COMBAT IN PANAMA : A Somber Return for the Americans Killed in Panama : Casualties: Bodies of four military victims are returned to the United States. Mood contrasts with upbeat reports at hospitals where wounded are being treated.

By EDWIN CHEN and J. MICHAEL KENNEDY

Dec. 22, 1989 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. —

On a blustery, forlorn Tarmac far from the tropical shores of Central America, the ceremonial toll-taking of America’s dead in Panama began Thursday.

At precisely 3 p.m., an Air Force C-141 Starlifter slowly pulled to a stop before a hushed crowd of some 60 mourners, led by Navy Secretary H. Lawrence Garrett III, bearing the bodies of four U.S. Navy SEAL members.

In all, 21 U.S. servicemen and one civilian have been reported killed, with more than 208 wounded and four missing.

As the giant plane shut down its engines, the engines’ whine gave way to the sound of Navy color guards’ flags snapping in the wind.

One by one, the flag-draped caskets were carried down the plane’s ramp by Navy honor guards to hearses waiting to take the bodies to the base’s mortuary.

Among the four were Chief Petty Officer Donald L. McFaul, 32, who had a San Diego address. The others were Petty Officer Issac G. Rodriguez III of Missouri City, Tex.; Lt. John P. Connors, 25, of Arlington, Mass., and Petty Officer Chris Tilghman, 29, of Kailua, Hawaii. Rodriguez, 24, was born in Los Angeles.

“These magnificent young men have made the greatest sacrifices for us all,” Garrett said. “They return to our embrace in honor today because they fought for liberty and dignity on behalf of their fellow Americans and on behalf of an oppressed people yearning once again to breathe free.”

As the hearses faded from view, Garrett added: “You who have given your lives for your country, now take your honored place in history and in the hearts of your countrymen.”

No family members of the four were present for the brief ceremony, Dover officials said.

“To the families of these young men, nothing I can say will diminish your grief,” Garrett concluded.

“But as you mourn, take solace and comfort in the thought that a whole nation stands around you, mourns with you and honors the memory of the one that you loved so deeply.”

The somber mood at Dover, site of the Pentagon’s huge East Coast mortuary, contrasted sharply with the upbeat reports at San Antonio, Tex., where the fourth military plane in a two-day period arrived carrying wounded servicemen bound for two military hospitals. Of all the wounded, 18 were reported in serious condition, but none were expected to die or face amputation, military doctors said.

Col. William L. Burner III, the chief of surgery at the Air Force’s Wilford Hall Hospital, said that 57 of 115 patients admitted there had already been cleared for release. He said arrangements were being made for the servicemen to return to their stateside units.

Lt. Col. Robert Solenberger, a surgeon at the Brooke Army Medical Center, said a large but unspecified number of the 78 wounded there were ready to be released.

Both surgeons said the majority of the cases were orthopedic injuries and that most of those were arm or leg fractures. Neither would venture a guess as to why there were so many of those kinds of injuries.

Burner said no more than 40 of the servicemen suffered gunshot injuries, and Solenberger said that roughly half of those at Brooke had either shrapnel, gunfire or shellfire wounds.

Burner said that most of the men expressed a desire to be back in Panama with their units.

“I can’t begin to speak of the incredible motivations and bravery these people had,” Solenberger said. “We had people walking off some of these buses (from the planes) who had tremendously painful wounds, and you’d never know it.”

Both hospitals braced for the anticipated arrival of many relatives of the wounded. The Army opened up a family assistance center at Ft. Sam Houston, where Brooke is located. Charles Russell, the center director, said a variety of needs will be handled, from housing the visitors to arranging for the reimbursement of their travel expenses. Several local hotels have offered free rooms to family members.

Russell said the family assistance center will be staffed 24 hours a day. “We have the resources to accommodate any number that arrives,” he said.

Meanwhile, another flight bringing 14 more bodies was expected at Dover late Thursday night or early this morning.

Among the dead are two California servicemen, William D. Gibbs, 22, an infantryman from Modesto, and Pfc. Roy Dennis Brown Jr., 19, of Buena Park, who was assigned to Alfa Company of the 3rd Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, an elite unit based in Ft. Benning, Ga.

Gibbs, who enlisted in the Army in 1985, was in Panama when fighting broke out. He is survived by his wife, Kimberly, Lt. Col. Claudia Ward of Ft. Ord said Thursday.

Family and friends described Brown as a blond, blue-eyed “California boy” who enjoyed playing trombone as a member of the Magnolia High School marching band in Anaheim and who looked forward to serving in the armed forces.

Brown’s mother, Julie Otto, said in an interview Thursday at her Buena Park home that she last heard from her son last Thursday night, when he phoned to tell family members that his unit had been put on alert and was about to go to combat.

“He couldn’t tell us where he was going, but he told us that he loved us and said good-by, almost as if he knew he wasn’t coming back,” she said.

An American civilian is also among the dead: Gertrude Kandi Helin, a teacher at a Defense Department School in Panama, who was reportedly killed by stray gunfire Wednesday as she returned home from dinner with friends.

AMERICAN SERVICEMEN KILLED IN PANAMA

The following is a partial list released Thursday by the Pentagon identifying 18 of the 21 U.S. servicemen killed in action in Panama:

Army Staff Sgt. Larry R. Barnard, 29, Hallstead, Pa.

Army Cpl. Ivan D. Perez, 22, Pawtucket, R.I.

Army Spec. Jerry Scott Daves, 20, Hope Mills, N.C.

Army Spec. William D. Gibbs, 22, Modesto, Calif.

Army Spec. Phillip S. Lear, 21, Westminster, S.C.

Army Spec. Alejandro I. Manriquelozano, 30, Lauderhill, Fla.

Army Pfc. Roy Dennis Brown Jr., 19, Buena Park, Calif.

Army Pfc. Vance T. Coates, 18, Great Falls, Mont.

Army Pfc. Martin D. Denson, 21, Abilene, Tex.

Army Pfc. James William Markwell, 21, Cincinnati