THE WALL OF FACES

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.

On the remembrance of your 73rd birthday, your sacrifice is not forgotten.

Semper Fi, Doc.

Dear HN Gilbert McDaniel, Thank you for your service as a Hospitalman with the 5th Marines. Semper Fi. Thank you for the lives you saved. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Yesterday was Purple Heart Day. Time passes quickly, but our world needs help. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage, guidance and faithfulness. Rest in peace with the angels.

Reading my husband letters from Vietnam today over 50 years ago. My husband served in Vietnam withLima 3/5 USMC. The letter began that he had not written in several days because they had been out on a sweep near Hill 85 and Liberty Bridge. He wrote " on the 6th day I lost a friend that I had not known very long. I called him Doc McDaniel because he was a Navy Corpsman. The evening before Doc McDaniel was helping everyone up a steep embankment, because their packs were so heavy. I didn't need any help up the bank, but Doc McDaniel reached his hand out, so I took it. So we sat down and talked for about 15 minutes while scouts and points could recon the area. He was showing me pictures of his daughter and telling me how he became a corpsman. He wanted to be a dentist and they told him he had to go to medical school first, so he went and after he finished, they sent him to Nam. He was Oklahoma and a little blonde haired guy with a blonde moustache. The next morning around 7am, he stepped on a mine and was gone.". My husband had just arrived in Vietnam on March 4, 1969. I think of Doc's little girl now and she is over 50 years old now. May she know her daddy was showing pictures of her to my husband just hours before he went to be with Our Lord.

SEMPER FI