THE WALL OF FACES

I went to college with Danny at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN and literally fell in love with him. I went to the Military Ball with him his senior year and I remember how handsome he looked. He loved his country for sure. I noted they said Vietnam Conflict, that was a war in my book. I just lost my Marine husband in 2022 directly related to agent orange. That was the second man I loved and lost to that war! Rest in peace Danny and my husband, Charles, of 52 years.

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.

I was station at Fort Knox, KY with A Co 6/32 Armor and was on the military funeral detail for LT Mullins as a pallbearer.

Blackhorse Base Camp was a U.S. Army base located on National Highway QL-2 near the town of Xuan Loc in Long Khanh Province, RVN. It was established in late October 1966 as the base camp for the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (11th ACR). Before dawn on August 30, 1967, an 11th ACR M113 Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicle (ACAV) left Blackhorse Base to pick up a group of troopers which had just concluded an overnight patrol of a nearby rubber plantation. A little while later, during its return to base, the ACAV struck a mine on the unnamed access road to Blackhorse. The blast destroyed the 13-ton ACAV and injured five U.S. troopers. Several ACAVs came out to secure the area and assist the wounded. Later, after sunrise, a convoy from the 67th Engineer Company (Dump Truck) consisting of recovery vehicles came to remove the disabled track. As the convoy’s lead jeep passed by some members of the reaction force standing in the road, a massive explosion occurred. The blast killed two 67th engineers in the jeep, 1LT Reginald A. Mundy and SP4 Harvie G. Smith, and critically wounded two others. One of the injured, 1LT Daniel L. Mullins of Troop K, 3/11 Armor, succumbed the following day in a Saigon military hospital; the second man, the M60 gunner on the jeep, later recovered from his wounds. Another man in the road was tossed in the air by the explosion; miraculously, he walked away unscathed. The engineer’s jeep was destroyed. The charge was estimated at 40Ibs. and left a crater in the road nine feet wide and five feet deep. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and “Operational Report - Lessons Learned, Headquarters, 27th Engineer Battalion (Combat), Period Ending 31 October 1967” at dtic.mil; also, information provided by Dale R. Sabine (August 2022)]

Dear Lt Daniel Mullins, Thank you for your service as an Armored Reconnaissance Unit Commander. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. It is Christmas Eve, Merry Christmas. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.