THE WALL OF FACES

Thinking of you today and thanking you for your service and sacrifice. May God continue to bless you and may you rest in eternal peace.

Semper Fi, Doc

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. The remembrance from your friend Charles is especially poignant. Rest in eternal peace.

Mike was one of my closest classmates at Granada Hills High School. I went to his Memorial Mass the night before his funeral. At the funeral, the Catholic priest was thinking about (1965 Heisman Trophy winner from USC) Mike Garrett, and kept referring to Mike as “Mike Garrett” instead of “…Barrett.” Nobody corrected him. The name mix-up made that the saddest funeral I ever went to. I felt so sorry for his mom, who had to endure that on top of everything. (Solemnly officiating at a burial and you can’t get the name right???!!!)

I’ll never forget what a “good Catholic” Mike was. At GHHS, we always ate our school lunch together. At least once a month, on a Thursday, when Mike would be eating a hamburger, I’d routinely go, “Mike! What are you doing? It’s Friday! (No meat allowed for Catholics on Friday’s---only fish.) Mike would equally routinely start gagging, until I quickly told him, “Just joshing you! It’s Thursday! (More than once I had to stop him from spitting a mouthful of hamburger out.) Losing a good friend like Mike was painful, then and gets more painful over the years as we learn more about what Vietnam was all about.

RIP Mike. We’ll never forget you.

Hospitalman Michael Barry Barrett, Served with the Headquarters and Service Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, Third Marine Amphibious Force.