THE WALL OF FACES

I Touched the Wall and it touched me!

Thank you for your service, sir! Your courage and sacrifice are remembered and honored. An additional thanks to your family for their sacrifice as well.

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. Your Silver Star citation attests to your courage and devotion to your fellow soldiers. As long as you are remembered you will remain in our hearts forever…..

Sergeant First Class Jimmy Grant Freeman, Served with Mobile Advisory Team IV-49, Advisory Team 71, Headquarters, Military Assistance Command Vietnam Advisors, Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV).

SSG Gerasimo Arroyo-Baez, 1LT Richard L. Bowers, SSG Darrell E. Anderson, and SSG Jimmy G. Freeman were members of Mobile Advisory Team IV-49 (MAT IV-49), a MACV advisor group attached to an Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) unit based at Tam Soc in Ba Xugen Province, RVN. Early on the morning of March 24, 1969, the base personnel were awoken to find the unit under attack by what was estimated to be a battalion-sized Viet Cong force with a heavy weapons section using mortars, automatic weapons, small arms and B-40 rockets. Bowers was heard on the radio calling for help when the radio went dead. A relief force was sent out to help. When it arrived, all the Vietnamese defenders of Tam Soc Operations Base were found dead, along advisors Anderson and Freeman. Bowers and Arroyo-Baez were not located. A Vietnamese civilian who had been captured and later escaped stated that Bowers and Arroyo-Baez had been taken prisoner, dressed in black pajamas, and were seen being led off into the jungle. Numerous intelligence reports were received concerning two U.S. POWs fitting the descriptions of Bowers and Arroyo-Baez, that were seen by ARVN and VC personnel at different times and locations after their capture, some conflicting. A Vietnamese who was captured and escaped stated that Arroyo-Baez was alive, but that Bowers had been shot the day of capture. The combination of the most credible reports indicate that Bowers and Arroyo-Baez were captured during the battle, but in the confusion were able to escape. They were located by the Viet Cong, however, on the same evening. The next day, a VC guard killed Bowers after he had again attempted to escape. After it was determined that Bowers was dead, the guard and Arroyo-Baez departed with the rest of their group and were forced to travel a number of days by foot and sampan. The files of Bowers and Arroyo-Baez are still classified. SSG Gerasimo Arroyo-Baez's name appeared on the "Died in Captivity" list provided by the Provisional Government of Vietnam in 1973, and it was stated that he died in captivity August 22, 1972. Fourteen years later, in March 1985, the Vietnamese "discovered" the remains of Arroyo-Baez and returned them to the United States. Bowers was posthumously promoted to Major, and Freeman and Arroyo-Baez were posthumously promoted to Sergeant First Class. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and pownetwork.org]