THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you.

My brother Billy was a great man. He had so much respect for others. Momma and Daddy raised him right. He wore a Stetson cowboy hat and back in the 60's he wouldn't even enter a store without removing his hat. He had a great personality and of course just as mischievous as any young man. He was only 18 when he lost his life in Vietnam. He only had a few months to go to come home. He would write home, and just a couple of years ago I was able to read all the letters he had written to our Mother and so many of them had asked me to write him. I was only 13. I wish I had written more often. I love and miss you , Brother!!

Thank you Corporal Lafield for your leadership and courage.

Dear CPL William Truman Lafield Jr, 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, for those who love you, and for the Sgt's son.

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

Curt Carter (son of Sgt. Ardon William Carter, 101st Airborne, February 4, 1966, South Vietnam)

Slip off that pack. Set it down by the crooked trail. Drop that steel pot alongside. Shed those magazine-laden 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.

William Truman Lafield, Jr. was a member of Echo Company, First Battalion, 46th Infantry, 196th Light Infantry Brigade, Americal Division. He is honored here by the veterans of 1/46th.

"The Professionals," of 1/46 came in-country via the USS Upshur on October 4, 1967 as part of the 198th Light Infantry Brigade. The 198th became part of the Americal Division. After one month of orientation at Duc Pho, the battalion was deployed north of Chu Lai and patrolled from Hill 54, Hill 69, LZ Young and LZ Baldy in Quang Tin Province. In March of 1969, the battalion moved to LZ Professional, in the mountains southwest of Tien Phuoc, Quang Tin Province, to relieve a battered 1/52 Infantry of the 198th. In July of 1969, 1/46, which had been operating under operational control of the 196th LIB of the Americal, became a permanent member of that brigade. The battalion operated from LZ Professional until August of 1970. In February of 1970, the battalion established a temporary firebase at LZ Mary Ann, at a remote mountain site near Hau Duc, Quang Tin Province. The battalion returned to Mary Ann in the summer of 1970 and operated from there and LZ Young, which was between Tien Phuoc and Tam Ky, during 1970 and 1971. The battalion left Mary Ann in April of 1971 when the Americal Division was deactivated and the 196th Brigade reverted to its status as an independent brigade and deployed at Danang, to provide security for the port. In June, 1972, 1/46 left Vietnam. Of the names on this wall, 233 of them, close to half the battalion's actual field strength at any given time in Vietnam, were members of 1/46, or died while deployed with us.