THE WALL OF FACES

Dear PFC Bobby Baxley, 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

Photo

Hope Mills soldier served 'proudly and honorably'

By Jim Petit
The Fayetteville Observer
15 October 2008

Bobby Baxley knew what he wanted in life.

He already had part of the dream, his wife Mary, his sweetheart since the 10th grade. He was working at Black & Decker, but had had a forestry degree from Wayne Tech and was planning a career in the forest service.

Married less than four months, his civilian life went on hold when he was drafted into the Army on March 3, 1969.

On Oct. 15, 1969, Pfc. Bobby Baxley’s life ended during a mortar attack in Quang Tri province in South Vietnam. He left his foxhole to make room for two fellow soldiers. He was 21.

His courage and sacrifice for Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 11th Infantry Regiment, 5th Infantry Division earned a Bronze Star and immortality on the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington: Panel 17W, Line 080.

Baxley was born in Robeson County, but grew up in Fayetteville. He was a graduate of Hope Mills High School.

“I think it was almost love at first sight,” Mary Baxley recalled. “We did part company for a little while — about a month — and then we got back together and that was it. I think we actually met on a school bus.”

Baxley was an avid hunter and fisherman. Trips on the water with his brother, Elmer, and father, Milton, were always special, as were days afield with Queenie, his beloved pointer. Squirrel and deer were his favorite hunts, but any day in the woods was a good one. Mary often accompanied him, the best of both worlds.

His closest friends were Mickey Turlington and Jimmy Culbreth, but the circle was a wide one. “Everybody liked him because he was just such a nice person and a fine person,” Mary said.

Baxley collected rocks and liked beach music. He and Mary had a favorite song, Ronnie Dove’s “Right or Wrong.” He had a passion for Pontiac GTOs. His sister, Ann, drove one.

He liked all kinds of foods. “Fried chicken, of course,” Mary said, “because he was a typical Southern boy, but he especially loved his sister-in-law’s German chocolate cake. The sister-in-law, Elaine Baxley, was more like a blood sister. They could talk about anything.

“He was doing what he had to do,” Mary said of her husband’s military service. “He served his country proudly and honorably. I don’t think he would undo it even though he had a premonition and told his brother that he wouldn’t make it back.”

The last time Mary saw Bobby was at Raleigh-Durham Airport where she and Elmer Baxley drove him there to catch a flight to California where he would join his unit and depart for Vietnam.

She didn’t share her husband’s premonition, but there was a later sense of foreboding.

Mary was visiting an aunt and uncle in Winston-Salem when, on a Wednesday, she suddenly felt an overwhelming need to get back to Fayetteville.

“I told them I just had to go home,” she said.

It was the day Bobby Baxley was killed.

Army notification came four days later.

Mary, family and friends were devastated.

“He was my first serious love,” Mary said. “You don’t ever forget that.”

FOREVER REMEMBERED

"If you are able, 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.....Be not ashamed to say you loved them....
Take what they have left and what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own....And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind...."

Quote from a letter home by Maj. Michael Davis O'Donnell
KIA 24 March 1970. Distinguished Flying Cross: Shot down and Killed while attempting to rescue 8 fellow soldiers surrounded by attacking enemy forces.

We Nam Brothers pause to give a backward glance, and post this remembrance to you , one of the gentle heroes and patriots lost to the War in Vietnam:

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

From your Nam-Band-Of-Brothers

My name is Sammy Henderson and I live in Gridley, Illinois. I go to Gridley High School and for a school project I am posting remembrances. God bless you! You gave your life for our country. Who knows how our world would be different if you had not given your life. Thank you so much!