THE WALL OF FACES

You will forever remain in our hearts and prayers

Dear SSgt Gilivaldo Martinez, Thank you for your service as a Flight Qualified Medical NCO. Thank you for the lives you saved. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Independence Day is this weekend. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

On November 11, 1965, a U.S. Army helicopter UH-1D (tail number 64-13631) from 3rd Platoon, 498th Medical Company (Air Ambulance) was conducting a night medical evacuation approximately ten miles northwest of Qui Nhon in Binh Dinh Province, RVN, when it was hit by hostile automatic weapons fire and crashed and burned. Three crewmen were killed in the incident: radio operator PFC Orin L. Allred, crew chief PFC William Esposito Jr., and medic SP5 Gilivaldo A. Martinez Jr. The two pilots survived with serious injuries including third-degree burns. Aircraft commander MAJ Richard H. Scott’s injuries were the direct result of his heroic action in pulling pilot CPT Edward A. Haswell from the burning wreckage and thereby saving his life. Allred was posthumously promoted to Corporal and Martinez was posthumously promoted to Staff Sergeant. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and vhpa.org]

Buried at Mission Garden of Memories, Clovis, NM (Coffelt Database 2019-08-27).

"On 11 November 1965 one of the 3rd Platoon's aircraft crashed and burned while on a night mission near Qui Nhon. Enlisted crew Members SP5 Gilivaldo Martinez, PFC Orin L. Allred, and PFC William Esposito sustained fatal injuries. The pilots, Major Richard H. Scott and Captain Edward A. Haswell received serious injuries including third degree burns."