THE WALL OF FACES

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotions and spends himself in a great worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end triumph of high achievement and, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while caring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold, timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt

Three miles northwest of Phu Bai in Thu Thien Province, RVN, U.S. Navy Seabees built and maintained a quarry cantonment and rock crusher on Hill 494. The facility produced material for road and airfield construction projects. On the early morning of March 31, 1968, the installation came under an enemy mortar and recoilless rifle attack. The Seabees immediately manned an 81mm mortar position and commenced a sustained countermortar barrage which reportedly destroyed two enemy gun positions and broke the attack. Five hours later, as a second attack on the quarry transpired, the Seabees again manning their mortars, standing their ground despite the enemy having bracketed their position. The navymen continued countermortar fire until the enemy scored two direct hits on their position. Six Seabees from Detachment Echo, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 9 (NMCB-9), 3rd Naval Construction Brigade were killed. The lost personnel included BUL3 George R. De Shurley, CMGCN James F. Galati, BUL3 Mark E. Hodel, BUL3 Allan L. Mair, BUL3 John F. Peek, and BUHCN James R. Retzloff Jr. Several other Navy and Marine personnel were wounded. During medical evacuation operations, a UH-34D helicopter (#148792) chase aircraft from Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 362 (HMM-362), Marine Aircraft Group 36 (MAG-36), 1st Marine Aircraft Wing (1ST MAW), crashed and burned at approximately 4:00 AM after taking hostile small arms groundfire. Two crewmen, crew chief CPL Kenneth R. Yantis and gunner SGT Daniel Pesimer, perished in the crash. Both pilots were recovered five hours later, suffering from first- and second-degree burns. Six days later, on April 6, 1968, the Hill 494 facility was dedicated as Camp De Shurley by Rear Admiral J.V. Bartlett, commander, 3rd Naval Construction Brigade, and CDR J.A. Wright, commanding officer of NMCB-9, in honor of mortar crew leader BUL3 De Shurley and the five other Seabees of Detail Echo, killed in action in the defense of the facility on the morning of March 31st. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and seabeemagazine.mil]

Never forgotten.

Semper Fortis

Dear PO3C Allan Mair, Thank you for your service as a Builder (Light) 3rd Class. I researched you on the 54th anniversary of the start of your tour. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Time passes quickly, but it is an unusual time. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage, guidance and faithfulness. Rest in peace with the angels.

Your Brother Seabees will not forget.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=70080640