THE WALL OF FACES

1LT. Stephen Doane is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington Virginia. This Sunday would have been his 75th birthday.

1st Lt. Stephen H. Doane was born Oct. 13, 1947, in Beverly Hospital, where his father, who grew up in Swampscott, worked while attending Tufts Medical School.
Stephen Doane spent only six months of his life in Beverly, but the city's Vietnam veterans have claimed him as one of their own. Their organization is called the Beverly Vietnam Veterans 1st Lt. Stephen H. Doane Post 1, and their Web site includes Doane's Medal of Honor citation and photos of him as a child and a young soldier.
Doane was trained as an officer and a Ranger before heading off to Vietnam in January of 1969. "The last thing he said before getting on the plane was, 'Dad, I'm not going to come back a dead hero. I'm going to take care of my men,'" his father said.
It is the right of the city where the person is born to Honor and Remember them. It is with pleasure that we do so here, a place where Stephen and his Dad got their beginnings.
God Bless the American Servicemen and Women who so proudly and without fault protect a society not matched throughout the World. And with Military Might, spread Peace to those who want it.

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 sunlight 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.

We can never truly repay the great debt we owe our fallen heroes. May those who served never be forgotten. Rest in peace 1LT. Doane, I salute your brave soul. My heart goes out to you and your family.

First Lieutenant Stephen Holden Doane, Served with the 2nd Platoon, Company B, 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, United States Army Vietnam.