THE WALL OF FACES

Dear 2LT Marion Lee Kempner, sir

As an American, I would like to thank you for your service and for your sacrifice made on behalf of our wonderful country. The youth of today could gain much by learning of heroes such as yourself, men and women whose courage and heart can never be questioned.

May God allow you to read this, and may He allow me to someday shake your hand when I get to Heaven to personally thank you. May he also allow my father to find you and shake your hand now to say thank you; for America, and for those who love you.

With respect, and the best salute a civilian can muster for you, Sir

Curt Carter

Having studied Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam in school this year, 2Lt. Kempner's letter to his aunt profoundly touched me. The beauty of the letter is unparalleled, and his personal bravery is simply remarkable.

Bravo, sir. Thank you for your sacrifice, and you, indeed, have achieved the sort of immortality, much like the soft, red flower you saw on the morning of October 20, 1966.

October 20, 1966

Dear Aunt Fannie,

This morning, my patrol and I were finishing up a three-day patrol. Struggling over steep hills covered with hedgerows, trees, and generally impenetrable jungle, one of my men turned to me and pointed a hand, filled with cuts and scratches, at a rather distinguished looking plant with soft red flowers waving gaily in the downpour (which had been going on ever since the patrol began) and said, “That is the first plant I have seen today which didn’t have thorns on it.” I immediately thought of you.

The plant, and the hill upon which it grew, was also representative of Vietnam. It is a country of thorns and cuts, of guns and marauding, of little hope and of great failure. Yet in the midst of it all, a beautiful thought, gesture, and even person can arise among it waving bravely at the death that pours down upon it.

Some day this hill will be burned by napalm, and the red flower will crackle up and die among the thorns. So what was the use of it living and being a beauty among the beasts, if it must, in the end, die because of them, and with them? This is a question which is answered by Gertrude Steinem’s “A rose is a rose is a rose.” You are what you are what you are. Whether you believe in God, fate, or the crumbling cookie, elements are so mixed in a being that make him what he is: his salvation from the thorns around him lies in the fact that he existed at all, in his very own personality.

There once was a time when the Jewish idea of heaven and hell was the thoughts and opinions people had of you after you died. But what if the plant was on an isolated hill and was never seen but anyone? That is like the question of whether the falling tree makes a sounding in he forest primeval when no one is there to hear it. It makes a sound and the plant was beautiful and the thought was kind, and the person was humane, and distinguished and brave, not merely because other people recognized it as such, but because it is, and it is, and it is.

The flower will always live in the memory of a tired, wet Marine, and thus achieved a sort of immortality. But even if we had never gone on that hill, it would still be a distinguished, soft, red, thornless flower growing among the cutting, scratching plants, and that in itself is its own reward.

Love,

Sandy

Source: Dear America - Letters Home From Vietnam

About a dozen former Marine officers met this year at the Piccolo Mondo Restaurant in Arlington, TX to celebrate the 237th anniversary of the Marine Corps birthday. Each of us was asked to speak a few minutes on a topic of choice concerning the Marine Corps. From 11 different topics I chose number 5, which focused on remembering a fallen or deceased comrade. I chose Marion “Sandy” Kempner as my person to be remembered. Sandy and I were in the same OCS-TBS class at Quantico. We met each other in the library while studying. I never got to know him well, but we spoke enough for me to remember him as being very intelligent, dedicated and well spoken.

As I was reading a U.S. News & World Report from November 12, 1984, Sandy’s picture appeared in the article about Vietnam Letters: Echoes From a War Long Gone. A letter to his Aunt Fannie accompanied the picture. I was so moved after reading the letter that I had it laminated and have kept it ever since. In honor and remembrance of Sandy, I read the letter in the article to everybody in attendance at the birthday celebration. He died so young at age 24 but his legacy continues as does the tradition of Marines remembering and honoring their fallen comrades. He and 32 other classmates gave their lives in South Vietnam while serving their country. It saddens me to this day.

Lt Kempner's photo and personal info were included in the final credits of the 1968 documentary 'A Face of War'; the film was shot in 1966 by director eugene jones, lasts 72 minutes and can be found on You Tube; i also had read and seen Lt Kempners letter in Dear America; i recently viewed the documentary and thought anyone interested in his life might want to see if he can be spotted in the film. Lt Kempner was truly an american hero.