THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. May you rest in eternal peace.

On the remembrance of your 73rd birthday, your sacrifice is not forgotten.

Semper Fi, Doc

The Combined Unit Pacification Program (CUPP) was a United States Marine Corps operational initiative designed to strengthen the defense of rural Vietnamese hamlets. Marine units assigned to the program reinforced and trained local rural soldiers how to protect their villages. On June 8, 1970, a jeep carrying CUPP Marines was traveling near the hamlet of Phu Huong (1) on Route 4, southwest of Hill 65 in Quang Nam Province, RVN, when it hit a box mine concealed in the roadbed. The 8:45 AM blast killed four occupants of the jeep and wounded three Marine personnel from Alpha Squad, Third Platoon, India Company, 3/5 Marines, who were positioned along the road. The dead Marines included LCPL Willie L. Steele, SGT Albert A. St. Lawrence, and CPL George L. Tucker Jr., and Navy corpsman HM2 Albert C. Bachman Jr. The wounded Alpha Squad Marines were at a gun placement 30 feet from the passing vehicle when the explosion occurred. They were part of a 12-man team that had just come off a night ambush and were having some c-rations for breakfast. Only one of the injured squad members required evacuation. A USMC CH-46 helicopter landed and carried away the dead and wounded. A bulldozer from an Army land clearing team arrived to fill the crater left by the blast. The mine was later determined to be a pressure-type device estimated at 60 lbs. The explosion blew a hole in the ground eight feet across and a few feet deep. The only discernable remains of the jeep was its engine block which rested at the bottom of the crater. At 9:20 AM, the dozer detonated a second pressure-type mine near where the first blast occurred. The explosion tossed the bulldozer operator into an adjacent rice paddy where he was found by the Alpha squad leader searching for detonating wires and persons responsible. Some Vietnamese civilians moving across the roadway were also injured in the second explosion. Another medivac helicopter was requested and took away the injured. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and Command Chronology (3d Bn 5th Marines) at ttu.edu; also; information provided by Charles C. Cardinal Jr. (March 2020)]

SEMPER FI

SEMPER FI