THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. You died at 18 years of age, ten days before your 19th birthday. . I am 74 and have lived a long and fulfilling life. It is tragic you never had that same opportunity. May you rest in eternal peace.

On the remembrance of your 72nd birthday, your sacrifice is not forgotten.

Forever 18.

Semper Fi, Marine

Dear PFC Thomas Moody, Thank you for your service as a Rifleman. The 53rd anniversary of the start of your tour is soon. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Veterans’ Day just passed. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

Tom hadn't been in country very long and was the FNG on the patrol. What a shame. What a waste. I only knew him briefly but I liked him. He was a very good artist. RIP my Brother in Arms.

On January 19, 1968, an eight-man recon team from 2nd Platoon, C Company, 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, call sign Little Gull, began a patrol in Quang Tri Province, RVN, north of Thon Khe (“The Rockpile”). Their mission was to conduct reconnaissance and surveillance to determine enemy activity, engage enemy with supporting arms, and make every effort to capture a prisoner. They were also tasked with ascertaining if the area was being used by the enemy and for what purpose. Embedded with the patrol was a Vietnamese Kit Carson scout. At approximately 3:10 PM, the patrol was moving through 6 to 8-foot-high elephant grass on Nui Cay Tre Mountain (Hill 484) when they were fired on by an estimated 30 North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong soldiers from approximately 20 yards away. The patrol received a heavy volume of M79 fire, grenades, and automatic weapons fire. Four team members were killed in this initial burst. The Marines returned fire with their M16’s and threw grenades. The point man and the Kit Carson were separated from the team and were not hit in the initial burst. They shouted to the team that they were returning to the remainder of the patrol, but after a long burst of fire by the enemy, they couldn’t receive any answer when they called out. They heard the alternate radioman trying to talk on the radio after crawling back to the fallen team members, but another long burst of automatic weapons fire silenced his voice. Two surviving Marines (one wounded) stayed in position about thirty minutes firing small arms before moving south towards the Rockpile. They accounted for three enemy killed during the time they were in the ambush site. While moving away, the enemy attempted to cut them off, but they managed to evade them, continuing to move and evade until the morning of the 20th when they were picked up by helicopter. The Kit Carson scout was reportedly captured by the enemy but was able to escape his guards and return to Allied lines. A reactionary force of fourteen Marines was assembled after the last radio transmission of Little Gull. They were able to locate the ambush position on January 21st where they found the fallen members of the recon team. All their equipment, weapons, and radios were missing, and their bodies had been mistreated by the enemy. The reaction team called for an airdrop of body bags, and the remains the members of Little Gull were carried up and down the steep terrain to a landing zone where they were placed on helicopters. The lost Marines from recon team Little Gull included PFC Lawrence E. Bisonett, LCPL Merle C. Eicher Jr., PFC Thomas J. Moody, LCPL Thomas H. Retschulte, and PFC James L. Siron. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org, 3rdrecon.org, and Headquarters, 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, Command Chronology, March 1969]