THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. As long as you are remembered you will always be with us.

Thank you for giving youall when others or rushing to get away you are the one that is rushing to the Emergance as a us Air Force fire fighter you gave your all

Thank you for your service and your sacrifice. Thank you for stepping up and answering your country's call. Rest easy knowing you will never be forgotten.

Dear Ssgt Raymond Daubendiek,
Thank you for your service. I do not know your MOS, but appreciated all you gave. Passover just began and today is Easter. Happy Easter. 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.

On May 17, 1972, a USAF F-105G (#63-8347) was returning to Korat AFB, Thailand, following an Iron Hand SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) mission. Upon touchdown, there was a shimmy in the aircraft and a tire blow out. The left main gear then collapsed, and the aircraft slid to a stop, igniting its fuel in the 450-gallon left inboard tank. USAF Crash Rescue crewmen SGT James Lathon and SSGT Raymond M. Daubendiek, along with other crash crew members, arrived on scene and were instrumental in getting the cockpit canopies off and unbuckling the crew, pilot MAJ Donald W. Kilgus and EWO (electronic warfare officer) MAJ James G Dozier. They removed the crew and got them safely away from the burning aircraft, and suppressed most of the fire. However, after about eight minutes following the arrival of the fire crew, the AGM-45 warhead on the left side of the aircraft detonated. In the blast and shrapnel, SGT Lathon, SSGT Daubendiek, and four Royal Thai Air Force personnel were killed outright. Twelve other crash crew members were injured, some horribly maimed. Lathon was posthumously awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal on September 28, 1972. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and aviation-safety.net]