THE WALL OF FACES

Dear Sgt Alfred Kaspaul, Thank you for your service as a Rifleman. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Election Day is today. The time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness. Rest in peace with the angels.

MATT WEINSTOCK

MAYBE THEY HAVE A GOOD IDEA UP IN BAJA OXNARD

Saturday the Alfred Kaspaul Memorial Field will be dedicated in Malibu West, a small, new community about 20 miles up the coast from Santa Monica, sometimes called Baja Oxnard.
Nothing unusual about that. It happens all the time.
But this one is rather special. The field is named for Marine Sgt. Alfred Kaspaul, 21, who was killed in Quang Tri, Vietnam, last October. His parents are physicists at Hughes Research Lab in Malibu.
Alfred was the first and only war casualty from this small beach colony and his death filled the 172 families with a resolve to do something in his memory. After brief discussion, a recreation center was decided on.
The site, previously used as a dump, was donated by the developer of the property. It was cleared and graded by a contractor for a fraction of what the coast would have been.
Householders, neglecting their own gardens, combined forces and invested thousands of hours in digging, carrying and building. Almost every weekend there was a so-called "muscle party."
For their efforts the onetime dump now has a football field with goalposts, a baseball diamond with a backstop, basketball and handball courts. A running track is planned. Grass was planted and many hours were spent watering it and coaxing it to grow. The athletic gear was either donated by businessmen or sold at cost.
Meanwhile, the women arranged bridge parties and rummage sales to raise money for the equipment.
Tomorrow, which would have been Alfred Kaspaul's 22nd birthday, the field will be dedicated. The Camp Pendleton Band will be there as will high military officers including Maj. Gen. Wood B. Kyle, of the 5th Marine Division at Pendleton. He was Sgt. Kaspaul's commander when with the 3rd Marine Division.
Perhaps there is a pattern here for commemorating the Vietnam dead elsewhere.

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.
Sergeant Kaspaul, you were the very essence of DUTY!...HONOR!...and COUNTRY! You had been there and done that in Vietnam! You were one brave man who did brave deeds for our America! You fought for the right without question or pause! Your name and fame are the BIRTHRIGHT of EVERY American citizen! In your youth and strength...your love and loyalty...you had given all that mortality can give to defend liberty everywhere! Fairview is very proud of you! You sacrificed your life so that freedom and justice may live! You had lived up[ to the motto of the Corps!---SEMPER FIDELIS!---and to the code of conduct and chivalry of those who guard this beloved land!...an ideal SO NOBLE that it arouses in all of us a sense of pride, and yet, of humility! I strongly and honestly believe that Avonmore's own Jill Corey, whom I greatly and immensely admire as one of my three top favorite songbirds of all time, the other two being Walton-on-Thames's own Julie Andrews, England's musical queen, and London's own Dusty Springfield, another thrush from England, would be very proud of your service to America, and the sacrifices you made to keep us and our country free! Well done, Sergeant! Be thou at peace. SEMPER FI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was transferd to M 3/4, and when I began to know some of the old salts, Your family sent us packages of candy, and treats for all the time that I was there. I wrote to thank them, and tell them how much it meant to us. I began hearing about you, how you always where a brave dedicated Marine, who served with pride. May God Bless

Semper Fi Sergeant.