Remember...
Terry Lee McNear
1948-1968
"And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free. And I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me."
Lee Greenwood
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Remember...Terry Lee McNear
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Terry Lee McNear was born on February 17, 1948, to Charles and Sarah McNear in Kingwood, Preston County.
According to the 1950 Federal Census, the family lived in Preston County, and Mr. McNear was a coal miner. Living with the family were Terry and his sisters, Hilda and Patty. Brothers Bill and Steven were not in the household at that time. An additional sibling was stillborn in 1942.
Terry liked to hunt and fish and grew up near the Cheat River, according to information posted to on a Preston County website. ("The 17 Prestonians Killed in Vietnam," accessed 22 May 2022, http://myplace.frontier.com/~dawghouse/prestonians.htm.) He enlisted in the U.S. Army on December 6, 1967, in Fairmont, West Virginia and began his tour in Vietnam on May 22, 1968. At the time of his enlistment, he indicated he was living with his father in Ohio. It's possible that both were working in that state. In the army, he was assigned to Company C of the 16th Infantry, 1st Battalion, 1st Infantry Division.
According to Dorothy Bonafield Snyder, author of the book, Not To Be Forgotten; Prestonians Who Died in Vietnam:
Terry was adventuresome and loved to fish, hunt and swim. Growing up along the Cheat River in Preston County, West Virginia made it easy for him to do all three. He was generous and prior to leaving for Vietnam he bought each of his sisters and his mother a doll dressed in their favorite colors. He also gave his brother some money saying he wouldn't need it where he was going and besides he'd get more the next payday. His family feels Terry had a premonition he wouldn't return from Vietnam. He was very explicit in describing his feelings about Vietnam as in one letter to his sister he wrote, "When I die I'll go to heaven because this is hell." Terry was killed 58 days after arriving in country of multiple fragmentation wounds in Bing Duong Province. (Dorothy Snyder included information about Terry McNear in her book, but the above quotation is from the comments section of the memorial created for Cpl. McNear on the Wall of Faces section of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund site, posted 13 November 2001, accessed 22 May 2022, https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/37174/TERRY-L-MCNEAR/.)
In July 1968, Terry was serving with the 16th Infantry Division in Binh Duong. During this time in Vietnam, U.S. forces and their allies were attempting to regain territory lost during the Tet Offensive and carry out recovery actions.
| Terry McNear died on July 20, 1968, in Binh Duong, South Vietnam, of multiple fragmentation wounds caused by an exploding grenade. His remains were recovered and interred in Maplewood Cemetery, Kingwood, Preston County. |  |
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Article prepared by Cynthia Mullens
May 2022
West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.