'He's All Right And We're Grateful'

"He's all right and we're grateful, say the elated parents of Navy Cmdr. Kenneth L. Coskey. "He'll probably have some wrinkles to iron out," Edward P. Coskey and his wife, of 1725 Glenwood, adds. They received a telegram Sunday morning officially notifying them their 43-year-old son would be returning home within the next 60 days. Wearing a silver-colored POW bracelet bearing her son's name and the date his plane was shot down, Sept. 6, 1968, Mrs. Coskey says their job is colored by the knowledge that some families will be receiving sad news. "We're very sad for the other families whose sons will not be coming home," the petite mother says. In South Lyon Mrs. Marian LaBohn of 203 W. Lake St, waits to hear news of her 30-year-old son, Sgt. Gary LaBohn, missing in action in Laos since 1968. She says she hasn't heard anything since 1968 and that his name wasn't on the first list. "I haven't given up hope," the mother adds. Mrs. LaBohn's son, who is single, served in the U.S. Army's Green Berets. He joined the service in 1966. Sgt. LaBohn graduated from South Lyon High School where he also played football. He attended Cleary College and the.University of North Carolina. Army Sgt. Michael Wallace of Ann Arbor, listed as missing in action since April 19, 1968, still has not been accounted for on preliminary lists released by the Pentagon. Wallace, whose sister Mary Salyer of 3485 Braeburn Circle in Ann Arbor has been in constant contact with the Pentagon for the past five years, was last seen bailing out of a flaming helicopter over Viet Cong territory in South Vietnam. Efforts to contact Mrs. Salyer to find out if she has received further information since the President's cease-fire announcement have been unsuccessful. The family of Mr. and Mrs. James Warner, 2018 McKinley of Ypsilanti, also has received the good news their son, Marine Capt. James Warner, 31, who became a POW in North Vietnam during October 1967, will be released soon. In the last letter she received from Capt. Warner, Mrs. Warner says he wrote he hoped to study philosophy at the University of Michigan. Mrs. Coskey says her son's wife, Donna, and their two children of Virginia Beach, Va., have received letters from their husband and father. "The children remember their father," Mrs. Coskey says. Kenneth (12 years old) adores him. Carolyn (11 years old) was six years old when he left, but she remembers him, too." Cmdr. Coskey, who is described by his family as a "crack pilot," went to Vietnam about six months before he was shot down near the city of Vinh. His plane burned, but the navigator escaped and Cmdr. Coskey was captured. The Navy pilot grew up in Detroit. His parents lived in the northwest side of Detroit until eight years ago when they moved to Ann Arbor. Cmdr. Coskey attended General Motors Institute for two years and graduated from Monterey Naval Post Gradúate School in 1965. Cmdr. Coskey, who has been in the service for about 20 years, was a candidate for the astronaut program, according to his family. Mrs. Coskey says their only fear is for the health of their son because the 100 men released were to be the sick and wounded and Kenneth's name is on the first list. The parents have no idea of when they may see their son. They're waiting for official word. Bubbling with excitement about the homecoming, Mrs. Coskey says, "I'm afraid we're going to spoil him." Other Michigan families to receive official word that their sons or husbands had survived years in Vietnam prison camps and were expected to be released within the next 60 days include the I lies of: Capt. Robert A. Abbott of I erville; Maj. Willard S. Gideon and Maj. Donald Odell of Mount Clemens; Chief Warrant Officer Michael O'Connor of Warren; Capt. Martin Neuens of Iron Mountain; Lt. Cmdr. Richard Stratton of Grosse Pointe Woods; Capt. Joseph F. Shanahan of Grand Rapids; Staff Sgt. Cardine McMurray of Detroit; and Lt. David Rehman of Bay City.