THE WALL OF FACES

There is a place
Not far from here
Where spirits walk
And heroes live
And honor still resides.

It is a wall
With names inscribed
Of those who served
When they were asked...
The brothers of my youth.

I go there still
To walk and think
About my life,
And what I've done since
And things that might have been.

There is a debt
I can't repay
Too many lives were spent.
And one man's life cannot suffice
To make their deaths worthwhile.

But there is hope
In the memory
Of those we leave behind
Who know the price that freedom brings
Who can carry on in kind.

I send you now
To touch a name
So the vision can be passed
Remember there is honor still
It is for you to see it lasts.

They are not dead
And have a wish
As all old soldiers do
The reflection you see before you now
Is their wish to live in you.

Dear Captain Charles Miller, Thank you for your service as an Electronic Warfare Officer. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. It is Columbus Day Weekend. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

Captain Charles David Miller, Served with the 346th Bomb Squadron, 4252nd Strategic Wing, Strategic Air Command, United States Air Force.

On November 19, 1967, a USAF Boeing B-52D Stratofortress (#55-0103), call sign "Cream 2," from the 346th Bomb Squadron, 99th Bomb Wing, attached to the 306th Bomb Wing, Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, 4252th Strategic Wing, was enroute to Vietnam when it aborted takeoff. The pilot was able to keep the aircraft on the ground and bring it to a stop after leaving the runway and traveling down a grass embankment, hitting a large ditch, and coming to rest on Kadena Air Base inner perimeter road, where it sat on top of an Air Force police pick-up truck (its driver escaped by running down the road). The aircraft stopped some 820 feet from the Chibana ammunition depot where nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons were stored. The wings were torn loose, releasing fuel from the wing tanks. Fires started from ruptured hydraulic lines, fuel flowing over hot brakes, and from electrical malfunctions. All seven crew egressed on the ground. Five survived, three of them uninjured, two with a broken leg, and two died from burn injuries after being evacuated. The lost crewmen included electronic warfare officer CAPT Charles D. Miller, who died of injuries several days later at the 106th General Hospital in Yokohama, Japan, on November 26, 1968. The crew chief mechanic, SSGT Jerry N. Scott (on assignment, not normally part of the crew), also died of injuries in Japan on November 24, 1968. The fire resulting from the aborted takeoff ignited the aircraft's fuel and detonated the 30,000 lb. bomb load of twenty-four 500 lb. bombs, (twelve under each wing) and twenty-four 750 lb. bombs inside the bomb bay and caused a blast so powerful that it created an immense crater under the burning aircraft some 30 feet deep and 60 feet across. The blast blew out the windows in the dispensary at Naha Air Base, 23 miles away, and damaged 139 houses. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org, wikipedia.org, and aviation-safety.net]

Dear Captain Charles David Miller, sir,

As an American, I would like to thank you for your service and for the ultimate sacrifice that you 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. And please know that men and women like you have stepped forward to defend our country yet again, showing the same love for country and their fellow Americans that you did- you would be proud.

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

Curt Carter