THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. Your Silver Star citation attests to your courage and devotion to your fellow soldiers. As long as you are remembered you will always be with us….

I have never met you because you passed away before I was born (I was born in 2008). my mom was talking a lot about the family and telling me about you she told me you're my great cousin so I just wanted to say thank you for your service and for all you have done you will be missed.

CITATION:
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918 (amended by an act of July 25, 1963), takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Private First Class John David Lonsdale, United States Army, for gallantry in action while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an armed hostile force. Private First Class Lonsdale distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions on 8 May 1970 while serving as a radio telephone operator with Battery D, 2d Battalion, 4th Field Artillery Regiment, 3d Brigade, 9th Infantry Division, in the Republic of Vietnam. On this date an infantry platoon was inserted northwest of Chantrea Village, Cambodia. Private Lonsdale had volunteered to accompany the platoon. After having swept approximately one hundred meters into a woodline, the platoon received heavy sniper fire from two different directions. Private Lonsdale, as part of the lead element, observed that part of his element was pinned down and unable to find adequate cover from the sniper fire. He placed accurate covering fire, enabling his comrades to rush to more substantial cover, while exposing his own position to the enemy fire. He was fired on by one of the snipers, and was subsequently fatally wounded while returning fire. Private First Class Lonsdale's actions were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.
See https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/501112

Dear PFC John Lonsdale, Thank you for your service as a Field Artillery Basic. Your 50th anniversary is soon, sad. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Yesterday was the 45th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon, and it is still sad. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness. Rest in peace with the angels.

Operation Toan Thang 44 was a combined 1st and 2nd Brigades, 25th Infantry Division, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, and ARVN Airborne Division operation against North Vietnamese Army (NVA) Base Areas 353, 354, and 707 in Cambodia conducted between May 6-14, 1970. On May 8th, the 6th Battalion, 31st Infantry of the 3rd Brigade, 9th Infantry Division, conducted airmobile operations in the Parrott’s Beak, a salient in southeast Cambodia that protrudes into Vietnam and served as a base and rest area for the NVA and the Vietcong. Significant ground contacts occurred at 1:52 PM and 2:30 PM in an area 800 meters south of Chantrea in the Parrot's Beak when Companies A, B, and D, 6-31 Infantry, engaged an unknown number of enemy resulting in seven enemy killed. U.S. casualties in the engagements were five killed and nine wounded. The fighting began after the lead elements of Company D entered Chantrea when heavy enemy fire forced the unit back with the loss of one American and one Kit Carson Scout wounded. Company B, entering the city from the south, was also repulsed with the loss of four U.S. killed and eight wounded due to heavy automatic weapons, small arms, and mortar fire. C Company attempted to penetrate the city’s northeastern edge, but it too was forced to withdraw after suffering two U.S. wounded. The city was then pounded throughout the remainder of the day and following night by ten USAF tactical air strikes and continuous helicopter gunship strikes. On the morning of May 9th, four more attempts to enter the city by Companies A and D were repulsed and again the city was hammered day and night by continuous air and artillery strikes. On the morning of May 10th, the city was assaulted by Companies A, B, and D and taken with no resistance. A Hoi Chanh (enemy defector), captured on the morning of May 9th by A/6-31, revealed the size of the enemy force to be 200 men. The lost D Company soldier was PFC John D. Lonsdale, a forward observer from D Battery, 2nd Battalion, 4th Artillery, who was embedded with D Company. The lost B Company personnel were SP4 David A. Butcher, SGT James M. Davis, PFC Michael L. McPherson, and PFC Phillip J. Smith. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and Lessons Learned, Headquarters, 25th Infantry Division for the period ending July 1970]