THE WALL OF FACES

Dear Specialist 4 Glasspoole ~ You Are Not Forgotten!
With the upcoming anniversary (May 21st) of your passing, today I ran a mile with you in my thoughts and prayers. Rest in Peace, dear brother.

Each year since September 2015, at the annual 5th Division Army reunion, members of the Society of the Fifth Division, U.S Army remember the 514 soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 5th Division, who were Killed in Action in Vietnam. You are among the soldiers remembered. You Are Not Forgotten!

Phil “LT Mike” Maniscalco
Society of the 5th Division, U.S. Army
Delta Company 1/11 Infantry
Vietnam Sept 1968- Sept 1969

Specialist Four Randall Wayne Glasspoole, Served with Company A, 1st Battalion, 61st Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division, United States Army Vietnam.

Forty-none years ago on this May 21st a fellow student from Kelly Walsh High School and a good friend of mine was killed in a place called Vietnam. It had been a hot humid day; US Army SP4 Randall Glasspoole had just finished his dinner in the mess hall at Charlie 2 Firebase in Quang Tri Province. The Quang Tri firebase was in the northern most province in South Vietnam; Charlie 2 was just 4 miles south of the DMZ. Dinner was cut short when the North Vietnamese Army began rocketing the base with 122 mm rockets. Randy and 60 other soldiers’ seeked shelter in a deep bunker next to the mess hall. At 5:30 PM one of the 122 mm rockets with a 100 pound delayed fuse struck the bunker and penetrated the 6 foot thick sandbagged ceiling and exploded. Just about everyone in the bunker was either killed or wounded, only five men escaped with their lives. I would have thought that the passing of 49 years would have cooled very guttural human anguish to his death. To be truthful, time has only magnified his passing with each of my passing years. I am proudly a 1968 graduate of Kelly Walsh High School. I knew Randy as a Trojans star basketball player and letterman in football, I knew his parents Mr. and Mrs. Glasspoole and I knew his brother.

Randy’s death was a human tragedy beyond belief, at the time it was overshadowed by the news of battle engagements with the North Vietnamese and the reports of causalities of American boys. On television you could see the flag draped caskets being unloaded from Air force transports at Dover AFB, or Hickham Field, Hawaii. The TV was such a personal intrusion because always present was a mother whose son would never return home or a very young lovely bride clutching a child to her breast; and being handed a folded U. S. flag. If you ever get a chance to review old film clips look at these women’s faces, it says it all. It says what words cannot express. These are haunting visions that I will never forget.

Mr. And Mrs. Glasspoole buried their son in Wyoming soil. Wyoming the state of his birth and upbringing and now his final resting place. Randy was a hero and a true patriot, he was one of Wyoming’s best, strong, intelligent, ambitious and an undeniable love for his country.

Now 49 years later when I am attending any event where the flag is raised and the National Anthem is sung, an image of Randy floods into my mind. I have come to realize that this is the small piece of Randy that I will carry with me

Dear Sp4 Randall Glasspoole,
Thank you for your service as an Infantryman. Merry Christmas. It has been too long, and it's about time for us all to acknowledge the sacrifices of those like you who answered our nation's call. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness. Rest in peace with the angels.

Randy...Honoring You on your birthday...God bless