THE WALL OF FACES

Never forgotten.

HOOAH

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. As long as you are remembered you will remain in our hearts forever...

On the remembrance of your 74th birthday, your sacrifice is not forgotten.

HOOAH

MASSILLON PLANS MEMORIALS FOR FOUR GI'S KILLED IN VIET
By JOHN BEADER
Stark County Bureau
MASSILLON - The sadness is waning, but this community will not soon forget the deaths of four young men within three days the week of Jan. 8-14 in the Vietnam war.
The loss of the four men probably is the most severe blow leveled at a smaller Ohio city thus far in the war.
The question now facing the community of 35,000 is how to memorialize adequately the three Marines and one soldier.
MEMORIAL PLAQUES and contributions toward a scholarship fund are being planned.
Killed were Timothy D. Berry, William F. Coyne and Richard E. Fuchs, Marine lance corporals who died in a helicopter crash into the South China Sea. They had enlisted together with two other Marines under the buddy system.
Army Spec.4 Robert E. Bethune was killed when a land mine exploded under an armored tracked vehicle he was driving.
All four young men, acquainted in civilian life, were 20 years old. The Marines were 1965 graduates of Washington High School here. Bethune graduated from Tuslaw High School, southwest of here, in 1965.
MEMORIAL SERVICES at churches and schools have been held and additional observances, probably at graveside will be held when the bodies are returned for military burial. All have been recovered except that of Coyne.
Sadness is everywhere.
Mrs. Willard D. Berry, mother of one victim, probably best expressed the feelings of the grieving families from her living room at 1107 W. Main Street, a residence within four blocks of those other Coyne and Fuchs families.
"we are very impressed with the outpouring of sympathy from the community," she said. "People in town have called or stopped by to tell us of little incidents they remember about the boys we had never learned of before.
"WE HAVE GOTTEN dozens of letters of condolence. They come from children, friends, people we never heard of, including some who have suffered similar losses. A Marine from the first World War wrote to each family from his home in St. Paul, Minn.
"We will never be sorry the boys enlisted together, although it turned out so tragically," she said. "We had been hoping for July when they would have come home, but now we believe their being together was a great comfort to them."
Berry and Fuchs could have obtained hardship discharges because their fathers had serious illnesses.
But "they made the decision themselves to stay in, they felt it was something they had to do together," Mrs. Berry said.
Fred W. Fuchs Jr. of 325 12th Street S.W., father of Richard, has had a serious heart ailment, while Berry is recovering from brain surgery.
MRS. JOHN H. COYNE JR. of 117 12th Street S.W., mother of the third man, said, "The mail is unbelievable. He certainly was well known.
Mayor William J. Keen said the reaction of the town has been one of overwhelming sympathy. He said many people have been flying flags at half staff and have called about starting a fund drive.
Safety-service director Raymond Marchand said the public reaction appears different from similar circumstances in the Korean War or World War II.
"This had had a tremendous impact," he said. "People just are not accustomed to this type of thing."
COUNCILMAN Donald Whitman said some bitterness has been expressed to him.
"People think the Pentagon should do something about the buddy system so one area is not hit as hard as this one has been."
The buddy system allows friends who enlist together to stay together.
Washington High School principal I.W. Snyder said the school is considering enlarging a memorial plaque along a wall in the main corridor. It lists 88 men who died in World War II.
"We feel something should be done now," he said. "We do not know how many were lost in the Korean War.
"THIS WAS a tremendous shock that shook the whole school. The junior and senior students and the faculty remembered these boys."
Tuslaw principal John R. Izzi has discussed placing a plaque for Bethune in the high school.
Bethune, son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Bethune of 12030 Sinclair Street, S.W., beyond Massillon city limits, was the first serviceman killed from Tuslaw who had completed four years at the new consolicated school.
James R. Weber, a Washington High School graduate who was a friend of the three Marines, has begun a fund-raising drive for contributions to the high school scholarship fund in their behalf. Donations are being sent to six Massillon banks.

DEAR SPEC 4 ROBERT BETHUNE,
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE AS AN INFANTRY DIRECT FIRE CREWMAN. IT HAS BEEN FAR TOO LONG FOR ALL OF 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 ANGELS BE AT YOUR SIDE. REST IN PEACE. MANY OF US HAVE BEGUN OUR JOURNEY TO EASTER. YOU ARE ALL IN OUR PRAYERS.