Vietnam Veterans Remembered in Linn County Genealogy Book

By Josh Hinkle, Anchor/Reporter

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By Josh Hinkle

Story Created: Jul 26, 2008 at 9:59 AM CST

Story Updated: Jul 26, 2008 at 9:59 AM CST

CEDAR RAPIDS - Charlene Hansen's obsession with genealogy began forty years ago. That's also about the time her old next door neighbor disappeared.

Hansen recalls, "I said, 'Well, I know that one. He was a neighbor.' And that happened to be Jim Schimberg."

As she and other volunteers at the Linn County Genealogical Society began piecing together a book about this area's Vietnam veterans killed or missing in action, she came across the name Jim Schimberg, someone she hadn't thought of in a long time.

She says, "He was a quiet boy and in studying and learning more about him after he went into the service, he was very intellectual."

Schimberg entered the Air Force after college. On January 9, 1966, crews lost contact with the 23-year-old's plane off the Vietnam coast.

"He was missing. His body had not been found."

More than three decades went by before anyone identified Schimberg's remains. In 1999, he came home to Cedar Rapids and a memorial ceremony unlike anything the city had ever seen.

"All the way out to Marion to the cemetery the streets were lined with people waving flags."

Two Vietnam-era Huey helicopters passed overhead, as did a vintage Mohawk aircraft, the same type Schimberg once flew in.

Hansen was also there in the crowd to say good bye to her neighbor. Now, years later, she finds herself adding that day to Schimberg's collection in the book. There are about 30 soldiers like Schimberg, each with their own story Hansen wants to make sure is available for future generations.

She says, "Maybe 20 years from now, some of his nieces and nephews may say, 'oh, I'd like to learn more about that.'"

Volunteers plan to complete the book in the next few months and hope to move on to other wars for future books soon. The Vietnam book is located in the Linn County Genealogical Society's library in the basement of the Masonic Library building in Cedar Rapids. The Genealogical Library there is free and open to the public.

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