THE WALL OF FACES

Larrie....You are honored on Your birthday....never to be forgotten..God bless

Dear SP4 Larrie Jack Gotcher, sir

As an American, I would like to thank you for your service and for your sacrifice made on behalf of our wonderful country. The youth of today could gain much by learning of heroes such as yourself, men and women whose courage and heart can never be questioned.

May God allow you to read this, and may He allow me to someday shake your hand when I get to Heaven to personally thank you. May he also allow my father to find you and shake your hand now to say thank you; for America, and for those who love you.

With respect, and the best salute a civilian can muster for you, Sir

Curt Carter

http:www.findagrave.comcgi-binfg.cgi?page=sh&GRid=55048521&

Rest in peace with the warriors.

Larrie "Larry" Jack Gotcher, the only son of Robert H. Gotcher and Louise Schoolcraft, was born November 15, 1945 in Alameda County, California. Larrie’s parents divorced when he was young, and he lived with his father. Larrie attended elementary school in the cities of Lincoln and Roseville, Placer County. He attended Encina High School, Sacramento, his freshman year and was a 1963 graduate from Taft Union High School in Taft, CA. Larrie attended Taft Junior College in Kern County where he was voted most valuable player on the 1964 football team. He later attended Sacramento State College. In 1967 he was drafted into the US Army and deployed to the Republic of Vietnam in November of that year. He was an Infantry Indirect Fire Crewman assigned with A Company, 4th Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 199th Light Infantry Brigade. On March 22, 1968 near the Dong Nai River in Bien Hoa Province, his platoon spent the day conducting a hard jungle sweep. Larrie was walking point squad as the Radio Telephone Operator when several Viet Cong were spotted near a VC base camp. The platoon searched for the enemy, with Larrie and two other soldiers from his squad taking the lead. There was a huge explosion, later determined to be a 50-pound land mine and a US artillery dud rigged in a tree. Specialist 4th Class Gotcher, age 22, died instantly from a large chest wound. Two others in the platoon also were killed in action that day. Ironically, in Larrie’s pocket was a letter he had been writing to his mother, part of which said not to worry; he was perfectly safe, desk-bound in a clerk job. Burial with full military honors was at the Veterans Court of Honor, Mount Vernon Memorial Park, Fair Oaks..