THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. It remains my fervent hope you will be returned home after the passage of so many years.

I am the Curator of the POW/MIA Bracelet Display in the Vietnam Hangar of the Palm Springs Air Museum in Palm Springs, California where we now have over two thousand bracelets and would be honored to include your bracelet in our Display. If you are an immediate family member (spouse, fiancé, sibling, son or daughter) I can order one for the Display in your name.
Dr. Dave Thompson
Palm Springs Air Museum
POW/MIA Bracelet Display Curator
Lt. Commander U.S. Navy 1964-1970
10-103 Lakeview Dr. Rancho Mirage, Ca 92270
760-328-0859 [email protected]

Never forgotten.

Semper Fi, Doc

HM2 Michael L. Laporte was a Hospital Corpsman serving with 1st Force Recon Company, 1st Recon Battalion, 1st Marine Division. On September 5, 1967, HM2 Laporte was assigned as the team corpsman for a nine-man reconnaissance patrol inserted by night parachute drop into Happy Valley, a major Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army base camp, storage area, and supply infiltration route southwest of Da Nang in Quang Nam Province, RVN. The drop was to be conducted over a burned-out area bared of vegetation. The conditions for the jump were reported to be favorable with light winds over the drop zone. The jumpmaster/patrol leader had visual contact with the drop zone when the aircraft commander switched on the green jump light. Laporte was the number five man in the stick to leave the aircraft for the estimated 1500 to 2000-foot drop. The jumpmaster observed all nine chute openings. While descending, the winds picked up to an estimated 30 knots, causing the team to drift away from the drop zone. Laporte was seen by team members to be floating further out and beyond the other members in a northwestern direction. This was the last time he was seen. Seven of the other eight Marines accounted for made tree landings in canopy 40-60 feet high and were entangled for periods from a few minutes to two hours. Once on the ground, the patrol leader and his assistant observed three times armed Viet Cong in the area. Search efforts for Laporte included the Recon personnel on the ground, broadcasting from a U.S. Army Psychological loudspeaker plane, Marine and U.S. Air Force search aircraft, and friendly infantry units within close proximity of the drop zone, all with negative results. He was placed in a Missing in Action status. In December 1977, Laporte’s status was changed to presumed killed in action. He was promoted to Senior Chief Hospital Corpsman during the time he was missing. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org]

Dear SrCPO Michael La Porte, Thank you for your service as a Senior Chief Hospital Corpsman with the 1st Reconnaissance Marine Battalion, Semper Fi. Thank you for the lives you saved. You are still MIA. Please come home. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. For many of us, we have begun Lent. The time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage, guidance and faithfulness. Rest in peace with the angels.