THE WALL OF FACES

Chief Warrant Officer Richard Maxwell Arann, Served with the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 10th Aviation Battalion, 17th Aviation Group, 1st Aviation Brigade, United States Army Vietnam.

After receiving a non-judicial punishment for marijuana possession, PVT William E. Sutton decided to kill his company commander and first sergeant. On June 24, 1969, the intoxicated private set up claymore mines outside their billets, well aware that the explosions would easily penetrate the outer walls of the structures and strike his victims. The first device did not so much as scratch the company commander but killed helicopter pilot CWO Richard M. Arann, who was asleep in the building. His second detonation missed its intended victim as well, but nearly killed a sergeant major. Sutton was apprehended and sentence to life imprisonment. The longest-serving fragger from the Vietnam War, he was released in 1999, only to be rearrested a month later in Tennessee for burglary and theft. [Taken from the book Fragging by George Lepre] The following is a personal account of this incident: My hooch was about 5 yards from CW2 Arann's hooch and about 20 yards from SMAJ McBee's hooch. When Willie Sutton detonated the claymore mines, we actually thought we were under a mortar attack. The reason our commanding officer's life was spared was because Sutton had run the claymore mine wire over a water pipe that ran along the rear wall of the officers' hooch. As he pulled the wire back to the bunker he would be in, the wire and claymore mine slid along the pipe and ended up where CW2 Arann was sleeping. Our First Sergeant was spared also because he had just moved his bunk from the wall where Sutton had placed the claymore to the wall that was perpendicular to the front wall. So when Sutton hit the detonator, the fragments blew right by our First Sergeant and hit SMAJ McBee, whose bunk was against the far wall at the back of the hooch. I don't know why our First Sergeant moved his cot, but that's what saved his life. Although SMAJ McBee was wounded by the second claymore mine, his wounds were really not life-threatening. He received fragments in his right leg and shin, and was walking with a cane the next day. Unfortunately, two weeks later, he was hit with mortar fragments in his left elbow. Yeah, it was a really bad couple of weeks for him. For some stupid reason, Sutton listed me as a character reference for his court-martial. Since I would be back in the states when the court-martial was to be held, I gave a deposition in Nha Trang before I rotated back home. Based upon what I said, Sutton's defense attorney decided not to use me as a character reference. Perhaps my statement that I didn't care if they took Sutton out back and shot him right there had something to do with his decision! Yeah, Sutton was a thief, liar, and murderer who should have gotten the death penalty instead of life in prison, which he didn't serve anyway. I've heard that he was shot and killed during a bad drug deal in his hometown of Memphis after he was released from prison the second time. Even though this happened 47 years ago, I still can't get those memories to go away. At the time, I was a 22 year old Sergeant. [Narrative by anonymous (November 2016)]

May you rest in peace. I will never forget what happened at 2:05 on the morning of June 24, 1969. You were the innocent victim of the poorly placed claymore that took your life. I am still haunted by what happened that day.

DEAR CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER,
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE AS AN ARMY HELICOPTER FLIGHT PILOT, WHO DID MULTIPLE TOURS. REST IN PEACE.

Chief Warrant Officer Second Class Richard Maxwell Arann, Servede with the 192 Assault Helicopter Company, 10th Combat Aviation Battalion, 1st Aviation Brigade.