THE WALL OF FACES

SGT Richard M. Beauregard served with Headquarters & Headquarters Company (HHC), 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry, 11th Brigade, 23rd Infantry Division (Americal). In northern Military Region I where the Americal Division operated, Operation Dewey Canyon II and support for the incursion into Laos had absorbed their attention during the first few months of 1971. Once those activities ended, the Division returned to small-unit patrols in the foothills punctuated by occasional forays deeper into the interior to disrupt Communist logistics. Booby traps and land mines caused most of its casualties; however, nonbattle injuries or illnesses accounted for a number of losses. On April 21, 1971, Beauregard was admitted to the 91st Evacuation Hospital at Chu Lai suffering from gastrointestinal bleeding. He developed a fever and died three days later. Beauregard was nineteen years old. His body was forwarded to the U.S. Army Mortuary at Da Nang and turned over to Graves Registration personnel. After processing, it was transported to Mortuary Affairs at Tan Son Nhut Air Base where transportation was arranged for its return to his family in Rhode Island. When the Army issued a final casualty report on his loss, it cited his death was due to a bone marrow disorder called pancytopenia, a condition when there is a lower-than-normal number of red and white blood cells and platelets in the blood. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and “The Drawdown 1970–1971” by Andrew J. Birtle & John R. Maass; obituary taken from The Providence Journal (Providence, RI), April 29, 1971, courtesy of Rebecca Valentine, Reference Staff, Rhode Island Historical Society, Providence, RI]

Image courtesy of Redbird Research LLC, Saint Charles, MO.

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.

On the remembrance of your 70th birthday, your sacrifice is not forgotten.

HOOAH

RICHARD DID NOT DIE FROM COMBAT WOUNDS. RICHARD DIED OF NON-HOSTILE CAUSES AFTER BEING ADMITTED TO AN EVAC HOSPITAL AT CHU LAI, RVN, HOME OF THE 23RD INFANTRY DIVISION (AMERICAL). I KNOW THIS FOR A FACT, I SERVED IN THE 59TH INFANTRY PLATOON AT DUC PHO AND RICHARD WAS IN MY PLATOON.