THE WALL OF FACES

Remember to 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...

Dear Cpl James Holmes, Thank you for your service as a Field Artillery Basic with the 1st Cavalry. Today is Independence Day, and there is no better time to honor you. Please watch over the USA, it still needs your strength. Rest in peace with the angels.

Hey Jimmy! I found your Dog Tag 1998 in Vietnam and had brought it after a long search 2013 to your wife Glenda.

Fire Support Base Jay was located near the Cambodian border in an area known as the Dog’s Head. The encampment provided artillery fire support to the 1st Cavalry Division’s operations north of Saigon along the border. The fire support base was little more than a field blasted out of the jungle to welcome cargo helicopters, which hauled in the heavy equipment, artillery pieces, and supplies. FSB Jay had six 105 mm artillery guns in sandbagged fire pits which were surrounded by berms of dirt manned by a company of 1st Cavalry troopers to keep the North Vietnamese Army at bay. The artillerymen’s accommodations at Jay ranged from half-culvert pipes with blast walls to bunkers made of dirt-filled ammunition crates covered with timbers when Army engineers cut back the jungle around the fire support base for fields of fire. Because of the fire support base’s isolation, there was no way in or out except by air. On March 29, 1970, the NVA’s 95-C Regiment decided to eliminate the 1st Cavalry Division’s artillerymen at FSB Jay with heavy rocket, mortar, and ground attacks. At 0415 hours, a 200-round barrage rocked the base. The first rounds slammed into and around the TOC (tactical operations center), knocking down the antennas and cutting all communication between FSB Jay and other American units. At the same time, NVA ground troops poured out of the jungle and swarmed the base. Mortar fire continued to rain down, striking the ammo dump and causing a horrendous roar. Another round hit a supply of C-3 explosive, it also exploding in spectacular fashion. Sappers blew a hole in the southwest corner and entered the compound. The artillerymen put up a determined defense, and by dawn the attack began to break. As the NVA retreated, the three guns remaining blasted away at the enemy using canister rounds, their muzzles set to zero elevation. After 45 minutes of fighting, 14 Americans were dead and 53 wounded, spread across two batteries of the 12th and 19th Artillery and 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division. The cost to the NVA was high, as 74 lifeless NVA bodies were counted after the battle. That same day, FSB Jay was ordered closed, and by mid-afternoon it was gone. The fourteen Americans lost at FSB Jay included SGT Dwight I. Ade, SP4 Bartolo A. Barela Jr., SP5 Michael A. Blondin, PFC James M. Furgerson, SGT William R. Hainley, CPL Jimmy I. Hicks, CPL James R. Holmes, SGT Staret J. Ingleston, CPL David M. King, CPL Donn M. Lorber, CPL Murl A. Moyers, CPL Warner Starks, CPL Paul R. Stepp Jr., and CPL Michael J. Wainwright. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org, dailyrepublic.com, lrrp.com, and “Fire Base Illingworth: An Epic True Story” by Philip Keith]

Dear CPL James Robert Holmes, 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, and the best salute a civilian can muster for you, Sir

Curt Carter