Death Memorial

2 Lt. Kirk Charles Vanderbur

December 28, 1967 – February 16, 1992

Kirk was shot in 2 places, in the stomach with his shotgun and in the head with his rifle. There were two different weapons. A Spas 12 was discharged into the abdomen at an upward angle and a Ruger-Mini 14 rifle with a bullpup stock (.223) shot between the eyes.

There was no gunshot residue on his hands but it was said that both shots were at close range. Both weapons were 10 feet apart. There was no homicide investigation. Yet it got tagged with suicide as the cause of death.

The scene at the time of death was located at a shooting range at Hubert, NC; therefore the first investigation was done outside the military installation where he was stationed. Because of the inconsistencies in both the NCIS and Sheriff Ed Brown investigations, the Vanderbur’s asked the help of a Doctor Thomas L. Bennett, their home State of Iowa Medical Examiner. Bennett had originally agreed to do a second autopsy for Gene and Lois; however, Kirk’s body was released without an examination.

Since these sites are public by virtue of the fact that they are on the Internet to be accessed by those people who need them, as is our site, we have provided them for your further study of injustice at work and for your further finding that the death of Kirk Charles Vanderbur was not in vain.
We asked Lois if she would be willing to submit the story of her son Kirk. Her reply was that the story has already been written and she gave us permission to use the information that has been written as the basis for this story.

By now you will have read the story in our History pages about how Untill We Have Answers was started and that Lois Vanderbur was a hard working member of that group. Her devastation, frustration and motivation came from having been notified that her son, Kirk had committed suicide while stationed at Camp Lejeune NC and she and her husband always knew this was not the truth! Lois turned around that black mark on her heart – and her son’s integrity. She and Kirk served as a major cornerstone to the legislation that came out of what she and other members of UWHA made happen. Thanks for the following legislations: 1185, 2187 and 5505.10.

Kirk’s death ended up being a double loss for he had wanted to be an organ donor.

If you have any information about this case, please contact me through this website.