THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you on Veteran’s Day for the ultimate sacrifice from Makenzie K. from Old High School

On April 15th 1967, I was given the mission to repair roads for a resupply convoy that was due to arrive. I had two road graders and two squads of Infantry in APC’s as security. In the lead were mine clearing crews from Alpha Company 1st Engineer Battalion. Our graders had worked a portion of the road the day before on the 15th and the next morning of the 16th we were to finish the mission. It was early in the morning on the way to our work site when the grader I was riding on was destroyed by an IED, the explosion knocked me unconscious and came-to on a Dust-off helicopter flying to a MASH hospital in Saigon. Then in May 1967 I was transferred to a Military hospital in Camp Zama Japan, 40 miles from Tokyo. In August 1967 was flown to the US to Irwin Army hospital at Fort Riley Kansas.
Not knowing what happened to the grader operator or remembering his name. Until the war researcher, William M. Killian investigation uncovered the facts. I always assumed that the grader operator survived the IED blast because I did not see him on the medical helicopter. I saw only three Vietnamese that was injured from the blast and a body bag! I did not know it was SP4 Benjamin Barrick inside it.
Thinking back I was riding behind the operator with AN/PRC-25 radio and a M16. The next thing I knew I was waking up on the Army Dust-off! I never even heard the explosion. So, now I’m thinking Benjamin may have blocked a lot of the blast from me and I feel now very likely to owe him my life.
I found out later that the IED was an Artillery shell wired with a pressure device.
Robert L Roby Jr., 1SG Retired
Combat Engineer

SP4 Benjamin L. Barrick was a Heavy Construction Equipment Operator serving with Headquarters & Headquarters Company (HHC), 1st Engineer Battalion, 1st Infantry Division. Early on the morning of April 16, 1967, SP4 Barrick was operating a grader on a maintenance mission in Binh Duong Province, RVN, to smooth a road and fill potholes. He and another grader operator were returning to a portion of the roadway they worked the previous day in preparation for an overland route for convoy vehicles. For security, Barrick and the other grader were protected by two squads of infantrymen in M113 Armored Personnel Carriers (APC’s) from the 1st Infantry Division. While headed to the day’s work site, the graders and APC’s came upon a Vietnamese bus filled with civilians. The Americans moved to the side of the road to allow the bus to pass. At nearly the same instant, an enormous blast occurred under Barrick’s grader. The explosion destroyed the grader, killing Barrick and injuring a combat engineer riding shotgun on the vehicle. A medivac (medical evacuation by helicopter) was called, and the wounded engineer and three injured Vietnamese along with Barrick’s remains were flown to a nearby aid station. The engineer was later taken to a Saigon area military hospital for surgery. Barrick’s body was forwarded to Graves Registration personnel at the U.S. Army mortuary at Tan Son Nhut Air Base. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and information provided by Robert (Bob) Roby (August 2020); image courtesy of Bob Roby]

Specialist Four Benjamin Luther Barrick, Served with the Headquarters and Service Company, 1st Engineer Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, United States Army Vietnam.

you were a good man for what you did may your heart rest in peace you will be remembered till the end of time