THE WALL OF FACES

One of my high school buddies. I still think of him.

SGT Mitchell O. Barnes was an Army paratrooper serving with the 173rd Airborne Brigade. Barnes graduated from NCO school at Fort Benning, GA, before arriving in Vietnam in January 1970. For the first half of his tour he served in a line company performing combat patrols in the area adjacent to LZ Uplift, located along National Route QL-1, seven miles southeast of Bong Son in Binh Dinh Province, RVN. The Sky Soldiers walked off base for generally 45-day sweep and clear operations, then returned for 15-day rest and rearm periods that usually were occupied with night perimeter defense and days in a ready-reaction posture which did not allow for much relaxation. Barnes, an amateur boxer, desired more action, and at the beginning of summer, requested transfer to a Ranger Company. That fall, he attended Ranger school in-country and re-upped for a six-month extension. In late November, he began a 30-day leave and returned to Tennessee to visit family and friends and buy a brand-new Chevrolet Corvette. Upon his return to Vietnam at the beginning of 1971, Barnes was assigned to N Company (Ranger), 75th Infantry (Airborne). During his time with the Rangers, Barnes entered into what a comrade observed was a slow-motion decline in health. A large, healthy, strapping man, the symptoms of his illness wore on him, culminating on May 19th with Barnes becoming a patient at the base dispensary, and later evacuation to the U.S. Army’s 3rd Field Hospital in Saigon. Suffering from a variety of medical conditions his comrades believe stemmed from a foodborne illness, Barnes died on May 30th from hemorrhagic pneumonia, pleural effusion (fluid around the lung), acute tubular necrosis (kidney damage), and septicemia (blood poisoning). He was 21 years old. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and information provided by Wayne Wilkerson (November 2022)]

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.

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

DEAR SERGEANT BARNES,
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE AS AN INFANTRY OPERATIONS & INTELLIGENCE SPECIALIST - AIRBORNE QUALIFIED. WATCH OVER THE U.S.A., IT STILL NEEDS YOU. THANKSGIVING DAY IS APPROACHING, AND WE ARE THANKFUL FOR YOU. GOD BLESS YOU. MAY THE SAINTS AND ANGELS BE AT YOUR SIDE. REST IN PEACE....