Scope and Contents

Approximately one lienar foot of documents, including photocopied letters sent between Pauline Ann Querry (later Pauline Laurent) and her husband, Sergeant Howard E. Querry IV, and letters sent between Howard E. Querry IV and his family, citation of awards and decorations for Howard E. Querry IV, and book reviews for Laurent's book; 15 audio letters between Howard E. Querry IV and his family; a unit flag for Company A, 3rd Battalion, 39th Infantry; and the book she wrote to document Howard E. Querry IV's service during the Vietnam War (March-May 1968) and Pauline's life as a single mother after he was killed in action: "Grief Denied: A Vietnam Widow's Story."

Biographical / Historical

Pauline Laurent was born in Illinois in 1945 and graduated from Red Bud High School in 1963. She studied at Southern Illinois University and in 1967 married Howard E. Querry IV. Querry enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1966, completed Basic Training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Ord, California. He attended Officer Candidate School and the Non-Commissioned Officer Academy at Fort Benning, Georgia, and served at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

Querry arrived in Vietnam in March 1968, serving with Company A, 3rd Battalion, 39th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division. He was killed in action on May 10, 1968 near Saigon. Pauline and Howard's daughter, Michelle, was born in July 1968, two months after Querry's death. As a single mother and widow, Pauline Laurent coped with the loss of her husband by developing a grief counseling practice. She is also author of the book, Grief Denied: A Vietnam Widow's Story.