THE WALL OF FACES

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotions and spends himself in a great worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end triumph of high achievement and, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while caring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold, timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt

Being from a very small Iowa town where you were either related to everyone or were close families, this was a truly sad day. Mark came back for his younger brother’s funeral and could have stayed as the only surviving son. However, he said he had to get back to his guys…. Thank you for your service!

Dear Cpl Mark Petersen, Thank you for your service as a Rifleman. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. The 46th anniversary of the fall of Saigon is tomorrow. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

Operation Foster (November 13–30, 1967) was a 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, and 3rd Battalion, 11th Marines search and destroy operation in Quang Nam Province, RVN, conducted as a result of Viet Cong attacks on villages near the district headquarters of Di Loc. The mission was to rout the VC who murdered dozens of civilians and burned their villages. On November 19, 1967, a detachment consisting of 10-12 Marines from India Company, 3/7, was conducting a routine patrol when they walked into an L-shaped ambush in a rice paddy near Phu An (1), a hamlet two miles north of An Hoa Airfield. When the enemy opened fire, point man SGT Joel S. Williamson dropped to a knee and returned fire with his M16 on full-automatic. He was cut down after being hit in the head and body by a devastating barrage of enemy fire. The entrenched VC, estimated at company-strong (between 100-125), killed and wounded several other Marines and pinned down the rest. India Company’s Command Post, set up in a small ville about 2000 meters away, heard the gunfire. A reaction force quickly responded and doubled-timed their way to the point of contact. They arrived to find an impossible situation with Marines pinned down in a rice paddy and any attempt to reach them met with withering small arms fire. As the reaction force bravely inched forward, two members were fatally wounded. Sniper LCPL Anthony Vigil from Headquarters, 7/1, and CPL Frank Andrisano Jr. from C Company, 1st Shore Party Battalion, suffered fatal head wounds as they were moving towards the ambush area. The rest of India Company was dispatched to help, and all manner of supporting arms was brought to bear on the enemy position, including fixed-wing, helicopter gunship, artillery, and mortar fire. Only after the enemy had withdrawn later that day was India able to reach the beleaguered patrol. There they found four dead, three Marines and a Navy corpsman: point man Williamson, riflemen LCPL Robert B. Wilson and CPL Mark C. Petersen, and Navy hospitalman HM3 Charles E. Robertson. Another 18 Americans were reportedly wounded. The wounded were pulled from the field to a protected area and taken away by medivac helicopters. The dead remained in the rice paddy until dusk when they were removed and held overnight by the reaction forces. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and information provided by Larry Gibbs and Jack Baggette (May 2019)]

Thank you for your service and your sacrifice. Thank you for stepping up and answering your country's call. Rest easy knowing you will never be forgotten.