THE WALL OF FACES

FOREVER REMEMBERED

"If you are able, save for them a place inside of you....and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the places they can no longer go.....Be not ashamed to say you loved them....
Take what they have left and what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own....And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind...."

Quote from a letter home by Maj. Michael Davis O'Donnell
KIA 24 March 1970. Distinguished Flying Cross: Shot down and Killed while attempting to rescue 8 fellow soldiers surrounded by attacking enemy forces.

We Nam Brothers pause to give a backward glance, and post this remembrance to you, one of the gentle heroes lost to the War in Vietnam:

Slip off that pack. Set it down by the crooked trail. Drop your steel pot alongside. Shed those magazine-ladened bandoliers away from your sweat-soaked shirt. Lay that silent weapon down and step out of the heat. Feel the soothing cool breeze right down to your soul ... and rest forever in the shade of our love, brother.

From your Nam-Band-Of-Brothers

Dear Fernando,
I would like to take the time to recognize you for your commitment to this country. I am doing this through the Gridley High School Posting Project. During the war, you were willing to leave your possessions and loved ones to fight for your country, knowing that you could lose your life. That right there says a lot about who you were. I would just like to say thank you and you will always be remembered as a hero.

Sincerely,
Ashley Kiefer

Dear fallen soldier, I am from Gridley High School and am doing a posting project for my U.S. History class in which we are trying to write remembrances for all the soldiers on the Vietnam Wall. I just wanted to say thank you for your faithful service of our country in its time of need. You will never be forgotten.

Fernie, I will always remember your smile, your friendship and most of all your sense of humor. I always think of you, the last day we spent together before you shipped out. Sal Martinez remembers you fondly.

Gilberto