THE WALL OF FACES

PAT WAS THE GREATEST, WE HAD LOTS OF GOOD TIMES IN HIS OLD 1946 FORD SEDAN WITH HIM, BOB LEVAN, BILL KRAUSE AND MYSELF, DON'T FOR GET THE GIRLS JEANNIE REESE, AND MARY BEBE ZIEL, THANKS FOR YOUR SERVICE IT WAS AN HONOR TO SERVICE IN THE ARMY WITH YOU....RIP OLD RED HEAD BUDDY...LOV'N AND LUCK RICHARD "FUZZY" FUERHOLZER

May those who served never be forgotten. Rest in peace CAPT. Haley, I salute your brave soul. My heart goes out to you and your family.

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. Your Distinguished Service Cross citation attests to your courage and devotion to your fellow soldiers. As long as you are remembered you will always be with us….

Pat and I were classmates, medical fraternity brothers and he was my lab partner in anatomy, biochemistry and physiology labs (1963-64). We drank beer and listened to Bob Dylan records together. For that year we were close but medical school was not for Pat. I received a few letters from him when he was in helicopter training. We learned of his death on the day of his funeral. His laugh and occasional devil-may-care demeanor remain in my memory. He will be forever young.

On April 18, 1967, a U.S. Army helicopter UH-1C (tail number 66-15048) from A Troop, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, was conducting a reconnaissance by fire near An Loc in Binh Dinh Province, RVN, when the helicopter was hit by enemy ground fire and crashed with the loss of all aboard. Reportedly, the helicopter was in a flight of several aircraft and the door gunner, SP4 Vernice Hollingsworth, was using his M60 machine gun’s tracers to show the location of enemy anti-aircraft placements. The flight was in close formation, side by side, when a single round was observed to come up and hit Hollingsworth’s helicopter in the nose area. A radio transmission suddenly came over the intercom reporting a fire as flames were observed raging within the aircraft’s cabin area. The stricken helicopter rolled a couple of times, then rocked back and forth before nosing into the jungle below. The flight circled over the crash site, but no survivors were sighted. The lost crew included pilots MAJ Thomas D. Mendenhall and CPT Patrick L. Haley, crew chief SP4 Ronald D. Bruce, and gunner Hollingsworth. Also lost was 1LT Robert J. Crabbe, a 1st Cavalry Division artillery officer. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org, vhpa.org, and information provided by Craig Matlock in the book “Headhunters: Stories from the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, in Vietnam 1965-1971” by Matthew Brennan]