the rest of her family are “overwhelmed” by the generosity of the community.
Donations have been coming in from individuals, businesses and organizations such as the Legion, Ms. Zambella said. Donations can be mailed, payable to the Zambellas, but with “Danberry” in the memo line, to 4 Mountainview Road, Lambertville, 08530.
The dedication ceremony for the stone and new flagpole is set for Sept. 15 at 1 p.m. at Ely Field.
But although the memorial commemorates Mr. Danberry’s service to his country, Ms. Galloway pointed out, “Let’s focus on Charlie, the boy. He was there (in Vietnam) less than a week. The rest of the time he was a boy who loved sports.”

