THE WALL OF FACES

Dear Msgt Chester Ovnand, Thank you for your service with the Advisory Team Bien Hoa. 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.

Master Sergeant Chester M. Ovnand was awarded the Silver Star Medal for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action. He served in World War II, the Korean War, and in Vietnam where he served as an Armor Reconnaissance Specialist. He was assigned to ADV TEAM BIEN HOA, MAAGV ADVISORS.
See http://www.virtualwall.org/do/OvnandCM01a.htm

MSGT Chester Ovnand, thank you for your service and your sacrifice for our country. Those words seem so inadequate for the price you paid for our freedoms. May your sacrifice be remembered forever. Rest In Peace, Brave Soldier. Hooaah!

I did not know you, but did know your father, my great Uncle Bert. He taught me how to start a front crank automobile. My husband's name is also on the wall. Whenever I visit a travelling wall, I look for you name and honor you.

MAJ Dale R. Buisand and MSG Chester M. Ovnand were assigned to Advisory Team Bien Hoa, MAAGV Advisors, MAAGV. On July 8, 1959, they were killed at Bien Hoa, twenty miles northeast of Saigon, when the Vietcong ambushed the mess hall during intermission of a movie the Americans were watching. The movie, “The Tattered Dress,” was playing before the attack. Ovnand rose to turn on the lights to change the reel when the enemy surrounded their target and opened fire. The advisors were killed instantly. Two Vietnamese guards were also killed. Buis had been part of the Military Assistance Advisory Group sent in 1955 to train South Vietnam troops. He was formerly the first name listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and various web sources]