THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. The remembrance from John Aveiro Jr is especially poignant. As long as you are remembered you will always be with us...

DEAR SPEC 4 BONGO,
THANKS FOR YOUR SERVICE AS AN INFANTRYMAN. IT HAS BEEN FAR TOO LONG FOR ALL OF YOU TO HAVE BEEN GONE. WE APPRECIATE ALL YOU HAVE DONE, AND YOUR SACRIFICE. WATCH OVER THE U.S.A., IT STILL NEEDS YOUR COURAGE. GOD BLESS YOU. MAY THE ANGELS BE AT YOUR SIDE. REST IN PEACE. YOU ARE ALL IN OUR PRAYERS. IT WAS JUST EASTER - GOD'S BLESSINGS ON YOU.

Dear SP4 Anthony Bongo, 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, Sir

Curt Carter

I met Tony at Honolulu Community College where we studied architectural drafting together. We found that we had a lot in common when we met and during our two years there we became good friends. Together we joined the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry Division of the Army Reserves when we graduated and our service numbers are only one number apart. We went to basic training together shortly before we were called to active duty at Schofield Barracks. I was sent to Vietnam before Tony and I was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division based way up north near the DMZ.

While I was there, a major battle was fought at a mountain in the jungle called Ap Bia but nicknamed “Hamburger Hill” by the troops who fought there. There was even a movie of the same name made about this battle. War and communication were very different then and I did not even know that Tony had also been sent there after I left Hawaii. But I had been there for about five months when our unit and others were called to Hamburger Hill to support another 101st Airborne Division unit that had first ran into heavy action there. The mountain was riddled with tunnels and a large number of North Vietnamese troops and it took us several days of air strikes and ground fighting to reach the top. When we got there, I saw a cardboard handwritten sign on a tree that said “LZ Bongo”. LZ means landing zone for helicopters and I had a bad feeling about the name and began asking questions of the troops who were already there. Though I wasn’t able to find out much, I was told by another soldier from Tony’s unit that it was named after a soldier from Hawaii who had died there. Of course I knew it was Tony but I wasn’t able to find out more because his unit had been the first up there and had taken the heaviest casualties so there weren’t many of them left.

Since then, I’ve often thought about Tony and this incident and what meaning it might hold but, as we all know, there is no way of explaining these things. I miss my friend Tony but I know that we will meet again someday. My deepest condolences and prayers go out to all of Tony’s family and friends.

As a teenager studying in Manoa Valley I'd sneak out of the dormitory in the middle of the night and walk miles to The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl Crater and visit my uncle (mom's only brother -- whom I'd never had the chance to meet) and ponder two arguably very different questions: 1) what is the cost of freedom; 2) what is the value of our freedom? I still ask these questions. Uncle, thank you!