THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. As long as you are remembered you will always be with us….

You will forever remain in our hearts and prayers

Lance Corporal Willie James Faulks, Served with Company L, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, Third Marine Amphibious Force.

At 8:15 AM on August 29, 1968, while establishing a blocking position with Mike Company 3rd Battalion 7th Marines (3/7) in preparation for Operation Sussex Bay, a search and clear operation in Quang Nam Province, RVN, the lead Platoon of Lima Company, 3/7, received intense hostile sniper fire and made heavy contact with the enemy in the Dodge City area southwest of Da Nang, 2 miles south of Hill 55. While attempting to maneuvering against the enemy flank, the Marines came under a heavy volume of automatic-weapons fire delivered from three sides by a large North Vietnamese Army force, and sustained numerous casualties. Mike Company 3/7, and elements of Company D, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, Company G, 2d Battalion, 27th Marines, and 3rd Platoon, Bravo Company, First Tank Battalion joined in the battle assisting Lima company to extract from the ambush area. Assisted by aircraft and artillery, the Marines dislodged the North Vietnamese. Friendly losses totaled 10 dead and 33 wounded. The Marines reported killing 42 of the enemy.
The Lima 3/7 losses included; PFC Ronald E. Adkins, LCPL Willie J. Faulks, Platoon Radioman CPL Louis A. Herrera, PFC Lile L. Johnson Jr., PFC Richard S. Moxley, LCPL Raymond P. Reilly and Navy Corpsman Richard Lee Powell. The Mike 3/7 losses were CPL Gary A. Hall, and PFC Donald W. Simonson. 2LT Harold C. Dailey II, platoon commander of 3rd Platoon, Bravo Company, First Tank Battalion, fell victim to an enemy sniper’s bullet while in a strategy session with the tank commanders who were under his command.
[Taken from virtualwall.org, coffeltdatabase.org, and “U.S. Marines in Vietnam: 1968 The Defining Year” and the Navy Cross citation of “Doc” Richard Powell]

Fifty years ago today , six young souls taken from Lima 3/7.