THE WALL OF FACES

(Photo Credit: Donald Boyd) Rest in peace with the warriors.

Rest in peace knowing that you are not forgotten by your fellow countrymen. You honored us by your service and sacrifice and we now honor you each time we stand and sing the words to our national anthem "....the land of the free and the home of the brave". You were one of the brave who answered the call.

Taken from the following website:
www.facesfromthewall.com/1968mar.html

PFC Frost served in C Co, 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division.

Two Island's Men Die In Vietnam.

Mercer Island's Darryl W. Wright, 23, and Michael D. Frost, 21, lost their lives in Vietnam, Darryl on 6 Mar (1968) and Michael on 2 Mar (1968), according to Defense Department Information...
Michael, a 1964 MIHS graduate, has completed two years at Everett Jr. College and one year at Central Washington State College in Ellensburg. He was also drafted into the Army in July 1967.
The men knew each other, and their Army careers were parallel. Both trained at Ft. Lewis, then underwent advanced infantry training in jungle warfare at Ft. Polk, LA. They spent the latter part of November on leave at their homes on Mercer Island, and went to Viet Nam in early December...
Michael Frost was the son of Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Frost, who moved to Mercer Island from Bellevue seven years ago. His sister Susan 16, attends Mercer Island High School.
Michael's special interest was photography. He was President of MIHS photo club, and contributed sports event pictures to the Mercer Island Reporter. Before his death he had been avidly documenting his war experiences with his own photographs, his mother once told the Reporter.
Michael's father said that his son, like most young men who today face inevitable military obligation, had to decide for himself his real motivation and objectives, and what action his conscience dictated he should take.
That Michael found his own answers in his own way is evident from writings he never mailed, but which were found among his personal effects and quoted in part for the Reporter by Mr. Frost.
"I have been prepared for something I'm not sure I believe in. It makes my own conscience this job and set aside other personal beliefs.
"I have this inexplicable feeling of duty. I am not sure I can explain what I mean by duty, other than it is something that combines pride and Responsibility. If I were to some way dodge this service obligation I'd feel like an apple tree that doesn't bear apples but takes the best from the soil around it and gives nothing in return.
Michael indicated further, his father said, that he was not content with the "apple tree" analogy, but it was the best he could think of.
Memorial services for Michael Frost will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, 23 Mar (1968), in the First Congregational Church, Bellevue. The family suggests that any rememberances be made in the form of contributions to the First Congregational Church Memorial Fund, 752 108th NE Bellevue. (MI Reporter, Mercer Island WA, Thursday 21 Mar 1968)

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 hero’s 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 heros 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

I go to Gridley High School in Gridley, IL and I am completing the following remembrance for the Gridley High School Posting Project. It takes a very great person to make the commitment that you did. You fought for integrity and faithfulness to this country. Your selflessness will always be remembered!