THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. As long as you are remembered you will always be with us....

SP4 Keith L. Benson was an infantryman serving with 2nd Platoon, B Company, 4th Battalion, 39th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division. SP4 Benson came to Vietnam on the troop carrier ship USNS General Alexander M. Patch (T-AP-122) with his unit from Fort Riley, KS, in December 1966. Benson had extensive combat experience as 4/39th Infantry conducted many search and destroy missions from their base camp at Bearcat Base near the city of Bien Hoa, RVN. During the second half of his tour he was transferred with several members of his unit for rear echelon duty in an MP company in Saigon. Not happy with his new duties, Benson requested to be returned to the field where he was reunited in early October 1967 with his friends from B Company. By this time, 4/39th Infantry had moved up north to Ban Me Thuot East Airfield and was conducting operations in the triple-canopy jungles of the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Most of their mission were search and destroy, seeking to make contact with North Vietnamese Army units operating in the area. On Halloween Day, October 31, 1967, 2nd Platoon was patrolling in a jungle of dense, tangled vines, shrubs and small trees under a leafy canopy. Throughout the day they had been making sporadic contact with the NVA, resulting in brief exchanges of fire before contact was quickly broken by the enemy. It was during one of these engagements Benson was hit in the lower throat by enemy small arms fire and killed. A medivac was requested, and his body was removed from the field. With the evacuation completed, 2nd Platoon continued it patrol. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and information provided by Clyde Raines (September 2018)]

Specialist Four Keith Lloyd Benson, Served with Company B, 4th Battalion, 39th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division.

DEAR SPEC 4 BENSON,
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE AS A GRUNT. HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY. IT IS 2017, WHICH MAKES IT FAR TOO LONG FOR YOU TO HAVE BEEN GONE. WE APPRECIATE ALL YOU HAVE DONE, AND YOUR SACRIFICE. WATCH OVER THE U.S.A., IT STILL NEEDS YOUR COURAGE.. GOD BLESS YOU. MAY THE SAINTS AND ANGELS BE AT YOUR SIDE. REST IN PEACE.

I was present Halloween 1967 when Keith departed this life, he is and always will be in my mind and heart; he was a friend...