THE WALL OF FACES

May those who served never be forgotten. Rest in peace SP4. Doss, I salute your brave soul. My heart goes out to you and your family.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

Operation Paul Revere IV was a U.S. Army operation that took place in the Plei Trap Valley near the Vietnam-Cambodia border, lasting from October 20 to December 30, 1966. In early October 1966, U.S. intelligence reported a buildup of North Vietnamese Army (NVA) units near Plei Djereng and Duc Co Special Forces Camps southeast of the Plei Trap Valley. On October 22nd, the 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division was combat assaulted into Plei Djereng and began sweeping west towards the border. The 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry, one of four battalions participating in the operation, placed B Company, 2/8 on a mountain top where they dug in. On the early morning of the 29th, five men in a listening post some 300 yards outside the company perimeter detected movement through the Starlight night-vision device they carried. They were instructed to toss grenades at the approaching enemy and return to friendly lines. At 2:30 AM, B Company began receiving accurate rocket and mortar fire on their position after flares placed in the trees above them at the behest of the company commander were illuminated. The company then received a sustained ground attack by an estimated NVA battalion. The Americans fought back with unit weapons supported by fixed-wing gunship and artillery fire. The enemy broke contact at 10:40 AM, leaving numerous dead behind. U.S. losses were six killed and twenty-three wounded. The lost personnel included SSG Raymond Pearl Jr., SP4 Carroll D. Abbott, PFC Robert D. Benton, SP4 Raymond Doss, PFC Richard F. Musto, and PFC Daniel B. Nolff. After the fighting subsided, a landing zone (LZ) was hastily cut so medivac aircraft could remove the seriously wounded and dead. Army engineers later arrived with chain saws and expanded the LZ for further medivac and resupply of the besieged company. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and information provided by William H. Whittley (July 2021)]

We trained together till we shipped over to Nam. Was a very good friend. Miss you ,think of you often and especially when l go to Kentucky to visit Everett and Shelby.

Its been a lot of years but Ray will never be forgotten. I visit The Wall this time each year to honor him and the other soldiers we lost that day.RIP my Vietnam brother.I am Sam Key.