THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you for your service and your sacrifice. Thank you for stepping up and answering your country's call. Rest easy knowing you will never be forgotten.

At 8:15 AM on August 29, 1968, while occupying a blocking position in preparation for Operation Sussex Bay, a search and clear operation in Quang Nam Province, RVN, Mike Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, made heavy contact with the enemy in the Dodge City area southwest of Da Nang, 2 miles south of Hill 55. While maneuvering against the enemy flank, the company came under heavy fire from three sides which wounded several men. A corpsman, HN Richard L. Powell, braved the enemy fire to assist the wounded and was himself hit by machine gun fire, rendering his arm useless. Despite his wounds, Powell continued to treat the casualties, at one point advancing to assist a fallen Marine who lay within 15 meters of a Communist machine gun. Here, Powell was hit again and killed. For his selfless act, Powell posthumously received the Navy Cross. Company D, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, and Company G, 2d Battalion, 27th Marines, joined the action with tanks. While awaiting the arrival of a medical evacuation helicopter for wounded Marines, 2LT Harold C. Dailey II, platoon commander of 3rd Platoon, Bravo Company, First Tank Battalion, fell victim to an enemy sniper’s bullet while in a strategy session with the tank commanders who were under his command. Assisted by aircraft and artillery, the Marines dislodged the North Vietnamese. Friendly losses totaled 10 dead and 33 wounded. The Marine losses apart from Powell and Dailey included PFC Ronald E. Adkins, LCPL Willie J. Faulks, CPL Gary A. Hall, CPL Louis A. Herrera, PFC Lile L. Johnson Jr., PFC Richard S. Moxley, LCPL Raymond P. Reilly, and PFC Donald W. Simonson. The Marines reported killing 42 of the enemy. [Taken from virtualwall.org, coffeltdatabase.org, and “U.S. Marines in Vietnam: 1968 The Defining Year”]

MY BROTHER MY BEST FRIEND MY HERO I SERVED IN VEIT-NAM BEFORE HIM . SO HE HAD TO GO ALSO AND DO WHAT HIS BIG BROTHER DID BUT HE DID MORE FOR HIS COUNTRY . THEN I DID HE GAVE HIS LIFE AND I DIDN,T I WISH YOU NEVER WENT . BUT I UNDERSTAND WHY TODAY YOU DID R I P LITTLE BROTHER.

Dear CPL Gary Albert Hall, 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, Sir

Curt Carter

Thank you for giving the ultimate sacrifice for my freedom. I wish more people in our country would understand and appreciate it. Thank you to your family for they have given so much too. God bless them.