THE WALL OF FACES

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

Dear Gysgt Benito Igarta, Thank you for your service as an Aircraft Cryptographic Systems Technician. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness. Rest in peace with the angels.

On March 21, 1966, during Operation Texas, thirty U.S Marine Corps UH-34D helicopters from HMM-261, HMM-363, and HMM-364, escorted by four armed UH-1E helicopters of Marine Observation Squadron 6 (VMO-6), lifted two companies plus a command group (405 troops total) of 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, from Ky Ha Air Facility to an unsecure landing zone (LZ) in Quang Ngai Province, RVN. M Company, 3/1, was inserted first to make safe the LZ, a large dry rice paddy, for the following waves of aircraft. Approximately 1000 meters west of the LZ, a VC/NVA 12.7mm machine gun was firing into the LZ from a draw located on a small hill. Several A-4 attack jet air strikes failed to silence the weapon. In the next wave of aircraft, a UH-34D (#145802) approached the LZ carrying K Company, 3/1. The enemy machine gun would target this helicopter. The aircraft was 50 feet or so off the deck when the 12.7mm rounds began impacting. The helicopter jerked slightly each time a round hit it. The aircraft then nosed over sharply. The pilot apparently pulled back hard on his controls to avoid a nose-first crash because the helicopter reared up like a stallion with its forelegs pawing the air. The aircraft’s rear rotor blade and tail boom then hit a high paddy dike. The helicopter crumpled backward into the paddy as the fuel tank exploded and engulfed the aircraft for a split second. M Company was only 100 meters away from the crash site and immediately sent a corpsman and rifle squad over to provide aid. When they arrived at the still burning helicopter, it was apparent that everyone in the passenger and crew compartments were dead. The UH-34's cockpit was elevated and forward of the passenger and crew area. The two pilots, 1LT Noah M. Kraft and 1LT Thomas A. Bird Jr., could be seen struggling to free themselves. They were badly burned. The corpsman and another rifleman ran through the still burning debris to free the pilots. As they did so, the magnesium rotor hub exploded. The blast went up and over their heads, only causing them some minor burns. The other riflemen avoided being caught in the explosion since they were a few feet beyond the blast radius setting up security. The Marine rifle platoon leader threw a smoke grenade into the LZ and a helicopter immediately landed. 1LT Bird died before being put into the medevac. The other pilot, 1LT Kraft, though suffering terribly, was still alive. The corpsman rode with him in the medevac back to Chu Lai. Kraft died as they arrived at B Med in Chu Lai. The two other lost UH-34 crewmen were crew chief GSGT Calvin K. Chow and gunner GSGT Benito Igarta Jr. The lost members of K Company included PFC Louis A. Ambrose, LCPL Dennis R. Andrew, LCPL James H. Cavicchi Jr., SGT John A. Mitchell, PFC Bruce L. Watkins, and PFC Billie J. Williams. [Taken from popasmoke.com]

Gunnery Sergeant Benito Igarta Jr., Served with Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 363 (HMM-363), Marine Aircraft Group 36 (MAG-36), 1st Marine Aircraft Wing (1st MAW), Third Marine Amphibious Force.

Dear Sonny! This is your cousin , Blossom! We will not forget, we are all remembering you with our own special memories, and times visiting, with your brothers and sisters, your Dad, Uncle Benito and Aunty Neki!
I want to say, our cousin , Brother George Apo, generation before us, WW2 USN, who did serve three years in the Pacific Theatre, who also retired after 50 + years as a Catholic Monk, has left us to meet his Lord and Savior, May 2016.
I know he has taken charge of you youngsters, You, Sonny, USA, Vietnam, 1967, my brother, Steven, USA, Vietnam 1967, cousin Daniel Kimokea Puhi, USA, Vietnam 1967, and most recently, and too soon, your brothers, Orlando and Bernard! 2015, 2016!
All gathered under that Mountain Apple Tree, indigenous only in Hawaii, singing "Don't Sit Under That Apple Tree, etc" way up high at the Rainbow Bridge of sweet dreams and lullaby songs! Fair Winds, Following Winds!
Aloha Nui Loa! Blossom