Kim Archer in Marine Boot Camp

Sanford Kim Archer, PVT USMC

I found Kim’s Marine Corps photograph on a website called “Virtual Wall.”  Had some remembrances from some of Kim’s siblings and others who wanted to pay him tribute.

If you lost someone in Vietnam, I recommend simply doing a web search of their name.

Newspaper article:

Melrose Marine badly wounded – Lance Cpl Stanford K. Archer of Melrose is in critical condition in a Da Nang hospital after receiving shrapnel wounds in his kidneys from hostile mortar fire 1 Feb (1968) according to a Marine telegram received Sunday by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wilbert Archer, Melrose. The telegram said Cpl. Archer and his unit, the 1st Bn, 5th Regiment, 1st Marine Division, were in defensive positions when the mortar attack came. A later telegram said the youth had developed difficulty in breathing at the station hospital. Cpl Archer, who enlisted with the 1st Montana Platoon in June 1966, was sent to Vietnam last September (1967). He encountered a Viet Cong sniper face-to-face recently. The episode was described in an article in the Montana Standard (Jan 23 1968).

Montana Standard, Butte MT, 6 Feb 1968

I don’t know this man well. I searched on http://www.no-quarter which purports to list all casualties, and was looking for all Marine casualties from Montana, as I joined with the “Montana” platoon of 1966, all of us flying to San Diego on the same day from Helena, after a big send-off by the Governor and a bit of a party the night before, put on by the U.S. Marine Corps for publicity, where a captain began to introduce us to the yelling that was soon to intensify. I know him as the man who “sounded off” early in the role call as he was an “Archer”, and only otherwise that he was a good kid and a nice guy. Somebody probably still misses him. I hope so, I did when I saw his name there. Rest Well, Archer. It isn’t much down here, still the same old stuff, wars, famine and destruction. Semper Fi.

The above message appeared on the “virtual wall” from a friend, gdhowe58@gmail.com