THE WALL OF FACES

Ssgt Richard Roland (Sonny) Arsenault is buried at Mount Zion Cemetery Route 12 Webster, Ma. 01570

Staff Sergeant Richard Roland Arsenault, Served with Advisory Team 43, Headquarters, Military Assistance Command Vietnam Advisors, Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV).

DEAR STAFF SERGEANT ARSENAULT,
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE AS AN ARMY GRUNT. REST IN PEACE.

On May 26, 1972, a reconnaissance-in-force along Route 7 in Hau Nhia Province was conducted by Duc Hue militia forces which sought to determine the extent of a North Vietnamese presence remaining in villages that they had recently invaded from their sanctuary in nearby Cambodia. The recon force was supported by several armored personnel carriers of the ARVN 25th Division. Two MACV U.S. advisors from Advisory Team 43 accompanied the operation, CAPT Ed Schwabe and SSGT Richard R. Arsenault. Moving east along Route 7, the ARVN unit met light resistance from North Vietnamese regulars in an enemy bunker. Coming from the west, the column that Schwabe and Arsenault moved with encountered a well-laid ambush. While they passed a graveyard, the North Vietnamese attacked with a B-41 rocket. Arsenault, who was carrying a radio, was killed instantly by the blast. The explosion knocked CAPT Schwabe off his feet and peppered him with shrapnel. North Vietnamese soldiers then poured heavy fire on the stunned militia troops, who took cover behind sandstone grave markers. Several government soldiers died as the dazed and wounded CAPT Schwabe struggled to gain the meager cover offered by the cemetery. The American officer was saved only because a brave Vietnamese interpreter dragged his boss to safety. [Taken from “Silence Was a Weapon: The Vietnam War in the Villages” by Stuart A. Herrington, Presidio Press, 1982]

Although it has been 44 yrs since you have been gone, sometimes it seems like yesterday. I still hear your voice and see your smile. I (your loving wife) will always love you my Sonny boy.