THE WALL OF FACES

Yet beyond these observations America's involvement goes back to 1956 when the Combat Arms Training Organization (CATO) was formed two years after the fall of Dien Bien Phu.

In those early years American involvement in Vietnam was kept in the shadows and apparently has still not been recognized by the same government who sent young men to serve there at a time when most people had never heard of Vietnam.

So, just as our governemnt refused to "recognize" China -- and with it a large percentage of the world's population until a political mood change -- so did our governemnt refuse to recognize that Technical Sergeant Fitzgibbon served his country and died in Vietnam during early United States involvement.

Richard Bernard Fitzgibbbon Jr. served in the United States Navy from 1940 to 1954, transferred to the United States Air Force, and was assigned to Detachment 1 of the 1173rd Foreign Mission Squadron (HEDCOM) in Saigon. Fitzgibbon was a crew chief on a C-47 aircraft, flying missions throughout the Far East.

" Sergeant Fitzgibbon was an outstanding Non-Com and was held in highest esteem by each and every member of the Command," said Colonel Arnold T. Johnson, Commander of the 1173rd. " He was conscientious, honest and always a gentleman. Professionally and technically he was outstanding. There was not a pilot in this command who had anything but praise for his competence. They all like to fly, as long as " Fitz " was crewing the plane. In a flying unit, no higher compliment can be paid to a crew chief."

According to Mrs. Del Rossi, her brother shared some of his thoughts with her just prior to his death.

" I think the Communists take pot shots at us when we fly over areas that they control, just to let us know that they are there. The occasional Communist fire has my radio man pretty shook up. At first some of us thought that it was funny, but for him it's a serious situation and he can't handle it. He has cried and even vomitted in fear. I'm genuinely concerned for his welfare, some people just aren't cut out for this. I've talked to my commander about Clarke a couple of times but the old man said, "he will do his tour and like it, just like the rest of us."

In August of 1956, the First Sergeant of the Military Assistance Advisory Group Vietnam, Master Sergeant Jack Burroughs, stated, " In my opinion, this man Clarke was, for sometime a borderline case for a padded cell. But from the official point of view, we had nothing sound to go on, except that he was a retiring sort of individual and did not mix well within a group."

" Fitz " as he was called by his friends, continued in his efforts to aid Clarke and to get him transferred to a location outside of Vietnam and away from the dangers inherent to the mission of the 1173rd.

Unbeknownst to " Fitz " his concern for his fellow crew member and seeking help for him was only further aggravating Clarke's condition.

" Action ... had been building up in Clarke's mind for a long time, maybe years," said Burroughs, " and " Fitz " was the scapegoat merely because he was convenient when that thin line of sanity snapped."

According to Colonel Johnson:

" Our MAAG C-47, on which " Fitz " was crew chief, had returned from a trip to Hong Kong at approximately 1300 hours on Friday, 8 June, after an uneventful flight.

When all the passengers had deplaned " Fitz " and the other members of the crew went about their normal maintenance duties, readying the aircraft for another flight the following morning.

When his work was completed, " Fitz " left the airfield for his quarters, in downtown Saigon, for a well-earned rest, a shower and dinner. As far as is known, he planned a quiet evening, relaxing and resting up for the next day's flight.

That evening, at dinner, an incident occurred while " Fitz " and several of his friends were eating at the Non-Commissioned Officers Club.

Staff Sergeant Edward C. Clarke, the radio operator on Technical Sergeant Fitzgibbon's crew, walked into the club and stood several paces away for a time, watching and glaring at " Fitz ".

Shortly, " Fitz " got up and walked over to Clarke and according to observers they had several moments of what appeared to be rather heated conversation.

Soon after Sergeant Fitzgibbon returned to his table, someone in the group told a joke and the entire group laughed.

With this, Sergeant Clarke walked up to the table and said " you had better stop talking about me."

Sergeant Clarke, without another word, turned and departed the club.

After eating, " Fitz " left the club and walked the several blocks to his quarters.

No one knows just how long it took Sergeant Clarke to cross the thin line of sanity that the MAAG First Sergeant spoke of.

No one saw him return to his quarters and remove a .22 calibre target pistol from his locker.

Nor did anyone give Clarke more than a glance when he presumably returned to the NCO club only to find Sergeant Fitzgibbon had returned to his quarters.

At 2145 hours Richard Fitzgibbon was in front of the enlisted billet where he lived. He had been sitting in a chair that he would customarily remove from just inside the doorway after every return trip from Hong Kong.

Minutes earlier Vietnamese children had been crowded around him.

" Fitz " wouldn't let anyone chase them off. After all, he had gotten to know most of them and after a trip to Hong Kong they flocked around him as was customary.

The sun had just set beyond the buildings -- Vietnamese women were just taking in the last of the wash hung from the balconies. Most of the children were on their way home. The gray haze just before darkness almost obscured Staff Sergeant Clarke as he approached.

" Fitz " lived directly across the street from me," said Master Sergeant Burrooughs. " I was in my room with a couple of friends polishing off a jug when we heard two series of rapid fire -- at that moment it sounded like fire crackers, but immediately someone reported a shooting."

Clarke had shot " Fitz " five times at close range.

Immediately afterward, Clarke walked into a bar next door, and without a word shot and wounded SFC John Sakmar, an Army Sergeant, also assigned to MAAG. Sakmar was shot three times.

...to be continued on page 3 ...

AT THE POINT THE FOLLOWING ACCOUNT

WAS PRODUCED, THE NAME OF THIS

UNITED STATES AIR FORCE VETERAN


TECHNICAL SERGEANT


RICHARD BERNARD FITZGIBBON SR.


HAD BEEN EXCLUDED FROM ADDITION TO

THE VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL WALL.


THIS WAS CORRECTED ON

30 MAY 1999 - MEMORIAL DAY






NO ROOM ON THE WALL

by

MASTER SERGEANT

RAY BOWS

UNITED STATES ARMY, Retired

----------------------------------------------------------


The story of United States Air Force Technical Sergeant Richard Bernard Fitzgibbon Jr. is unique in the annals of Vietnam, and there is little doubt that the very first facility to be named in Vietnam was named in memory of the native of Weymouth, Massachusetts.

Technical Sergeant Fitzgibbon was murdered in Saigon on 8 June 1956, yet there is no room on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial for his name.

Mrs. Alice Del Rossi, of Stoneham, Massachusetts, has, for the past seven years been trying to have her brother's name added to the memorial without success.

If you are wondering who says there is NO ROOM ON THE WALL, listen to these comments that echo off the gleaming black granite and resound in the ears of Mrs. Del Rossi and the Fitzgibbon family.

14 March 1983..."...there is only a limited amount of space on the wall ... the precedent being set could soon lead to classifying more individuals who died outside of the war zone as casualties ..."

--Jan Scruggs, President, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund

Yet, while Fitzgibbon died in Saigon, the names of forty Marines, killed in an aircraft crash, while on R & R in Hong Kong, are inscribed thereon.

21 March 1985 ..."... the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was designed and built by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund which set rigid guidelines for the inclusion of names on the monument walls.

Unfortunately, the date and circumstances of your brother's death do not meet the criteria set by the fund."

--Brian Donnelly, Member of Congress

Yet, the hundreds who died in Vietnam, killed by misadventure, accident, homicide or friendly fire are inscribed thereon.

5 June 1985 ... " As you are well aware, the official dates of involvement in Vietnam preclude your brother's name from being inscribed."

--John Kerry, United States Senator

The dates on the Wall are 1959 - 1975.

Yet, the number of servicemen stationed in Vietnam after the fall of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 until 1959 are more or less equal to those stationed in Vietnam from March 1873 until the fall of Saigon in 1975.

" For a name to be placed upon the memorial, the individual's death must have occurred as the direct result or aftermath of wounds received in the combat area, defined by Executive Order 11216.

This Executive Order, designated 1 January, 1964, as the date that American combatant activities commenced ... I regret we are unable to honor your request."

--Edward F. Sullivan, Captain SC, USN
--Office of the Secretary of Defense

Yet, the first two names on the wall, DALE R. BUIS and CHESTER OVNAND, were considered murder in July 1959 when they died.

The earliest name added, HARRY CRAMER Jr., was killed in a mysterious explosion in 1957.

JAMES DAVIS, the first official battlefield casualty of the war, died in December 1961.

Therefore, by any standard, the date 1 January 1964 has no relevance.


TO BE CONTINUED ON,


NO ROOM ON THE WALL ... page 2 ...







REMEMBER AND NEVER FORGET

THE SECOND " DAY OF INFAMY "

11 SEPTEMBER 2001



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



submitted by -

HISTORICAL MILITARIA

BIOGRAPHICAL RESEARCHER - ARMY





10 JANUARY 2002

TECHNICAL SERGEANT


RICHARD BERNARD FITZGIBBON JR.


served in the


UNITED STATES AIR FORCE


and was the father of


LANCE CORPORAL


RICHARD BERNARD FITZGIBBON III


who served with the


UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



HE WAS MURDERED BY A FELLOW AIRMAN

IN SOUTH VIETNAM ON 8 JUNE 1956

AND HAS NOW BEEN FORMALLY RECOGNIZED

BY THE PENTAGON AS THE VERY FIRST

AMERICAN CASUALTY OF SOUTHEAST ASIA.


WITH THIS DECISION

THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

ANNOUNCED THAT

1 NOVEMBER 1955

WOULD NOW BE THE EARLIEST

QUALIFYING DATE FOR INCLUSION ON

THE VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL

AND STATED THAT THIS IS THE DATE

THE MAAG WAS OFFICIALLY ESTABLISHED.

NOW, EIGHT OTHER PRE-1961 CASUALTIES

ARE ALREADY INCLUDED ON THE MEMORIAL.

ACTUALLY, THE FIRST DEATH OF AN

AMERICAN SERVICEMAN IN VIETNAM

OCCURRED ON 26 SEPTEMBER 1945.

MAJOR

PETER A. DEWEY

AN OFFICER ATTACHED TO THE

OFFICE OF STRATEGIC SERVICE (OSS)

WAS KILLED-IN-ACTION BY THE

COMMUNIST VIET MINH NEAR HANOI.

SOME 128 MEMBERS OF MAAG BEGAN

SUPERVISING THE USE OF UNITED STATES

EQUIPMENT IN VIETNAM ON

17 SEPTEMBER 1950.

LATER, TWO AMERICAN PILOTS,

WHO WERE CONTRACTED TO THE

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

WERE KILLED-IN-ACTION FLYING

A MISSION OVER DIEN BIEN PHU IN 1954.

THE FIRST UNITED STATES ADVISORS

SENT TO ACTUALLY BEGIN TRAINING

SOUTH VIETNAMESE TROOPS ARRIVED

12 FEBRUARY 1955.

ON 21 OCTOBER 1957

CAPTAIN

HARRY GRIFFITH CRAMER JR

UNITED STATES ARMY

WAS KILLED IN A

MUNITIONS HANDLING ACCIDENT

THEREFORE, HIS NAME HAD BEEN

THE FIRST LISTED ON ' THE WALL '.

THE FITZGIBBONS NOW BECOME

THE ONLY FATHER-AND-SON

HONOREES TO BE LISTED ON

THE VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL.

ON 30 MAY 1999

- MEMORIAL DAY -

THE NAME OF

TECHNICAL SERGEANT

RICHARD BERNARD FITZGIBBON JR.

UNITED STATES AIR FORCE

WAS FINALLY ADDED TO

THE VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL

BRINGING THE NUMBER TOTAL OF

MEMORIALIZED NAMES TO-DATE AS

58214




WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE

YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN

NOR SHALL YOU EVER BE



^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


NO ONE IS EVER DEAD UNTIL AND UNLESS THEY ARE FORGOTTEN


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^



LANCE CORPORAL


RICHARD BERNARD FITZGIBBON III


WAS LAID TO REST BESIDE HIS

FATHER IN BLUE HILLS CEMETERY.


LIKE HIS FATHER BEFORE HIM,

HE WAS BURIED WITH FULL

MILITARY HONORS.


A SQUAD OF MARINES

ESCORTED THE FLAG-DRAPED

CASKET TO THE CEMETERY.


A MILITARY SALUTE WAS FIRED

AND TAPS WAS SOUNDED.


AGAIN, AS IN 1956, WHEN

HER HUSBAND WAS BURIED,

MRS. FITZGIBBON WAS

PRESENTED THE FOLDED FLAG,

WHICH HAD DRAPED THE

CASKET, THIS TIME FOR THE

WIDOW'S SON





14 SEPTEMBER 2001

Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.

Mary Frye – 1932

"An God said who shall we send. I answered I am here,send me."

Isaiah 6:8