THE WALL OF FACES

Remember to 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...

Dear Lt Roland Ray, Thank you for your service as an Infantry Unit Commander. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. The 57th anniversary of Gulf of Tonkin Incident is soon. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

Lt. Ray was awarded the Silver Star Medal for his exemplary courage under fire while serving with C Co, 2nd Bn, 60th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division.

On February 26, 1967, in an area known as the “Rat’s Nest” along Doi Mai Creek, west of Rach Kien in Long An Province, 2LT Roland W. Ray and SP4 Santiago R. Gonzales (AKA “Little Gonzales”) were fatally wounded in a firefight with entrenched Viet Cong enemy combatants. Both soldiers were shot in the head. In a retreat from the battlefield, Big Gonzales, the biggest man in C Company and a fellow Hispanic soldier and friend of Little Gonzales, carried over his back the body of Little Gonzales. The enemy fired on the retreating soldier, but his friend’s body shielded and saved Big Gonzales from a bullet meant for him. Back at base camp, the devastated Big Gonzales cried uncontrollably over his lost friend and how his dead body actually saved his life. During the same firefight, SP4 John “Johnny” P. Scoggins was killed when the Company CO led a charge against the entrenched VC in their foxholes and fortified positions. SP4 Scoggins, the CO’s radioman, was a fine, handsome, blond Southern California boy with a big smile and dreams of being a Hollywood actor. [Taken from the book Mekong First Light, by J.W. Callaway Jr.]

Dear 2LT Roland Wooldriedge Ray, sir

As an American, I would like to thank you for your service and for your sacrifice made on behalf of our wonderful country. The youth of today could gain much by learning of heroes such as yourself, men and women whose courage and heart can never be questioned.

May God allow you to read this, and may He allow me to someday shake your hand when I get to Heaven to personally thank you. May he also allow my father to find you and shake your hand now to say thank you; for America, and for those who love you.

With respect, and the best salute a civilian can muster for you, Sir

Curt Carter