THE WALL OF FACES

You gave your all. I love and miss you so much. Our hearts were broken when you left us. Thank you big brother for your service and we will meet again someday.

Operation Cochise Green was a security and pacification operation conducted by the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Binh Dinh Province, RVN, from March 30, 1968 to January 31, 1969. Inside the province were the Soui Ca Valley and “Oregon Trail,” busy infiltration routes used by the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) to move men and materials west from the Ho Chi Minh Trail to the Bong Son and Phu My coastal plains. U.S. efforts to interdict enemy movement along these routes included the construction of firebases to provide artillery fire support for infantry operating against the enemy interlopers. Six and half miles from Phu My city, Fire Support Base (FSB) Catskill was constructed to support ground operations against the NVA. To register their displeasure, the NVA attacked Catskill on the early morning of July 28, 1968, lobbing six to eight mortar rounds at the installation. The 2:15 AM barrage killed one and wounded three others. PFC Jerry L. Graves, an infantryman with C Company, 1st Battalion, 50th Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade, died after sustaining metal fragmentation wounds. He was posthumously promoted to Corporal. Countermortar fire was launched from Catskill at suspected enemy mortar positions with unobserved results. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and “History of 1st Battalion (Mechanized), 50th Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade, 1 July 1968 – 30 September 1968” at ichiban1.org]

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. The remembrance from your brother Edward is touching. As long as you are remembered you will always be with us….

Thank you Cousin Jerry. Remember my family visiting you and your wife at your home in Mexico, MO before you leaving for Vietnam.

Corporal Jerry Lee Graves, Served with Company C, 1st Battalion, 50th Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade, United States Army Vietnam.