THE WALL OF FACES

Semper Fidelis and an everlasting thanks to you and your crew. I am now 70 years of age. I might not have made it beyond age 19 without pilots like you and a crew like yours that medevacked me before I bled out.

Re: Photo #2 above: Military Families also serve. They bear the brunt of foreign policy decisions made in far off places.For some, there is no 20 year retirement. They serve a life time. God Bless this Military Family & all Military Families.

DEAR CAPTAIN BEACH,
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE AS A HMH PILOT. SEMPER FI. I READ YOU ARE STILL MIA. PLEASE COME HOME. WE NEED YOU HERE. CHRISTMAS IS HERE.AND WE ARE THANKFUL FOR YOU. THE NEW YEAR IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER, WHICH MAKES IT FAR TOO LONG FOR YOU TO HAVE BEEN GONE. WATCH OVER THE U.S.A., IT STILL NEEDS YOUR COURAGE.. GOD BLESS YOU. MAY THE SAINTS AND ANGELS BE AT YOUR SIDE. REST IN PEACE.

I was in the Basic School Class of January - 1961 with Jim. There were 6 of us that car-pooled from Triangle, VA to the school and they included Beach - Bast - Boe - Deaver - Stallings - Weaver. We all were married with most wives pregnant(or just had babies) in the hot summer of 1961 making it very uncomfortable as no one had air conditioning at that time. With 6 newly commissioned Marine officers the conversations in the car also got heated at times. Jim was adamant that California was the best place to be from and we tried to convince him otherwise --- with no one ever winning the argument. I didn't learn of Jim's passing until several years ago when I began browsing "The Wall" and found his name. I didn't realize he became a pilot but was not surprised as he was a very dedicated individual and proud Marine. So am I and am proud to have known Jim and will always keep him in my memory bank.
Jack Bast, La Crosse WI

On March 20, 1966, U.S. Marine Corps helicopter UH-34D tail number 149351 from HHM 163 Marine Air Group 16 was on a mission over water when the pilot became disoriented in bad weather and crashed at sea. The crew included pilots CAPT Arthur J. Beach and CAPT Dennis D. Ferguson, gunner LCPL Marvin F. Goodman, medic HN Davis L. Drake and passenger LCPL Lossy R. Wangler. All on board suffered fatal injuries in the crash. CAPT Beach’s remains were not recovered. [Narrative taken from pownetwork.org and vhpa.org; image from wikipedia.org]