THE WALL OF FACES

57 years since Nam, I still miss you Brother....

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.

As long as you are remembered you will always be with us....

Though I'll never know why you went back, 51 years later, we're closer to guarding "heav'ns shore" than ever before. Semper fi....Mike

Private Clarence Ray Angus, Served with Company C, 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, Third Marine Amphibious Force.

On August 15, 1967, a dawn patrol consisting of over twenty Marines from C Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, were sent toward a village 1 ½ miles east of Hoi An on Cam Thanh Island in Quang Nam Province, RVN, to investigate a possible enemy presence in the area. The group was divided into three squads and left before dawn under the cover of darkness. The plan was to conduct a hammer and anvil maneuver by positioning one squad as a blocking force (the anvil) and use the other two as the hammer. The plan was complicated when the blocking force started receiving sniper fire. Then a Marine from one of the hammer squads triggered a booby-trap. Two men were killed in the blast and two critically injured. A medivac was called and removed the injured. Because of heavy enemy fire, stretchers were tossed out of the aircraft for the Marines to carry back to base the two dead. As the Marines moved towards their base with their two fallen comrades, a second, more violent explosion occurred as another booby-trap was detonated. The effect was devastating. Dead and critically injured Marines were strewn about. Their wounds were horrifying, with limbs and flesh ripped from bodies. Two were decapitated by the blast, and another was blown into a tree, the bottom half of his body missing. A total of ten men were killed in the two explosions. Again, medivac helicopters were called in, and the wounded and dead were placed aboard. The able-bodied survivors then marched back to their patrol base. The Marines lost in the two mine explosions included PVT Clarence R. Angus, PVT Glenn C. Baer, LCPL Larry E. Bowman, LCPL Douglas R. Dickerson Jr., LCPL Gordon P. Eadie, 1LT Robert V. Kemp, LCPL Robert A. Kolas, SSGT James J. McCormack, PFC Paul McEachron, and Navy corpsman HN Clifford K. Coons. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and the book “Lions of Medina” by Doyle D. Glass]