THE WALL OF FACES

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

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.

Taken from The Daily Tribune News (Cartersville, GA), May 15, 1969.

We can tell Memorial Day is coming with the wreaths that hang on front doors, and the small red, white, and blue American flags that line the grass covered graves of the Veterans’ cemeteries all acrosse America. One of those graves is yours, and we honor your life and your memory on this Memorial day.

May we never forget your example and the true cost of our freedoms. You with those who love you paid that cost, and America will be forever indebted.

With respect, always.

SP5 Richard J. Pickard was a CH-47 helicopter mechanic serving with the 180th Assault Support Helicopter Company, nicknamed the “Big Windy.” In the first half of 1969, the 180th ASHC was based at Phu Hiep Army Airfield in Phu Yen Province, RVN. The base was located on the coast approximately three miles east of National Highway QL-1, and five miles southeast of Tuy Hoa Airfiled. Phu Hiep was described as a secure location and handled a significant amount of U.S. Army helicopter traffic. As a flight engineer, Pickard oversaw a crew of eight mechanics. They performed ground maintenance on their assigned aircraft, and Packard occasionally flew with his ship in support of 4th U.S. Infantry troops, delivering personnel and supplies to outposts throughout the region. On the evening of May 9, 1969, Pickard was in his hooch at Phu Hiep. Some other maintenance personnel were playing cards nearby when they heard the loud, concussive crack of a rifle. They rushed over to Pickard’s hooch and found he had shot himself in the left chest with an M14 rifle. An ambulance was called while medics provided aid to the mortally wounded Pickard. He was driven to the 91st Evacuation Hospital at Tuy Hoa where he expired three hours later. Pickard had thirty-one days left on his one-year tour of Vietnam. In the days following his loss, the battalion chaplain conducted a memorial service in his honor at the small base chapel. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and information provided by James H. Manis (March 2022)]