THE WALL OF FACES

Rest in peace with the warriors.

On April 11, 1968, two U.S. Marine Corps helicopters operating in the Quang Tri Province (I Corps) collided in mid-air, resulting in the deaths of 12 marines. The two aircraft, returning to Dong Ha while on a medivac mission, crashed just east of Camp Carol while letting down through overcast skies. One helicopter, a UH-1E tail number 154968, was from Marine Observation Squadron 6 (VMO-6). Its crew included aircraft commander 1LT Ronald E. Riede, pilot CAPT Bruce F. McMillan, crew chief CPL Paul J. Allen, and gunner LCPL Michael G. DeMarco. The other aircraft, a UH-34D tail number 145804 from Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 163 (HMM 163), was crewed by aircraft commander CAPT Eugene R. Gannon, pilot 2LT John P. Holden II, crew chief CPL Frederick D. Graten, and gunner CPL John A. Nixon. There were also four passengers on board 804: CPL Robert W. Belcher, PFC Dennis R. Davidson, PFC Richard E. Erwin, and PFC Charles R. Finley. All personnel on both aircraft perished in the crash. [Taken from vhpa.org]

Charles is buried at Memorial Park Cemetery,Cape Girardeau,MO. PH

At daybreak on 11 April 1968, a UH-34D from HMM-163 launched on a medevac flight to pick up wounded Marines from the vicinity of Khe Sanh. The UH-34D was escorted by two UH-1E gunships from VMO-6. After picking up the four wounded men, the flight proceeded toward the medical facility at Dong Ha. While enroute, one of the escorting UH-1Es - which were flying above and behind the UH-34D - was involved in a mid-air collision with the UH-34. Both aircraft went down. Thirteen men died in the accident:
Aboard the UH-34D (BuNo 145804):
CAPT Eugene Richard Gannon, aircraft commander
2ndLT John Parker Holden II, copilot
CPL John Arleigh Nixon, gunner
Cpl Frederick Dunham Graten, crew chief


HN Frank Paul Addice, Navy Corpsman, MAG-36
CPL Robert Winslow Belcher, passenger, H&S Co, 3/26
PFC Dennis Robert Davidson, passenger, A Co, 3rd Tank Bn
PFC Richard Eugene Erwin, passenger, H&S Co, 3/26
PFC Charles Richard Finley, passenger, M Co, 3/26


Aboard the UH-1E (BuNo 154968):
CAPT Bruce Francis McMillan, pilot
1stLT Ronald Edgar Riede, copilot
CPL Paul James Allen, crew chief
LCPL Michael Gregory DeMarco, gunner

FOREVER REMEMBERED

"If you are able, save for them a place inside of you....and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the places they can no longer go.....Be not ashamed to say you loved them....
Take what they have left and what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own....And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind...."

Quote from a letter home by Maj. Michael Davis O'Donnell
KIA 24 March 1970. Distinguished Flying Cross: Shot down and Killed while attempting to rescue 8 fellow soldiers surrounded by attacking enemy forces.

We Nam Brothers pause to give a backward glance, and post this remembrance to you, one of the gentle heroes lost to the War in Vietnam:

Slip off that pack. Set it down by the crooked trail. Drop your steel pot alongside. Shed those magazine-ladened bandoliers away from your sweat-soaked shirt. Lay that silent weapon down and step out of the heat. Feel the soothing cool breeze right down to your soul ... and rest forever in the shade of our love, brother.

From your Nam-Band-Of-Brothers