THE WALL OF FACES

(Photo Credit: Rex Giddens) Rest in peace with the warriors.

Ray is buried at Hopewell Cemetery in Winnsboro, TX.

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

I did not know Ray Banks but he meant a great deal to someone that I do know. It is with a heavy heart that I try to put my emotions in words. Ray, a candle is lit in your honor. As its flame glows, you are ever present. My deepest condolences to Ray's family and friends. Please find comfort in knowing that Ray walks with God in heaven. He is always with you because he lives in your hearts. Ray, you are revered, missed and, most assuredly, not forgotten. We are all so proud of you and you remain in my prayers.