THE WALL OF FACES

Remembering you on this Memorial Day 2024. There will hopefully be Americans who remember you and those who gave their lives defending our country for as long as there is an America.

With respect, always.

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. While all deaths in Vietnam are tragic that you died just six days before your 42nd birthday is especially so. May you rest in eternal peace.

I was involved in the recovery of Major Oxley’s body and rescued the navigator in a rice paddy in Long An Province. He was providing close air support for my platoon when he was shot down by small arms fire.

Remembering you and those who didn't make it home from the Vietnam War. This year makes 50 years since America left Vietnam, but the time that you and those we lost have been gone seems so much longer.

With respect, always.

The U.S Air Force Martin B-57B Canberra was an American-built, twin-engine tactical bomber and reconnaissance aircraft. The deployment of combat capable B-57Bs to Vietnam began in August 1964. Canberras were primarily used for dive bombing and strafing, with the early models mounting eight .50 caliber machine guns, four per wing. Later models mounted four 20mm cannons, two per wing, for strafing. These weapons, combined with their bomb loads and four hours of flight time, made them excellent ground support aircraft as well as exceptional truck killers along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. In October 1966, B-57Bs of the13th Bomb Squadron were transferred to Phan Rang Air Base where they supported ground operations in the Iron Triangle, a stronghold of Viet Cong insurgency in Binh Duong Province. On April 22, 1967, a B-57B Canberra (#53-3859) from the13th Bomb Squadron (“Grim Reapers”) was flying a close air support mission when it was hit by hostile small arms fire in the port (left) wing, causing it to crash approximately 15 miles southwest of Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Long An Province, RVN. The crewmen ejected from the disabled Canberra and the navigator was rescued; however, pilot MAJ James E. Oxley did not survive. His body was recovered. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org, virtualwall.org, wikipedia.org, and “B-57 Canberra Units of The Vietnam War” by Bell & Laurier]