PFC Henry Van Demps - Honors Ceremony and Marker Unveiling
PRESS RELEASE
PFC Henry Van Demps - Government Headstone Placement
Garden of Peace Cemetery, Plant City FL - November 10, 2020
After lying in a documented but unmarked grave for 54 years, PFC Henry Van Demps will finally be recognized with the placement of a U.S. Government-issue headstone and a military honors ceremony. A Plant City native, PFC Demps died at the age of 22 on August 22, 1966 and was laid to rest in Garden of Peace Cemetery on September 03, 1966. He was assigned to the Army 503rd Infantry, starting his tour of duty on April 18, 1966 and was killed in the Long Khanh Province of South Vietnam. PFC Demps was the son of Robert N. and Thelma C. Demps and husband to Evangeline Demps.
In May of 2020, John Lawler contacted the City of Plant City Cemetery Operations office, inquiring about the location of PFC Demps. After staff gave him the Garden of Peace Cemetery location over the phone, he called back still unable to locate the grave. Cemetery Superintendent Jeff Black met him in the field, identified the unmarked grave, and the journey to recognize PFC Demps began.
Lawler represents a volunteer organization called The Coffelt Group. As described on their website (www.coffeltdatabase.org), the Coffelt Database of Vietnam War Casualties has its roots in an effort begun by Richard Donham Coffelt. A Korean War era Army Sergeant and later an attorney in Hays, Kansas, Coffelt became aware that the government had not made public a central source of information regarding the military men and women who died as a result of service in Vietnam. In 1980, Coffelt set out to determine the unit of assignment for each Army soldier who died in Vietnam. As this was two years before the IBM personal computer came onto the market, the necessary work was done the old-fashioned way: by travel and library research, all in hand-writing. Others have continued his efforts well past his death in 2012.
A conversation between Lawler and Black set things in motion. Lawler put Black in touch with Ken Davis of The Coffelt Group. After speaking, Black contacted the Hillsborough County Veterans Services Office and Black was put in touch with Veterans Service Officer (VSO) Clifford Heasty. Heasty initiated VA Form 1330 to request a headstone provided by the US Government. After manufacture, the headstone was shipped to the Cemetery Operations office for installation by the Cemetery Operations crew.
Prior to receiving the headstone, Black attended an unrelated burial service in Garden of Peace Cemetery. Black met the mother of the deceased and offered his condolences. Up to this point, she had only spoken to Black over the phone to arrange the interment. As they talked, the woman’s mother started to point out other buried family members and Black quickly noticed the family name was Demps. Black asked if she knew of PFC Demps and she replied “That’s the boy that died in Vietnam”. By chance, distant relatives of PFC Demps were found. Later, it was discovered that his mother, Cleone Thelma Wright (97 years old in 2020), resides in a Lakeland FL nursing home and his son, Dewayne Demps, resides in Texas.
According to Black, an eight-year Navy veteran himself, “This all started with a basic inquiry and search by a man with a mission. The Coffelt Group, it’s representatives Davis and Lawler, as well as VSO Heasty, are responsible for making this happen.“
Cemetery Operations will host a monument unveiling event at Garden of Peace Cemetery, 102 East Spencer Street, on Tuesday, November 10, 2020 at 4:00 pm. Relatives of PFC Demps, including his mother, will be in attendance, as will representatives of The Coffelt Group and the Hillsborough County Veterans Services Office. To recognize PFC Demps, Black has coordinated military funeral honors with the Army Casualty Assistance Office at Fort Stewart, Georgia. The ceremony will feature the playing of Taps and the Durant High School JROTC Color Guard. “We feel honored to be a small part of this and look forward to seeing PFC Demps’ marker in Garden of Peace Cemetery this Veterans Day” stated Black.
