THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. We share the same birthday. The difference is I am now 72 years old and lived a long and fulfilling life. How so very sad you did not have that same opportunity.

Mike I love and miss u more than u will ever know not a day goes by that I don't think of u u r forever in my heart love forever Lorraine

Corporal Michael Bard, Served with Company M, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, Third Marine Amphibious Force.

What a beautiful soul. Such poignant messages left for this young man. From the very bottom of my heart, words can not express. Thank u for the ultimate sacrifice.

This was the last line of a poem I wrote in my last year of high school in Detroit, 1967. For a class assignment, I churned out a short piece, imagining a serviceman in the Vietnam War that was raging at that time. Years, decades later, I heard from an old grade school friend that our classmate Michael Bard had died “over there.” Today, coming across the photo, video and beautiful tributes, if finally sinks in — and brings much together for me. To a truly exceptional guy, very well remembered: Thank you, God bless you and keep you, semper Fi.