THE WALL OF FACES

Pat was a dear friend.We played baseball together for years. Pat was the catcher and I was a pitcher. His parents and Joe lived three blocks from me. I remember haring about Pats death and visiting his parents and seeing the pain they were going through. I was young then and I couldn't accept his passing. I have had dreams of Pat over these past 40 yrs many times. I visited the memorial two times and I wept deeply. I didn't understand why he had to die for a long time. It was his time and he had more courage than the rest of us. Adios amigo. I've waited a long time to be able to put that in writing. I'll see you on the next journey!

Pat is buried at Rehobeth Cemetery, Carthage, TX. BSM AM PH

FOREVER REMEMBERED

"If you are able, save for them a place inside of you....and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the places they can no longer go.....Be not ashamed to say you loved them....
Take what they have left and what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own....And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle hero’s you left behind...."

Quote from a letter home by Maj. Michael Davis O'Donnell
KIA 24 March 1970. Distinguished Flying Cross: Shot down and Killed while attempting to rescue 8 fellow soldiers surrounded by attacking enemy forces.

We Nam Brothers pause to give a backward glance, and post this remembrance to you, one of the gentle heros lost to the War in Vietnam:

Slip off that pack. Set it down by the crooked trail. Drop your steel pot alongside. Shed those magazine-ladened bandoliers away from your sweat-soaked shirt. Lay that silent weapon down and step out of the heat. Feel the soothing cool breeze right down to your soul ... and rest forever in the shade of our love, brother.

From your Nam-Band-Of-Brothers

I knew Pat from high school in Marshall, TX. Although younger than me, I was more acquainted with his older brother Joe. We all played baseball together and Pat, like his brother Joe, was a fine player.

When I returned from a tour in Europe in May, 1969 I heard from friends in Marshall that you'd made the ultimate sacrifice only a few months before.
We'll never forget you Pat. What a great friend you were to all.

Every time I think about The Wall, I stop and think about you and all the others we lost.

Go easy bro ...