THE WALL OF FACES

A butterfly lights beside us like a sunbeam
And for a brief moment its glory
and beauty belong to our world
But then it flies again
And though we wish it could have stayed...
We feel lucky to have seen it.

Never forgotten.

HOOAH

MSGT Douglas Harold D'Orsay is buried in Hopedale Village Cemetery in Hopedale, MA.

Your sacrifice is not forgotten.

HOOAH

Dear Msgt Douglas D'Orsay,
Thank you for your service. I do not know your MOS, but you served/ Your 53 anniversary is soon, so sad. We remember all you who gave their all. It has been too long, and it's about time 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.

On June 25, 1965, two powerful terrorists’ bombs exploded in quick succession besides a crowded floating restaurant on the Saigon River, killing at least 38 and wounding about 75. Eight of the dead and 10 of the wounded were Americans. The terrorist strike, about 500 yards from the United States Embassy, was the bloodiest of its kind up to that point in the Vietnam War. The blasts from shore slashed across the luxuriously appointed decks of the restaurant, the My Canh, at about 8:15 PM. The blast broke windows as far as two blocks away. American investigators said one of the bombs was a powerful shaped charge—possibly an American Claymore electric mine—planted into the bank of the river near the restaurant’s awning-covered gangplank. The other was a bicycle bomb. The eight American killed in the blast were military personnel. They included MSGT Douglas H. D'Orsay, A1C Robert J. Smith, A1C Michael E. Widener, PO1C German P. Acosta, SFC Alfred Coombs Jr., PFC Michael J. Ihnat, PFC James T. Brown Jr., and SSGT Charles A. Williamson [“Saigon Bomb Kills 38 in Floating Restaurant.” Chicago Tribune, June 26, 1965]