THE WALL OF FACES

We called him "Pudgy," and we attended Gordon High School. Pudgy was a couple of years behind me, but we were teammates on the football team. Hell of a linebacker.

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. The remembrance from the Graham family is touching. As long as you are remembered you will always be with us...

May each day find you in the eternal Holy Kingdom!
May all that may have escaped you on this Earth be yours in all your days in Heaven!
America is forever in your debt!
We will never forget your sacrifice and the sacrifices of so many others who gave all there is to give !

"There were many outstanding athletes in the Gordon High School class of 1967...and, of course, the big three: Cleveland "Jungle Baby" Bethea, Luther "Pudgy" Bethea, and Marvin Goings. These three stood out in this class of outstanding athletes due to the fact that they played, started, and were stars in all of the male sports teams at Gordon. They were instrumental in helping Gordon to win the 2A State Championships in basketball in 1965 and 1966, and in football their senior year." -The Dillon Herald, Aug 19, 2018

Operation Scotland II was a U.S. Marine Corps security operation that took place in northwest Quang Tri Province, RVN, from April 16, 1968 to February 28, 1969. The operation began with the Marines seeking out the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) forces on the Khe Sanh plateau and across the operational area which comprised the western third of the province. Throughout the months of August–September 1968 there was little activity in the Scotland II area as the NVA concentrated their activity further east, and poor weather limited activities. However, when NVA units were observed in the area, they were engaged by fire on numerous occasions. At 7:00 AM on August 13, 1968, during a fire mission directed at enemy forces, a friendly 81mm high-explosive mortar round acted erratically and landed near a Marine unit positioned about six miles southeast of Ca Lu Airfield. PFC Luther Bethea Jr., a rifleman with L Company, 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines, 3rd Marine Division, was fatally injured after being hit by metal fragments from the errant round. Another two Marines were wounded. All three were medivacked. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org, wikipedia.org, and Command Chronology (3rd Battalion, 9th Marines) at ttu.edu]