THE WALL OF FACES

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 a day to maintain in the U.S., cost less than $5 a day in Vietnam. SP4 Paul D. Bacon was a Personnel Specialist serving with Headquarters & Headquarters Detachment (HHD), 71st Transportation Battalion, 4th Transportation Command, Army Support Command Saigon, 1st Logistical Command. On June 5, 1972, Bacon was found on a street in the capital of Saigon in Gia Dinh Province, RVN. He was taken to a medical facility where he was pronounced dead on arrival. A subsequent casualty report dated September 21, 1972, attributed his death to a drug overdose. He was 22 years old. An article in the Ocean Grove Times (Neptune City, NJ) dated June 22, 1972, reported that Bacon died one day prior to returning home from his second tour of Vietnam. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and “G.I. Heroin Addiction Epidemic in Vietnam.” New York Times (New York, NY), May 16, 1971]

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

You will forever remain in our hearts and prayers

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

Specialist Four Paul David Bacon, Served with the Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 71st Transportation Battalion, 4th Transportation Command, United States Army Support Command (Saigon), 1st Logistical Command, United States Army Vietnam.