THE WALL OF FACES

D Company, 1/35th Infantry, 3rd Brigade, 4th Inf Division.
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
www.cacti35th.org

"The Public Eye"
From left to right:
John Pitcher, Lead Guitar, Jimmy Maness, Lead Singer, Jerry Nichols, Drummer, Dusty Flammond, Rhythm Guitar,Ken Hall, Bass Guitar

There was a fella that I met some years before this nightmare began for us. We had met and fought over, what else, a girl. After this was all said and done, we became good friends. We went in together and paid 50 bucks for a 1932 Ford deuce coupe sitting in a farmer's field, on blocks and timbers. After scavenging 4 tires, we rolled these tires by hand 26 miles, took most of the day. We then pushed the car by hand back 26 miles. This was our first car ! We stayed up for 2 days and 2 nights and tore down the mill. We even did a little "midnight auto" shopping for parts and gas. Well, after that we got it licensed. We were a hot item and ready to cruise the drag here in my home town of Great Falls, MT. Every Friday and Saturday night, we used to take my mom downtown as she was divorced and trying to live her life and loved Jimmy like a son. He was a kid from the Arkansas area, living up here with his sister. Well, with no job and now we had a car, we needed to get finances. I was living in a housing project at that time and I knew of a couple of guys wanting to start a band. One thing lead to another and after what seemed like eons of practice, we became the number 2 band in the state. Jimmy had a beautiful voice from soprano to baritone and boy could he swoon the women. Well, it then became evident that we all had to go our separate ways, duty calls. Jimmy, if there's one thing I want us to remember is this: Friends are easy to find, but GOOD friends are harder to keep." Sleep well my friend. I'll be seeing you soon enough, maybe when I get there, we can start another band and rock heaven's gates!
your pal and drummer,
Jerry
aka: big casino, Quang Tri, South Vietnam 1968