THE WALL OF FACES

Specialist Four Greg Fredric Goodman, Served with A Troop, 3rd Squadron, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division, United States Army Vietnam.

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. As long as you are remembered you will remain in our hearts forever…..

Without people like you our great nation would not exist. Rest in peace SP4. Goodman, I salute your brave soul. My heart goes out to you and your family.

Dear Sp4 Greg Goodman,
Thank you for your service as an Indirect Fire Infantryman. Happy New Year. 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.

On March 19, 1967, a 1000-strong Viet Cong battalion surrounded 160 U.S. soldiers manning Fire Support Base 14 at Bau Bang off Highway 13 just north of Lai Khe in Binh Duong Province, RVN. The troops initially held the enemy at bay with a ring of tanks and armored vehicles around the base, but at 2:00 AM the following morning a pair of F-100D Super Sabres from Bien Hoa alert pad were scrambled to support the besieged soldiers. While the base commander illuminated the VC positions with searchlights on his tanks, a Forward Air Controller (FAC) Cessna 0-1 Bird Dog directed napalm and CBU cluster bombs from the two Super Sabres and 15 others that arrived on scene a little while later. Caught in the open, the VC Battalion was forced to retreat after suffering 227 casualties. Allied losses amounted to four U.S. soldiers killed: SP5 Gordon L. Cables, SP4 Greg F. Goodman, PFC Thomas E. Haggard, and SP4 Steve Lopez from 3rd Squadron, 5th Cavalry, 9th Infantry Division; and 614th Tactical Fighter Squadron pilot, CPT Barry R. Delphin, killed after being brought down in his Super Sabre (#55-2912) by automatic weapons fire on his first ordinance pass. The FAC and the flare ship supporting the mission observed a fireball just short of the target which was confirmed by the FAC to be Delphin’s Super Sabre. His remains were recovered. (To learn more regarding this loss, see the January 3, 2000, post by Darrel B. Couch on CPT Delphin’s profile on vvmf.org) [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org, “227 VC Killed in Charge.” Pacific Stars & Stripes, March 22, 1967, and the book “F-100 Super Sabre Units of the Vietnam War” by Peter E. Davies and David Menard]