THE WALL OF FACES

Sergeant Eugene Thomas Gilmore, Served with the 625th Supply and Service Company, 26th General Support Group, United States Army Support Command (DaNang), 1st Logistical Command, United States Army Vietnam.

On May 16, 1971, a New York Times article described heroin use by American troops in Vietnam had reached epidemic proportions. The piece reported that 10 to 15 percent of lower-ranking enlisted men were heroin users, and military officials working in drug‐suppression estimated that as much as a quarter of all enlisted personnel, more than 60,000 men, were hooked. They added that some field surveys reported units with more than 50 percent of the men on heroin. In Vietnam, the drug was plentiful, cheap, and 95 percent pure. Its effects could casually be achieved through smoking or snorting, as compared to the U.S., where the drug was impure, only about five percent heroin, and had to be main-lined or injected into the bloodstream to achieve a comparable high. The habit, which cost 100 dollars a day to maintain in the U.S., cost only five dollars a day in Vietnam. SGT Eugene T. Gilmore was a Materiel Control and Accounting Specialist serving with the 625th Support & Service Company, 26th General Support Group, U.S. Army Support Command Da Nang, 1st Logistical Command. The mission of the 26th General Support Group was to provide support to combat units operating within its area of responsibility in Military Region 2 (I Corps Tactical Zone). This included (but not limited to) transportation, ordnance resupply, veterinary services, maintenance assistance, bath & laundry, food service, and postal units. On the morning of January 17, 1971, Gilmore was found unconscious in a shower in his company’s area at Quang Tri Combat Base in Quang Tri Province, RVN. He was transported to the 18th Surgical Hospital at Camp Evans where he expired at 3:45 AM the following morning. The cause of death was listed as cardiac arrest caused by a narcotics (heroin) overdose. Gilmore was 22 years old. His body was forwarded to the U.S. Army Mortuary at Da Nang where Graves Registration personnel prepared the remains for shipment back to his family in the United States. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and “Operational Report - Lessons Learned, Headquarters, 26th General Support Group, Period Ending 31 July 1968” at dtic.mil]

Image courtesy of Redbird Research LLC, Saint Charles, MO.

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

You will forever remain in our hearts and prayers