THE WALL OF FACES

You gave your life for your Country, for this we Salute you.

Dear CPL Johnny Saxon, sir

As a native North Carolinian, 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

Johnny is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Charlotte, NC.

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.

Mary Frye – 1932

Slip off that pack. Set it down by the crooked trail. Drop that steel pot alongside. Shed those magazine-laden 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.

Johnny Saxon was a member of Charlie Company, First Battalion, 46th Infantry, 196th Light Infantry Brigade, Americal Division. He is honored here by the veterans of 1/46th.

"The Professionals," of 1/46 came in-country via the USS Upshur on October 4, 1967 as part of the 198th Light Infantry Brigade. The 198th became part of the Americal Division. After one month of orientation at Duc Pho, the battalion was deployed north of Chu Lai and patrolled from Hill 54, Hill 69, LZ Young and LZ Baldy in Quang Tin Province. In March of 1969, the battalion moved to LZ Professional, in the mountains southwest of Tien Phuoc, Quang Tin Province, to relieve a battered 1/52 Infantry of the 198th. In July of 1969, 1/46, which had been operating under operational control of the 196th LIB of the Americal, became a permanent member of that brigade. The battalion operated from LZ Professional until August of 1970. In February of 1970, the battalion established a temporary firebase at LZ Mary Ann, at a remote mountain site near Hau Duc, Quang Tin Province. The battalion returned to Mary Ann in the summer of 1970 and operated from there and LZ Young, which was between Tien Phuoc and Tam Ky, during 1970 and 1971. The battalion left Mary Ann in April of 1971 when the Americal Division was deactivated and the 196th Brigade reverted to its status as an independent brigade and deployed at Danang, to provide security for the port. In June, 1972, 1/46 left Vietnam. Of the names on this wall, 233 of them, close to half the battalion's actual field strength at any given time in Vietnam, were members of 1/46, or died while deployed with us.