THE WALL OF FACES

Dear Dan Gardner, having just read through your remembrance posted several months ago, I further made aware, palpably, of just how frightening that experience had to have been for primarily young men patrolling jungles where each and every step could be your last. As before, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your service and sacrifice!

We'd previously discussed the prospect of finding photos of Bags in action at Belmont Abbey, and having been contacted last week by an Abbey '00 alum (Matt Memrick) who is also a local news writer, I'm thrilled to provide this link below and the multiple photos you'll find on pages 153-160 of the Abbey basketball team and Dennis wearing jersey #12 (though he's wearing a jersey with #3? in one of the photos). Though listed at 6'4", his long arms and legs - as well as his leaping ability and pure HEART - he always "played bigger" and could shoot the lights out of the gym!

Note that the only other black athlete is Willis Dargon (passed away in 2012), as he and Dennis were recruited by my father to become the first black athletes AND students to attend and play at Belmont Abbey. They arrived as freshmen in August '65, stepping into a world that was still shocking hostile in far too many ways for black men and women - despite the fact that it was 100 years post-Civil War and more than 10 years post-Brown vs. Board of Education out of Topeka, KS. Coming from the projects of Newark, as Bags did, I've little doubt that he'd long before that summer learned how to cope with and confront fear, so Vietnam was obviously a major "upping the ante", but the courage that you observed in him had deep roots. Belmont NC had a population of 4100 at the time, and segregation in public schools, parks, etc. was still the "norm" - despite being so perverse a grotesque reality - there and in much of the South.

I hope you are well, sir, and I hope you will enjoy the photos. As you did while serving as his platoon leader, you'd have LOVED this man on the court! My best wishes to you and your family - Brian
https://lib.digitalnc.org/record/29184?ln=en#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=153&r=0&xywh=-240%2C0%2C5142%2C3124

America is / was fortunate to have such men !
We are sad at the lose of you, yet understand you are in the loving hands of God !

Dennis, it has been fifty one years since you were killed in action.  You have not been forgotten.  We both experienced the trial of war together and I carry with me the memories of that experience.  As members of the 3rd Platoon, Hotel Company, 1st Marines we traveled along antagonistic and dangerous paths daily.  We agonized over the loss of our brothers, Ronald Jones at No Name Island and just weeks later Richard Walker and Jack Quinn at Viem Tay. The heat of each day was burdensome as we patrolled NVA and Viet Cong infiltrated areas south of Marble Mountain along area best known as boobytrap alley, the Rocket Belt, and Reviera or stood security watch at the Tu Cau Bridge or the watch towers along the military supply road connecting Hoi An to Danang.  It was the night patrols that were the most frightening.  Every step was perilous as sympathetic Viet Cong villagers lay boobytraps everywhere.  Like our breaths, our sense of ourselves was momentary as we relentlessly prayed to survive another day.  There is a no moment involved in war that is ordinary, but through the calamity of it all you kept yourself together, you sustained the Marines around you, you provided courageous leadership skillfully, and because of that you will continue to be remembered as a heroic Marine.  I was not with you when the ammo dump exploded, having been wounded and hospitalized a month earlier, but I was saddened when I learned of your death soon after.     As your former platoon leader, I pray you continue to rest in peace and that God has blessed your family with sustained happy memories of your life.  Semper Fidelis.

I see that I've come across my first fellow New Jerseyan. As I can see, there are many people here to pay their respects to you! :) I am sorry that you died in Vietnam. Thank you for your service, your sacrifices to our country and for being a great young man. You will ALWAYS be remembered, Corporal. SEMPER FI!

DEAR CORPORAL BAGLEY,
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE AS A GRUNT. SEMPER FI. YOU WERE BORN ON ST. JOSEPH - PATRON SAINT OF THOSE WHO DIED. HALLOWEEN IS APPROACHING, AND ALL SAINTS AND ALL SOULS' DAYS - THE DAYS WE HONOR THOSE WHO LEFT US. MAY THE SAINTS AND ANGELS GUIDE YOU. REST IN PEACE.