THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. As long as you are remembered you will always be with us….

Dear Captain Konstantins Lubavs, Thank you for your service as an Infantry Unit Commander. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Today is Mother’s Day, but like none other. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness. Rest in peace with the angels.

My father was with him in the battle that took his life.

Captain Konstantins Adolfs Lubavs, Served with Advisory Team 3, Special Detachment 5891 (SD-5891), Headquarters, Military Assistance Command Vietnam Advisors, Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV), United States Army Vietnam.

Captain Konstantins “Konnie” Lubavs was born June 13, 1939 in Latvia. It is likely that his family fled west during the closing days of World War II to avoid the advancing Russian army. In 1949, Konnie, his mother and two older siblings relocated to Watervliet, Michigan from the American zone in Germany. They were sponsored by several residents and the First Methodist Church. Konnie graduated from Watervliet High School in 1958 where he played football, basketball and baseball, was a member of the honor society, sang in the mixed chorus and participated in the Boy Scouts of America. One of his classmates, Bill Beverly, recalls: “My favorite memory of Konnie is from Panther baseball. Konnie pitched and I played first base. We choreographed a hidden-ball routine and once ran two successful ones against Coloma.”

Konnie graduated from Western Michigan University in 1962 with a degree in business administration. An R.O.T.C. member as well, he joined the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant shortly after graduation from W.M.U. In November 1962 he was assigned to duty in Germany but later volunteered for duty in Vietnam because he “desired a change of scenery” [Watervliet “Record,” February 10, 1966] and arrived there in August, 1965. He died on February 7, 1966 in Quang Tri Province near the D.M.Z. due to multiple fragmentation wounds. He was the first man from Berrien County, Michigan to be killed in Vietnam and is listed on several veteran sites as having been an “advisor” at the time of his death. RIP Konnie.