THE WALL OF FACES

On May 16, 1971, a New York Times article described heroin use by American troops in Vietnam had reached epidemic proportions. The piece reported that 10 to 15 percent of lower-ranking enlisted men were heroin users, and military officials working in drug‐suppression estimated that as much as a quarter of all enlisted personnel, more than 60,000 men, were hooked. They added that some field surveys reported units with more than 50 percent of the men on heroin. In Vietnam, the drug was plentiful, cheap, and 95 percent pure. Its effects could casually be achieved through smoking or snorting, as compared to the U.S., where the drug was impure, only about five percent heroin, and had to be main-lined or injected into the bloodstream to achieve a comparable high. The habit, which cost $100 a day to maintain in the U.S., cost less than $5 a day in Vietnam. Landing Zone Bronco was the basecamp and headquarters for the 11th Light Infantry Brigade, 23rd Infantry Division (Americal). It was located approximately thirty-eight kilometers (22.8 miles) southeast of Quang Ngai in Quang Ngai Province, RVN. SP4 Joe H. Lillie was a food service specialist serving with Headquarters & Headquarters Company (HHC), 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry. According to a 23rd Infantry Crimes Investigation Division report, on the evening of January 9, 1971, Lillie was at Bronco when he confided to another soldier he was planning to “get down to the max” and offered the other man to share some “cocaine” with him (the other soldier declined the offer). At 11:30 AM the following morning, Lillie’s body was found by the barracks housemaid lying face down in his bed. No visible life signs were detected; unknown drugs were found in his possession. When his remains arrived at the U.S. Army Mortuary at Da Nang, he was still wearing his combat boots, jungle fatigue pants, and OD (olive drab) t-shirt. A subsequent autopsy determined Lillie died of asphyxiation after he aspirated the contents of his stomach; he was twenty-one years old. Two military ID cards in his possession aided mortuary affairs personnel make a positive identification. A final casualty report on Lillie’s loss was issued on May 17, 1971, citing “drug ingestion with brain (Central Nervous System) depression” as the cause of death. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and “G.I. Heroin Addiction Epidemic in Vietnam.” New York Times (New York, NY), May 16, 1971]