THE WALL OF FACES

You died on my 6th birthday.

Your sacrifice is not forgotten.

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.

As long as you are remembered you will always be with us...

On the remembrance of your 73rd birthday, your sacrifice is not forgotten.

HOOAH

DEAR SPEC 4 BARNES,
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE AS A CENTRAL OFFICE SWITCHBOARD OPERATOR AND PARACHUTIST. YOU DID TOURS! SIGH. 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....

At 1455H on June 4, 1969, a UH-1D (tail number 66-00819) from A Company, 101st Assault Helicopter Battalion, 101st Airborne Division was hit by an unidentified type explosive round from an undisclosed location and crashed, killing all five people on board. The mysterious incident was immediately investigated but the findings were initially inconclusive. The persons lost in this incident included aircraft commander CAPT Gregory G. Fuchs, pilot WO1 Edwin F. Sholar, crew chief SP4 Richard L. Barnes, gunner SP4 Stephen L. Roberts, and passenger SP4 Robert L. Jennings. The following account describes the scene on the ground: “I was the Flight Operations NCOIC and was in Flight Ops with MAJ Wall and CAPT Dreves when we heard a cry for help come over the FM radio. Minutes later we got a call confirming that aircraft 66-00819 had crashed and was on fire. An aircraft was readied and we immediately flew to the crash site. MAJ Wall the Company CO piloted and CAPT Dreves flew co-pilot. I was a rated crew chief so I flew as the door gunner. When we reached the crash site, the aircraft was pretty much gone and the bodies had been recovered by pilot Ed White and his crew and they were placed on his aircraft for transport to Graves Registration. After further inspection, it was learned that part of the crew chief’s body were missing. After Ed White took off, I and several others began a sweep of the crash area to try and locate the missing remains. After about 20 minutes, we located the missing remains on the side of a hill and I placed them in a plastic bag and we flew them back to Graves Registration. The crew chief had apparently tried to jump from the aircraft before it crashed but the main rotor blade (which had detached from the aircraft due to the explosion) had caught him and decapitated him before he ever hit the ground. A later investigation did reveal that a grenade being handled by the door gunner had exploded while the aircraft was in flight. Shrapnel had apparently penetrated the transmission, which caused it to seize up and the main rotor blade assembly snapped off in flight. I think it was one of the toughest days I had ever seen my unit go through and the memorial service we held back at camp later on was even tougher. The chicken plate and flight helmet that was worn by the door gunner when the grenade exploded was brought back to Flight Operations as part of the crew's effects. They were great young men and Comancheros to the end.” (From Timothy Moore, Comanchero 3M) Note: The U.S. Army Aviation Safety Board investigated this accident and it was determined that the hand grenade was mishandled by the door gunner based on the details on the door gunners protective chicken plate. [Taken from vhpa.org]