THE WALL OF FACES

A butterfly lights beside us like a sunbeam
And for a brief moment its glory
and beauty belong to our world
But then it flies again
And though we wish it could have stayed...
We feel lucky to have seen it.

An meinen Den ich nie kennenlernen durfte.
In liebe Christina Luree Herrera ( Christina Luree Paulig)

Never forgotten.

HOOAH

I did not know Frank Herrera well, but I saw him working every day during the week before he died. I was an Artillery Observer on loan to "C" Company 2/503rd Infantry Regiment 173rd Airborne Brigade from "E" Company 2/503 Infantry Regiment 173rd Airborne Brigade.
We had been resupplied on the day Frank died. A resupply operation involved a chain of helicopters bringing in food, water, ammunition, radio batteries, area of operations maps, and medical refits. Resupply operations made a lot of noise and attracted a lot of attention in a country where there were hardly any motorized vehicles of any type and so helicopters coming and going all day attracted a lot of attention because it meant that there were a lot of Americans around and because of all the noise and chaos involved in resupply operations any enemy could move around us easily without detection, which I believe is what occurred on that day allowing enemies to mine all approaches to and from our resupply location.
Complicating the situation, at ~2100, Captain Gellison ordered us to saddle up and prepare to move out without any warning other than when the order was given. I do not know if there as an order from a superior that prompted the order or if Captain Gellison was the originator of the order, but we formed up and prepared to move out on command.

We had not been on the move for more than one-half hour. The second platoon was the lead platoon with Frank Herrera walking the point. There had been a recon team leading Frank but when the recon team came to a hedgerow, they, against procedure, walked around it and in violation of Standard Operating Procedures(SOP) failed to leave one man behind to inform the following guy, which was Frank Herrera, to inform him that they had chosen to walk around the obstacle and not walk through it. Frank would then have had to wait for the guy behind him to reach the hedgerow to pass the information down the line. At no time would it have been appropriate or legal according to SOP to abandon the guy behind to their own understanding of the situation but Frank was abandoned and as a result, Frank was killed and many men gravely wounded. The guys behind Frank lost legs, arms and many had deeply penetrating shrapnel wounds, and except for me and the senior medic, every guy behind Frank had massive injuries and three behind me were wounded. This a true account. Frank died instantly. Due to darkness and the presence of enemy Frank's body was recovered the next day.

The war may be forgotten but the warrior will always be remembered. All gave Some-Some gave All. Rest in peace Sky Soldier.