THE WALL OF FACES

A butterfly lights beside us like a sunbeam
And for a brief moment its glory
and beauty belong to our world
But then it flies again
And though we wish it could have stayed...
We feel lucky to have seen it.

Dear PFC Martin Rosales, Thank you for your service as a Rifleman. I researched you on your 54th anniversary, sad. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Yesterday was Columbus Day. Time moves quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

On September 10, 1967, during the last days of Operation Swift, Company H, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, were conducting a patrol north of Hill 43 in the Que Son Valley in Quang Tin Province, RVN. They searched a small village and found it empty except for a few women and children. They noted, however, that the village contained fortified bunkers, interlocking trenches, and barbed wire. The Company moved on and established a defensive position on a hill at about 2:00 PM. The Company Commander sent out 3rd Platoon on a security patrol in a one-mile radius around the hill. As they left, heavy rain began falling. The patrol route brought them back near the village around 2:30 PM where they began crossing the rice paddies surrounding it. Unbeknownst to them, a reinforced North Vietnamese Army company had slipped into the defensive positions there. The waited until the lead squad of the patrol was about to enter the village when they opened fire with sudden, intense, automatic weapons fire, including .50 caliber machine guns, virtually wiping out the lead Marine squad. The platoon was leaderless shortly after when 2LT Allan J. Herman died trying to rescue a wounded Marine in the rice paddy. The gunfire could be heard from the hilltop, and the Company, unable to raise the 3rd Platoon by radio, raced towards the village. Second Platoon was put behind the village to block escaping enemy, and mortar and artillery fire was poured on the NVA position. Another Company arrived to assist H Company, and airstrikes with 250lb. bombs were dropped. After two A-4 aircraft dropped tear gas, the Marines overran the village. Forty dead NVA were found, many others buried in the collapsed bunkers. Nine Marines died, six in the rice paddies just in front of the enemy. They were found with their M16 rifles broken down in an attempt to clear jammed cartridges in the chambers. They all had powder-burned bullet holes in their heads where the enemy had moved in and killed them execution-style. The lost Marines included LCPL Leo C. Aukland, LCPL James P. Braswell Jr., LCPL Charles W. Horvath, CPL Stephen L. Irvin, LCPL Kenneth C. Johnson, PFC Martin A. Rosales, SGT William B. Stutes, and LCPL Michael F. Wolf. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and “U.S. Marines in Vietnam: Fighting the North Vietnamese 1967” by Telfer, Rogers, and Fleming]

Private First Class Martin Angel Rosales, Served with Company H, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, Third Marine Amphibious Force.

Dear PFC Martin Angel Rosales, 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