THE WALL OF FACES

First Lieutenant Benjamin Bertram Finzer, Served with the 497th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, 7th Air Force.

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

Dear Lt Benjamin Finzer,
Thank you for your service as a Tactical Aircraft Pilot (Various.) Your 52nd anniversary is next week, sad. Tuesday is the 17th anniversary of 9/11, and we remember you all. It has been too long, and it's about time for us all to acknowledge the sacrifices of those like you who answered our nation's call. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness. Rest in peace with the angels.

If I should die, and leave you here awhile, be not like others, sore undone, who keep ,long vigils by the silent dust, and weep...for MY sake, turn again to life, and smile...Nerving thy heart, and trembling hand to do something to comfort other hearts than thine...Complete these dear, unfinished tasks of mine...and I,, perchance, may therein comfort you.

On September 13, 1966, CAPT John E. Stackhouse and 1LT Benjamin B. Finzer were killed after their USAF F-4C “Wolfpack” Phantom II (#63-7694) from the 497th Tactical Fighter Squadron crashed on takeoff from Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base in Thailand. Soon after becoming airborne, the aircraft went into an excessively steep pitch angle, stalled, and impacted the runway. Stackhouse had been on temporary duty to the 497th. Just over a month earlier, Finzer had survived being shot down during an armed reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam with a different pilot, successfully ejecting over the Gulf of Tonkin and being rescued by a Navy helicopter. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org, 8tfw.com, and thewall-usa.com]