THE WALL OF FACES

Remember to 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...

Dear Ssgt Bernard Kissell, Thank you for your service with the 460 Tactical Reconnaissance Wing. I researched you on the 52nd anniversary of the start of your tour. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. It is the 6th Day of Christmas, Merry Christmas and happy New Year in heaven. The time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage, guidance and faithfulness. Rest in peace with the angels.

It has been 50 years since you left us. We would have been married for 50 years. I miss you as this has happened yesterday. I know one day we will be togrther again. Brunny I pray for you every night your future wife Nancy

I was just 11 years old when I was sitting in 6th grade ay St Leo school in Philadelphia, Pa. Sister Conrad in SSJ told us to pray for a soldier from our parish was killed in Vietnam. My mind went blank, total shock for me. My brother and I went home for lunch and blasted the news to my mom who was disbelief. She knew Bernie was coming home in a few weeks and getting married. The news paralyzed the neighborhood. It is a time that I think I kind of grew up. The Kissell family has always been in my prayers. Younger brother Bobby a few years older than me growing up was one of the older guys, which was so cool back then. Mr and Mrs Kissell were at my wedding,I was so honored to have them thrre. Neighbors always said my dad and Mr Kissell were the loudest people on the block. Great friends. I closing, I always thought I never did what Bernie and his generation did. So at 32 I joined the Navy as a reservist, I hopes that I can hold that candle to you. But I never will. Rest in peace until we meet again. You are never forgotten.... Billy

On October 21, 1968, a USAF Douglas C-47D (#45-0934) transport plane belonging to the 460th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing at Tan Son Nhut Air Base was flying military personnel from Saigon to Hong Kong for R&R with a stop at Da Nang. While enroute the pilot declared an emergency, stating that the port engine had failed and that the propeller would not feather. He requested and received vectors for an emergency landing at Ban Me Thuot Airfield, but instead hit a mountainside at the 2300-foot level approximately 19 miles southwest of Ban Me Thuot in Darlac Province, RVN. A total of 23 fatalities (some news services reported 24) resulted in the crash, including a listed 11 crewmen and 10 passengers, plus two civilians. A medical helicopter spotted the wreckage three hours after the crash. More helicopters were dispatched to the scene to remove the dead. The lost C-47D crew members included pilot LTC Howard E. Van Vliet, co-pilot LTC Council L. Royal, navigators MAJ Gerald E. Burgener and MAJ Basil L. Ciriello, flight attendant TSGT Donald W. Bruck, flight engineer TSGT John D. Thomas, flight mechanic TSGT Billy R. Morris, and crewmen (unassigned positions) MSGT William P. Bowman, SSGT Eugene W. Hendricks, LTC Robert B. Richardson, and MAJ Gerald D. Ziehe. The passengers included (USAF) TSGT Arthur L. Brewer, LTC Ray E. Codding, SSGT Karl E. Kelley Jr., SSGT Bernard F. Kissell Jr., SGT Russell E. Nihill, LTC Alden W. O’Brien, SGT Ruben E. Reyes, and CAPT Gayland O. Scott; (USA) SP5 Bruce M. Miley and SFC Klaus D. R. Ruhland. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org, aviation-safety.net, togetherweserved.com, and “C-47 Crash! 24 Killed.” Chicago Tribune, October 22, 1968]