Over the PA system, the Carter brothers were each called to the principal’s office of Lincoln High School, and they had no idea why. 

The principal said their pastor, Rev. Ferguson of Mount Pleasant Methodist Church, would pick them up. The pastor drove them to their house in East Gainesville, and the three brothers still didn’t know why. They worried that something had happened to their father. 

When they pulled up, a United States Marine Corps vehicle was parked out front. Thomas Carter realized the visit was about the oldest Carter brother, Vernon, off in Vietnam. 

“[Vernon] had made one tour to Vietnam, and this had been his second tour,” Thomas Carter recalled. “And I started thinking about him, how he had that glossy look in his eyes, like he was always looking at a distance.” 

Vernon T. Carter Jr. was the first Alachua County resident to die in Vietnam.  

He died on Dec. 10, 1965, from artillery fire and was honored with a Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon and other commendations for his service. His parents received the news six days later, and a captain confirmed to Mrs. Carter that there was no mistake, a Gainesville Sun article from the time reported.  

The same day the three Carter brothers were pulled from school, a letter arrived from Vernon. He had sent $10 for the church and $100 to keep in a savings account for when he returned. 

Alachua County would lose 47 more sons fighting in Vietnam. 

Local veteran Andy Adkins briefly chronicled the lives of each of those 48 men, aged 18 to 43, in a new book— “The ‘Nam AC-48”—that was inspired by photo boards created by the local Vietnam Veterans of America.  

The boards had the pictures of each of the 48 Alachua County residents that Forest Hope, president of the local Vietnam Veterans of America chapter, had compiled. Gathering the photos was part of the national Wall of Faces project to link a picture to each name on the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C.   

“When I saw that, I don’t know, it just kind of hit me,” Adkins said.  

He began researching each of the men, finding information through public databases, emailing the National Archives and sitting down to interview remaining family members in the area.  

“It sort of dawned on me that, even though I went into the service in 1973, these guys were a few years older than me, but we went to the same schools, we went to the same churches, we played on the same ballparks, rode the streets on our bikes,” Adkins said.  

Even Thomas Carter, reeling from the loss of his brother, took to Gainesville’s streets to mourn.  

“I remember trying to get my thoughts together,” Thomas Carter said. “I cried, and I walked out of the house and walked down Eighth Avenue and trying to accept that he wasn’t going to come back no more.” 

Starting with Vernon Carter, the local men died over the course of 2,343 days—approximately one death every 48 days. Adkins’ research unearthed and compiled the stories of their courage. 

Stories that include Martin Robert Beck, who lied about his age to join the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II at just 16 years old. He attended the University of Florida after his discharge and graduated with a degree in architecture. When the Korean War began, he went and fought again, and when the Vietnam War began, he went and fought for a third time, dying when his helicopter landed on a landmine. Beck was 43 years old with three children. 

Or Samuel Harrell, the last Alachua County resident to die in Vietnam. He graduated from Lincoln High School and attended Florida A&M University, completing a degree in chemistry before joining the U.S. Army. A pilot, Harrell’s CH-47A Chinook, was taking off when a blade retaining pin broke and caused the helicopter to crash, killing all 34 soldiers on board. Harrell was 25 years old with two sons in Florida.  

“My goal in this is to share these stories and tell the stories of these men,” Adkins said.  

He and the local Vietnam Veterans of America chapter handed the new books out during Memorial Day services at Evergreen and Forest Meadows cemeteries this year. Trinity United Methodist Church, where Adkins attends, requested 500 copies to distribute during its Memorial Day service. 

Adkins has written other books about business, military history, his time in the U.S. Navy and, using diary entries, his father’s experience during World War II.  

But when finishing this book, he questioned if he was really finished or if there was more he could do. Already, Adkins said he’s planning a second edition with new information coming from family members who’ve read the book. The first is available at his website, with free copies for veterans, or on Amazon. 

“I don’t think anybody’s going to really read it cover to cover,” Adkins said. “They’re more likely to look at some of these people that they may know or may have heard of. And then when they read the stories. . .they’re hard to read.” 

Alachua County residents who died in Vietnam 

• Vernon Thomas Carter Jr. 

• Noah Morris Kraft  

• Jerome Cordell Winters  

• Lorenzo Columbus Maulden  

• Freddie Lee Kleckley  

• Joshua Welch Jr.  

• Manuel Eduardo Mesa  

• Lindy Edward Henry  

• James Milton Jefferson   

• Auburn Dale McComb  

• Wesley Ira Goswick  

• Larry Will Bloodsworth  

• Robert Eugene Thompson  

• Charles Edward Roland  

• James Mikel Runnels  

• Marcus Claude Jones  

• Henry Dennis Babers  

• David Eric Wieland  

• Donald Lee Hettich  

• Robert Ivan Rice  

• Robert Lee Shorter  

• Frederick Jordan Hampton  

• Tommy Lee Hankison  

• Thomas Wayne Peterson  

• Johnny Lee Proctor  

• Randolph Wright Ford  

• Charles Andy Gordon  

• Carl Post Hetrick  

• Norman Kenneth Bristow  

• Frederick M Vickery  

• Ross Thomas Hulslander  

• James Rickard Golding  

• Eugene Scott Hancock  

• Willie Lee Brown Jr.  

• Terry Durand Graham  

• James Boston Jr.  

• Martin Robert Beck  

• Michael Ward Kirkpatrick  

• Charles Richard Geiger  

• Neal Arthur Smith  

• Henry Bertram Wright  

• Leslie Eugene Rembert  

• Charles Robert Townsend  

• Johnell Witherspoon  

• Ronald Michael Rigdon  

• Benjamin Gaines Lang  

• John Winslow Lawrence  

• Samuel Harrell