THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. The remembrance from your nephew Tony Detesta is touching. As long as you are remembered you will remain in our hearts forever....

On August 7, 1967, during Operation Pershing, U.S. 1st Cavalry Division troops were moved into the Song Re Valley, twelve miles west of Ba To in Quang Ngai Province, RVN. Stretching some twenty-four miles north to south, the narrow valley was laced with carefully cultivated rice paddies and well-fed livestock but seemed devoid of people. Troopers advanced cautiously from Gia Vuc, site of a U.S. Army Special Forces camp located astride a major North Vietnamese Army (NVA) infiltration route off the Ho Chi Minh trail. While the leapfrogging battalions established intermediate firebases, they encountered no one in the first two days; however, they had the uneasy feeling they were not alone. On the morning of August 9th, a single cavalry company, A Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry, conducted an air assault onto three small hills, an objective called Landing Zone Pat, nine miles north of Gia Vuc. As the last six UH-1 helicopters lifted off, the NVA opened fire with heavy machine guns. Bullets riddled all the aircraft, bringing three down, while the other three limped back to Gia Vuc. On the ground, the NVA swarmed the lone company. One group, hidden at the base of the hill area, surged out of its trenches and bunkers at the same time another unit, hidden midway up the western slope of the valley, fired down on the isolated American soldiers. While the cavalry troopers sought cover and returned fire, their company commander called in artillery and air strikes. They rained down quickly on the attackers, saving the American company from certain destruction. When the fight ended four hours later, a third of the company were casualties. Eleven U.S. were killed and twenty-seven wounded in the battle, while only a few enemy dead and some weapons were found. The lost personnel included the crew of a UH-1C gunship shot down: aircraft commander WO1 Francis A. Rochkes, co-pilot CPT Robert A. Thompson, crew chief SP4 Ray E. Moran Jr., and observer 1LT Honorio M. Fidel; SP4 John M. Beyrand, a gunner on one of the lift aircraft; SP5 Andrew C. Conrad Jr., a medic from HHC, 2/8; and five infantrymen from A-2/8: PFC Joel D. Fendley (posthumous promotion to Corporal), PFC Joseph J. Harrison (posthumous promotion to Corporal), SP4 Michael J. Hotchkiss, SP4 Prentice D. LeClair, and SGT Robert J. Maxwell. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and wikipedia.org]

I cherish the letters we shared during your tour and re-read them every August. I think of you often and find solace in the belief that you are together in heaven with your mother that you lost at such a young age and are reunited with my mom, your sister Margaret.

Dear Sp5 Andrew Conrad,
Thank you for your service as a Medical NCO with the 1st Cavalry. Thank you for the lives you saved. It is 2018, Happy New Year. It is so important for us all to acknowledge the sacrifices of those like you who answered our nation's call. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness. Rest in peace with the angels.

Thank you grandpa for laying down your life for our country as requested we remember you and all those that laid down their lives so we can have the freedoms we have.