THE WALL OF FACES

Remember to save for them a place inside of you, and save one backward glance when you are leaving, for the places they can no longer go...

Sixty years ago, December 1963, my dad and I needed help lighting orchard heaters in the family orange groves, several hundred yards from Tim's home in Crafton. As in times past, Tim was on board to lend his support. The night was the coldest in decades. At Tim's house the overnight temperature dropped to 17 degrees Fahrenheit. By 4:00 a.m. we had done everything possible to save the crop. We wrapped up the evening sitting on some crates among the tress in plot #6 talking about the 10,000 gallons of diesel #4 oil that was being burned. Little did I know it was the last conversation we would have. Tim was drafted a year before me and died a lifetime role model and hero. Godspeed, to my friend and neighbor.

Operations El Paso and El Paso II (May 19 - July 13, 1966) were conducted by the U.S. Army's 3rd Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division in Binh Long Province, RVN. In April 1966, prisoner interrogations revealed that the Viet Cong (VC) 271st and 273rd Regiments were planning a major offensive near Loc Ninh. On June 11th, Company A, 2/28th Infantry, patrolling northwest of Loc Ninh with a platoon of CIDG indigenous soldiers, was engaged by the VC 1st Battalion, 273rd Regiment, located on two adjacent hills, Hill 150 and Hill 177. As the battle developed, Company C, 2/28th Infantry, was deployed as reinforcements, and following air and artillery strikes, assaults were launched on the hills. At 2:30 PM, Company C and the battalion's reconnaissance platoon assaulted Hill 177 from the south and west but were pushed back by a VC counterattack. The reconnaissance platoon retreated to a position in a trench covered by a VC machine gun and lost seventeen killed. Despite this, by 4:15 PM, the VC were forced from the hill and withdrew northwest, harassed by air and artillery strikes. On Hill 150, Company A made two assaults, both of which were repulsed. Company B then joined the fight, and by 4:30 PM, had forced the VC from the hill where they were ambushed by a waiting CIDG Company. U.S. losses were thirty-four killed. The lost personnel included: (A/2/28) SP4 Henry Burch, SGT John E. Miller, and PFC Roy S. Pitt; (B/2/28) SP4 Charles H. Shelton; (C/2/28) SP4 Dennis E. Brown, PFC David G. Bryan, SP4 Willie Cole Jr., PFC Michael A. Garris, SP4 Donel R. Johnson, PFC Jerry W. Looney, PFC Herman R. Meneely, PFC Tim A. Noe, PFC Clae T. Norman, SSG James W. Phair, PFC Harvey J. Profitt, PFC Ronald Richards, and SSG Franz X. Wallner; (Recon Platoon) SP4 Kenneth A. Babb, PFC Dannie G. Braswell, PFC Ronald J. Brissette, PFC Thomas S. Cameron, PFC Thomas W. Chatburn III, SSG Ernest L. Duran, SGT Grady L. Elder, PFC Charles E. Ford, PFC James E. Hill, PFC Louis A. Jefferson, SSG Glen D. Lofton, PFC Richard A. Mitchell, PFC Jack R. Price, PFC Jessie E. Shannon, PFC Michael T. Sukara, PFC John R. Thompson, and PFC J.C. Williams. PFC Noe was posthumously awarded the Silver Star medal. VC losses were 98 by body count with subsequent intelligence indicating that half the VC 1st Battalion had been killed. [Taken from virtualwall.org and “Stemming the Tide” by John M. Carland]

Dear PFC Tim Noe, Thank you for your service as an Infantryman. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. It’s a New Year, but not necessarily better. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to PFC Tim A. Noe, United States Army, for gallantry in action against a hostile force on 11 June 1966. On this date, PFC Noe's company was alerted of the presence of two companies of Viet Cong in entrenched hilltop positions. The unit deployed to eliminate the insurgent force. Platoons on line, Company C was sweeping up the hill into the midst of a rubber plantation when they were suddenly engaged by a furious volume of Viet Cong fire. From their well-fortified emplacements the Viet Cong force concentrated the full firepower of small arms, automatic weapons, heavy machine guns, grenades and recoilless rifles on the small American unit. PFC Noe's platoon and the reconnaissance platoon were in the direct line of this fire and both units rushed forward to a seemingly abandoned Viet Cong trench line to gain cover. The insurgents anticipated this move and had positioned a machine gun at one end of the trench. The murderous fire of this weapon now took a very heavy toll of the American defenders. The Viet Cong then hurled a barrage of hand grenades into the trench, came out of their bunkers, and assaulted the positions attempting to outflank and surround the men of Company C. PFC Noe and his machine gun crew were occupying a position in that trench approximately 25 meters from the Viet Cong fortifications. He and all his comrades were already wounded and many more dead and wounded lined both sides of the trench. In spite of his injury, PFC Noe remained at his weapon, effectively engaging the onrushing Viet Cong and urging his comrades to withdraw while he could still provide covering fire. Suddenly, a grenade rolled into the trench coming to rest at their feet. For a moment everyone froze. It was too late to pick up the grenade and throw it out of the trench. Disregarding his own life, PFC Noe threw himself on top of the grenade. A fraction of a second later his body absorbed the full blast of the explosion. He had voluntarily given his life to save those around him. PFC Noe's unquestionable valor in close combat against a superior hostile force are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon upon himself, the 1st Inf Div and the United States Army.