THE WALL OF FACES

I’m thinking of you today, Jon, as I have so many times over the years. We were students together at Eden Prairie H.S. and friends. I lived in D.C. for a few years, and I went to The Wall to find your name.

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. I am 73 and have lived a long and fulfilling life. It is tragic you never had that same opportunity. May you rest in eternal peace.

Operation Toan Thang I ("Complete Victory") was a U.S. Army, Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), 1st Australian Task Force, and Royal Thai Volunteer Regiment operation conducted between April 8 and May 31, 1968. The operation was in reaction to the 1968 Tet Offensive and designed to put pressure on Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese Army (NVA) forces in III Corps. Toan Thang I sought to complete the destruction of company and battalion size VC/NVA forces and to interdict and block enemy supply lines and infiltration routes that led from Long An Province to the Saigon area. Significant contacts with the enemy occurred during the operation. On April 27th, B Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry, 199th Infantry Brigade engaged a reinforced VC platoon on the southwest side of Route 231, across from Ap Binh Giao, approximately four miles southeast of Binh Chanh village in Long An Province. The enemy was concealed in a wagon wheel-shaped bunker complex and allowed the American patrol to approach within 10-15 yards before opening fire. B Company pulled back and sealed off the area, and with the assistance of two supporting companies and an armored cavalry platoon, resumed the contact, killing fourteen VC and capturing an assortment of weapons. The battle cost five U.S. lives, most of which occurred in the initial stages of contact. The lost personnel included PFC Charles J. Bongartz, SP4 Robert J. Bowdern Jr., medic SP4 Jonathon L. Gens (from Headquarters & Headquarters Company [HHC]), PFC Fernando Gutierrez, and PFC Fred Oliver Jr. Oliver was posthumously promoted to Corporal. No other personnel were reported wounded. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and “Army 1968 9th Infantry April 1968” at ttu.edu]

Specialist Four Jonathon Lee Gens, Served with the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 199th Infantry Brigade, United States Army Vietnam.

On the remembrance of your 71st birthday, and on Christmas Day, your sacrifice is not forgotten.

Forever 18.

HOOAH