THE WALL OF FACES

SERGEANT



EDWARD DAVID CROW





who served with





COMPANY B



3rd BATTALION



22nd INFANTRY REGIMENT



" DEEDS, NOT WORDS "



3rd BRIGADE



25th INFANTRY DIVISION



" TROPIC LIGHTNING "





was posthumously awarded the





DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS



SILVER STAR



PURPLE HEART



NATIONAL DEFENSE SERVICE MEDAL



VIETNAM SERVICE MEDAL



REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM CAMPAIGN SERVICE MEDAL





and was entitled to wear the





COMBAT INFANTRYMAN BADGE











THE PROUD YOUNG VALOR THAT ROSE ABOVE THE MORTAL

AND THEN, AT LAST, WAS MORTAL AFTER ALL











YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN



NOR SHALL YOU EVER BE







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CITATION FOR POSTHUMOUS AWARD OF THE



DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS





The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross ( Posthumously ) to Edward David Crow, Sergeant, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations involving conflict with an armed hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam, while serving with Company B, 3d Battalion, 22d Infantry, 3d Brigade, 25th Infantry Division. Sergeant Crow distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions on 12 April 1968 while serving with an infantry company during an enemy attack on its position. His unit was in a night defensive position when it became the target of a mortar and ground assault. Initially, the intensity of the enemy fire forced Sergeant Crow to abandon his mortar position, but he quickly regrouped his men and personally led a counterattack to regain it. His men began receiving enemy machine gun fire when they had advanced to within fifteen meters of the weapon site. Ignoring the fusillade, Sergeant Crow continued towards his objective and destroyed the machine gun with hand grenades. After successfully regaining the mortar emplacement, he fired illumination rounds to expose the enemy in the darkness and placed effective suppressive fire upon the insurgents which forced their withdrawal. Sergeant Crow's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.







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REMEMBRANCE

David was my very best friend. When I heard he was killed it felt like I had lost an older brother. We went and did everything together. Often played basketball in my back yard by spotlight until 10 pm. I think about him often.I will always miss him.

David and his best friend Benny once told me, "Mr. Lew, you're our second-favorite teacher." I thought, that's not bad, 2nd of six, so I bit and thanked them. "Yeah," they said, "all the rest are tied for first." They laughed and laughed and I had to join in. They had got me good. That was in 1965. In the spring of '68 I saw a picture ine the local paper of SGT David Crow in a line with other grunts being pinned with the Silver Star Medal. Within a few weeks there was another item in the paper; David had been killed. Very soon I was at his funeral in the Ft. Benning Post Chapel. At the graveside at the Post Cemetary, I found Benny and we stood together. We were OK until they fired the salute and David's mother cried out. We lost it then and retreated up the hill and stood weeping through Taps. I've since been to too many student funerals, but not to another Military Funeral. They're too hard on an old man. I've recently learned that David was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for an action on 12 April, 1968 (GO#3815,6Aug68). This was almost a month before he was killed. He'd have been 61 now. He missed being a father and grandfather. He has missed the blessings so many of us take for granted. Thank you, David, for your selfless sacrifice. I won't say you are my all-time favorite student, but you are definitely tied for first. Love ya long time, son, you're still in my heart and prayers.

FOREVER REMEMBERED

"If you are able, save for them a place inside of you....and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the places they can no longer go.....Be not ashamed to say you loved them....
Take what they have left and what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own....And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind...."

Quote from a letter home by Maj. Michael Davis O'Donnell
KIA 24 March 1970. Distinguished Flying Cross: Shot down and Killed while attempting to rescue 8 fellow soldiers surrounded by attacking enemy forces.

We Nam Brothers pause to give a backward glance, and post this remembrance to you, one of the gentle heroes lost to the War in Vietnam:

Slip off that pack. Set it down by the crooked trail. Drop your steel pot alongside. Shed those magazine-ladened bandoliers away from your sweat-soaked shirt. Lay that silent weapon down and step out of the heat. Feel the soothing cool breeze right down to your soul ... and rest forever in the shade of our love, brother.

From your Nam-Band-Of-Brothers

Edward is buried at Ft Benning Post Cem. The cemetery says his unit was Co B, 3/22,25 INF DIV