THE WALL OF FACES

Some may think you are forgotten
Though on earth you are no more
But in our memory you are with us
As you always were before….

At 3:00 AM on January 31, 1968, during the onset of the Tet Offensive, Bien Hoa Air Base, sixteen miles north of Saigon, RVN, was hit by a Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese Army (NVA) mortar and rocket barrage followed by an attack on the eastern perimeter of the base. While base security moved to engage the VC force, NVA units infiltrated the perimeter in three different places and began firing on the base's III Corps Direct Air Support Center. An Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) security force cornered a group of VC/NVA in a supply shed and engaged them with recoilless rifle fire before U.S. Air Force Security Police arrived to help finish them off with grenades and rifle fire. At dawn, U.S. Army forces reached the base and engaged the remaining VC/NVA. Due to the battle raging at the east end of the runway, F-100 fighter operations were curtailed for most of the day while USAF, RVNAF, and U.S. Army forces fought the enemy. At 4:00 PM, two F-100 fighter aircraft were launched to the east through the groundfire with the intent of delivering ordnance on the battle raging on their own airbase. The actual strike was delayed because friendly forces were too close to the enemy forces. After about an hour of waiting, the separation between forces was still small but considered adequate for the F-100s to deliver their ordnance. Flight crew chiefs and armorers had their first chance to see their aircraft in action. The strike essentially ended the battle, reportedly the only time in USAF history that pilots conducted a controlled airstrike on their own airbase. American losses during the battle were four killed in action with another dying of a heart attack. The lost personnel included SSGT Ralph T. Berry, SGT James B. Des Rochers, CAPT Reginald V. Maisey Jr. (posthumously awarded the Air Force Cross for heroism), and A1C Edward G. Muse; SSGT William A. Berry suffered a fatal heart attack during the mortar barrage. Another twenty-six were wounded. VC/NVA losses were 137 killed and twenty-five captured. One A-37 light attack jet aircraft and one F-100 were destroyed while seventeen other aircraft were damaged. The bodies of the VC/NVA were buried in an unmarked mass grave on the edge of the base that was only uncovered in 2017. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and wikipedia.org]

Dear Captain Reginald, Thank you for your service with the 3rd Security Police Squadron. 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.

I served at Hickam your old base and volunteered with the SP's. I always visited your name although I never met you.

I knew Capt Maisy from having had a part time job at the officers club. I saw Capt Maisy at approximately 1500 that afternoon. The base had become eerily quiet, not a Vietnamese in sight. I asked him, "what's going on?" He said he wasn't sure but that it was going to be big.