THE WALL OF FACES

War drew us from our homeland
In the sunlit springtime of our youth.
Those who did not come back alive remain
in perpetual springtime -- forever young --
And a part of them is with us always.

My father Chuck Claeys graduated from St. Phillips with Richard in 1963. I remember as a kid looking through his yearbook and him pointing out Richard’s picture, and telling me that he had been killed in Vietnam. My father was drafted into the Army as well but spent most of his enlistment in Alaska. He passed away in May of 2020. When I was going through so many old pictures he had at his place I recognized Richard in some of them.Being in D.C. for the first time and finding Cpl Lawrence’s name on the wall brought back memories of my dad. It also had me wondering why I never asked him more questions about that time in our history and his own personal expieriences during it.

I am one of the ones who remember the war Vietnam and all the young man who lost their lives thank you for your service and may be resting in peace.

Dear Cpl Richard Lawrence, Thank you for your service as an Infantryman. 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.

On February 16, 1967, during the fourth day of Operation Sam Houston, Company A, 1st Battalion, 22d Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, was conducting a search and destroy mission west of Pleiku in the Plei Trap Valley. The point squad observed several North Vietnamese Army soldiers and gave chase, leading them into an ambush which they were unable to disengage until nightfall. The contact was with an enemy force that apparently was moving east and led them directly into the numerically superior NVA force. The squad received intense enemy automatic weapons fire and was subsequently cut off from the remainder of the company. Squad Leader SSG Alton J. Zerangue Jr. immediately organized his men into a defensive perimeter, and they counterattacked with a heavy volume of fire. The enemy inflicted many casualties among the squad, however, SSG Zerangue utilized his remaining forces to delay the enemy, giving the rest of the company time to regroup and form a defensive perimeter. Zerangue was wounded three times but remained with his squad to lead them against the enemy until he was mortally wounded. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for bravery. The vegetation in the area of the battle was extremely dense and the enemy used this to their advantage by deploying numerous accurate snipers in the trees and undergrowth very close to Company A’s position. The Americans requested close artillery support and air strikes including CBU (“cluster bombs”) and napalm. A heavy volume of fire was placed on the sniper's positions as soon as they were determined. When the battle ended, twenty-one members of A Company had been lost. The fallen troopers with Zerangue included PFC Channing Allen Jr., SGT Lee R. Bays, SP4 Anastacio H. Beltran, PFC William M. Berenwick, PFC Lanny R. Bolding, PFC Douglas R. Colbert, SGT Donald R. Dorman, PFC Curtis L. Duck, PFC Larry S. Fetherolf, SSG Walter W. Haring, PFC Clemente D. Hernandez, PFC Elmer F. Kepsel, SP4 Kenneth L. Koster, CPL Richard A. Lawrence, SP4 Lewis Lee, SP4 Marlow M. Loecker, CPT Colin D. Mac Manus, PFC John E. Oocumma, CPL Donald. L. Schnee, and SP4 Richard Tarkington Jr. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and SSG Zerangue’s Silver Star citation]