THE WALL OF FACES

" The second event came after I had moved back to the command

post, behind a huge termite mound, a key terrain feature in this

part of the Highlands. These things were as big as a small car,

hard as concrete, and provided good cover for both us and the

enemy. I had just leaned back when suddenly I could hear Hal

Moore shouting loudly: "Charlie, call that SOB off of us.

CALL HIM OFF !!!" I turned to my left and could see two F-100

Supersabre jets, one behind the other, headed straight for us.

The first had just released two cans of napalm, the second was

about to do the same. Lieutenant Charlie Hastings, the Air Force

Forward Observer, was screaming into his mike: Pull Up ! Pull Up !

The second plane pulled up. That left two cans of napalm

loblollying end over end toward us. Gregg Dillon buried his face

in my shoulder. Later he would tell me he had heard if napalm

was coming in you should protect your eyes. The two cans went

right over our heads and impacted no more than 20 yards from us.

The jellied gasoline spreading out and flaming up going away from

us. That 20 yards saved our lives, but through the blazing fire

I could see two men, two Americans, dancing in the fire. I

jumped to my feet. So did medic Tommy Burlile. Burlile was shot

in the head by a sniper before he could reach the scene. I

charged on in and someone yelled, "Get this man's feet !" I

reached down and grabbed the ankles of a horribly burned soldier.

They crumbled and the skin and flesh, now cooked, rubbed off.

I could feel his bare ankle bones in the palms of my hands. We

carried him to the aid station. Later I would learn that his

name was Jimmy D. Nakayama of Rigby, Idaho. His wife, Trudie, had

given birth to their first child, a daughter, she named Nikki,

on November 7. Jimmy died in an Army hospital two days later,

on November 17. For a lot of years I looked for Jimmy's wife and

daughter. Last month, after the movie " We Were Soldiers " was

released, I received a letter from Jimmy's widow. Last week a

letter came from his daughter, Nikki, now 36 years old and the

mother of two young sons. No single day has passed since that

long-ago November day that I have not thought about Jimmy

Nakayama, the young woman who loved him, and the daughter who

would never know a father's love."





Transcribed from-


A REPORTER'S JOURNAL FROM HELL

by

Joe Galloway

Exclusive to

The Digital Journalist

http://www.fayettevilleobserver.com/news/archives/1998/tx98may/n2medal.htm

The above link provides some details as to the circumstances of this young man's passing. I had read Hal Moore/Joe Galloway's accounts of the battle at LZ X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley in 1965 and wanted to pay my respects in some way. I recently saw the movie "We Were Soldiers," and this renewed my interest in finding more about Jimmy Nakayama. I was not even a twinkle in my parent's eyes when he gave his life for his country, and his comrades. My sincerest condolences go out to his wife and child wherever you might be today...