THE WALL OF FACES

MARINES DEFENDS U.S. VIET POLICY IN LAST LETTER

Marine Cpl. Dennis D. Kaiser, 21, in a letter received Tueday by his bride, the former Ann Collins, 20, of 200 Walnut st., Linwood Park, Delaware county, expressed the hope 'if anything happens to me, you will understand.'

The letter arrived less than 24 hours after the young bride was informed by the Defense Department that her husband was killed in action as he was returning from a battle near Da Nang, South Vietnam.

The telegram notifying her of his death indicated he was the victim of an expolsion beleived to have been a ground mine, as he was returning to battalion headquarters from a forward area.

In his letter Cpl. Kaiser told his wife, whom he left less than a month after their marriage May 24, 1965, to go overseas, 'I do not regret what I am doing here.'

'it is good for the country.' he wrote. 'If anything should happen to me, I hope you will understand.'

The corporal who left for South Vietnam on June 21, 1965, is survived by two brothers, William and Regis, an a sister, Janet. He was a native of Latrobe, Pa.

Dennis is buried at St Vincent Cemetery, Latrobe,PA. PH

He loved us so.
Every day, in a hundred ways, he told us so.
In honesty, in affection, he told us so.
He loved us so.
Every day, in a hundred ways, he showed us so.
With loyalty and bravery, he showed us so. He was our defender, and he kept us free!
He took an oath to guard us, and fought for liberty!
He loved us so, and we should know.
For we loved him so.

CPL. Kaiser, you gave your young life so we can still live in freedom. We thank you for keeping our country free! I believe that Avonmore's Jill Corey, whom I admire as a great songbird along with Julie Andrews and Dusty Springfield, would be proud of your service to our country! SEMPER FI!!!!

FOREVER REMEMBERED

"If you are able, save for them a place inside of you....and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the places they can no longer go.....Be not ashamed to say you loved them....
Take what they have left and what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own....And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind...."

Quote from a letter home by Maj. Michael Davis O'Donnell
KIA 24 March 1970. Distinguished Flying Cross: Shot down and Killed while attempting to rescue 8 fellow soldiers surrounded by attacking enemy forces.

We Nam Brothers pause to give a backward glance, and post this remembrance to you, one of the gentle heroes lost to the War in Vietnam:

Slip off that pack. Set it down by the crooked trail. Drop your steel pot alongside. Shed those magazine-ladened bandoliers away from your sweat-soaked shirt. Lay that silent weapon down and step out of the heat. Feel the soothing cool breeze right down to your soul ... and rest forever in the shade of our love, brother.

From your Nam-Band-Of-Brothers

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.

Mary Frye – 1932