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

Your sacrifice is not forgotten, neither is your dedication to your fellow Marines.

Semper Fi, Marine

Operation Kingfisher was a U.S. Marine Corps operation carried out near Con Thien, Quang Tri Province, RVN, lasting from July 16 to October 31, 1967. The objective of Kingfisher was to block entry of North Vietnamese Army (NVA) forces into the eastern portion of the province. Initially, only minor contact was made with the NVA. On July 28th, 2/9 Marines, supported by a platoon of tanks and several other tracked vehicles, moved north on Provincial Route 606 to make a spoiling attack into the Demilitarized Zone. The unit made no contact with the NVA and set up a night defensive position near the Ben Hai River. The following morning, as the unit was returning along the same route, a command detonated mine exploded, wounding five Marines. Further down the convoy, a second mine was detonated. The NVA then opened fire with small arms and mortar fire and attacked the armored vehicles with rocket-propelled grenades. The enemy hugged the U.S. column, preventing the use of air support and causing the column to break up into several separate firefights. The convoy then retreated; only through the use of napalm support were the Marines saved from a complete rout. The isolated companies set up night defensive positions and were relieved by 3/4 Marines on the morning of July 30th. U.S. casualties were 33 dead and 251 wounded. The lost personnel included CPL Dewey L. Beatty, LCPL Alan C. Erickson, PFC Eric M. Dewey, SGT James M. Lynch, PFC Charles W. Hollwedel, PFC Richard H. Taylor, PFC Jerry G. Wright, PFC Dennis E. Brown, LCPL Michael F. Gaffney, 2LT Robert A. Kisch, CPL Richard L. La Flair, LCPL Ronald L. McJunkin, LCPL Carl J. Olson, PVT Ricky W. Richardson, LCPL Allen J. White, LCPL Robert W. Wilfong, PFC John M. Dudley, CPL Robert L. Ellison, LCPL Walter C. Gibson, PFC Eddie L. Roberts, PFC William F. Seveney, CPL Lee R. Taylor, PFC Steven H. Bennefeld (body not recovered), LCPL Phillip Jacob, LCPL Richard H. Johnson (body not recovered), LCPL Larry V. Kinard, LCPL Anthony M. Leach, CPL Alfred J. Gaspar, LCPL James G. McGovern, LCPL James P. Proctor (died of wounds 08/01/1967; posthumously awarded the Silver Star medal for heroism), LCPL Henry W. Bernard, LCPL Stanley K. Patrick, and GYSGT David S. Prentice. Thirty-two NVA dead were counted and a further 175 were believed killed. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and “U.S. Marines in Vietnam: Fighting the North Vietnamese 1967” by Telfer, Rogers, and Fleming]

Dear Lcpl James Proctor, Thank you for your service as a Machine Gunner. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Summer 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.

Pat and I spent a few years together growing up. Most of our times were at McGuire AFB where our dads were stationed. Pat was the big brother I never had. He kept me out of trouble often. Pat's dad was transferred to England, however when Pat graduated from high school, he flew into DC where we were living at the time. He spent some time with me and when he left he said he was going to join the Air Force. The next time I saw Pat was on Duke St in Alexandria, Va. He was with a buddy but we managed to spend about 2 hours before he left. I never saw him again. I remember the call I got at Peterson AFB when Pat was killed. It was like my gut was torn out. It hurt then, and it still hurts today. I miss you Pat -