THE WALL OF FACES

Dear Cpl Raymond Ottmers, Thank you for your service as a Quarrying Specialist. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Lent has begun. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

PFC Raymond M. Ottmers Jr. was a Quarrying Specialist serving with the 15th Engineer Company. Ottmers was trained to operate the “crusher,” a machine which made aggregates and road base material. Nevertheless, his unit was deployed to several locations in support of combat operations in II Corps which resulted in Ottmers frequently transporting heavy equipment. On August 23, 1967, Ottmers was driving eastbound on Highway QL-19 in a five-ton tractor pulling a lowboy trailer carrying an armored D7 dozer, part of an impromptu convoy which formed up before heading down the infamous Mang Yang Pass. While descending the steep grade, Ottmers complained to his companion riding shotgun the brakes were fading, most likely due to the massive weight of the dozer. Unable to slow their descent, the tractor-trailer began to pick up speed. Faced with smashing into a refrigeration truck in front of them which would endanger a troop-carrying truck in front of it, Ottmers veered off the edge of the road, leaping from the cab at the last moment. He was critically injured after falling amongst the tumbling tractor, trailer, and 16-ton dozer. Ottmers was still alive when placed on a stretcher after being carried hundreds of feet back up to the roadway. His passenger, who remained in the cab as it plummeted down the mountain, was only slightly injured. A medivac helicopter was requested, and the two men were flown to Pleiku. Ottmers expired during the flight. He was posthumously promoted to Corporal. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and information provided by Jeryle D. Smith (November 2020)]

PFC Raymond M. Ottmers Jr. was a Quarrying Specialist serving with the 15th Engineer Company. On August 23, 1967, PFC Ottmers was traveling in a military vehicle on Highway QL-19 on the Mang Yang Pass between Pleiku and An Khe when the vehicle lost its brakes and went off the road. Ottmers was fatally injured after he was thrown from the vehicle then hit by an oncoming vehicle. He was posthumously promoted to Corporal. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org]

Dear CPL Raymond Max Ottmers Jr, sir

As an American, I would like to thank you for your service and for your sacrifice made on behalf of our wonderful country. The youth of today could gain much by learning of heroes such as yourself, men and women whose courage and heart can never be questioned.

May God allow you to read this, and may He allow me to someday shake your hand when I get to Heaven to personally thank you. May he also allow my father to find you and shake your hand now to say thank you; for America, and for those who love you.

With respect, and the best salute a civilian can muster for you, Sir

Curt Carter

May his sacrifice not be forgotten.