THE WALL OF FACES

PFC James L. Dillard III is buried in the Lincoln Memorial Park in Allapattah, FL.

Your sacrifice is not forgotten.

HOOAH

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.

Long range reconnaissance patrols, or “Lurps,” were small, heavily armed, long range reconnaissance teams that patrolled deep into enemy-held territory. PFC James L. Dillard III served with E Company, 50th Infantry, a Long-Range Patrol unit of the 9th Infantry Division, operating in the delta region of South Vietnam. Fifteen minutes before midnight on September 13, 1968, his Lurp team was inserted near the My Tho and Nam Thon Rivers in Dinh Tuong Province, RVN. After conducting an unremarkable patrol with no enemy contacts, the team requested exfiltration at 5:50 AM the following morning. While they were transferring from a flat-bottomed sampan to an extraction vessel in the middle of the Nam Thon River, Dillard slipped into the water and was drowned. A Navy SEAL scuba team was requested to help find Dillard. His body was later recovered. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and ichiban1.org]

You will forever remain in our hearts and prayers

Dear PFC James Dillard,
Thank you for your service as an Airborne Qualified Infantryman. Today is Armed Forces Day. Memorial Day is coming up, and 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.