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.

Dear PFC Thomas Davis,
Thank you for your service as a Field Artillery Basic. 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.

In the first half of 1969, three companies of the 299th Combat Engineer Battalion and the 15th Light Equipment Company defended the big American base and air strip at Dak To, RVN, against the North Vietnamese Army’s 66th Infantry Regiment and 40th Artillery Regiment. From January through July of 1969, some six hundred bulldozer drivers, crane and front-end loader operators, mechanics, medics, cooks, clerks, truck drivers, and other non-infantry men defended the rugged, jungle-covered mountain in the Central Highlands northwest of Kontum near the Laos and Cambodian borders. From May 9 until the second week of July, the NVA shelled the mountain virtually every day with 122mm rockets, 81mm mortar rounds, recoilless rifles, and B-40 rockets. Late in the afternoon of May 13, 1969, nineteen 122mm rockets flew into the 299th’s compound. The six-foot, 100 lb. projectiles were described as “big enough you could see them flying through the air…they looked like flying telephone poles.” Four artillerymen perished in the attack. They were SP4 Thomas M. Connell, PFC Thomas W. Davis, SSGT Donald R. Kraft, and PFC Lynn J. Wieser. Another eleven Americans were wounded. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and digitaledition.qwinc.com]

Dear PFC Thomas Warren Davis, sir

As an American, I would like to thank you for your service and for your sacrifice made on behalf of our wonderful country. The youth of today could gain much by learning of heroes such as yourself, men and women whose courage and heart can never be questioned.

May God allow you to read this, and may He allow me to someday shake your hand when I get to Heaven to personally thank you. May he also allow my father to find you and shake your hand now to say thank you; for America, and for those who love you.

With respect, Sir

Curt Carter

You gave your life for your country and for this we Salute You.