THE WALL OF FACES

War drew us from our homeland
In the sunlit springtime of our youth.
Those who did not come back alive remain
in perpetual springtime -- forever young --
And a part of them is with us always.

Khe Sanh Combat Base was a U.S. Marine Corps outpost south of the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Quang Tri Province, RVN. Several thousand yards from its perimeter, hills 881 South, 861, 861A, and 558 figured prominently in the defense of the base. In early February 1968, Company E, 2nd Battalion, 26th Marines held Hill 861A. When they arrived, the area was nothing more than elephant grass and blown-out banana trees. After a week of working on their defenses, the company had completed some sand bagging, dug a waist-deep trench, and installed a roll of concertina wire around the perimeter. Time had not permitted for the construction of overhead bunkers. Around 2:00 AM on February 5th, listening posts about 30 yards out detected movement. The four-man teams were pulled in, and the 100+ Marines and Navy corpsmen on 861A hunkered down as several hundred North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops surrounded their position. A sapper unit armed with Chicom grenades and Bangalore torpedoes struck first, followed by an infantry attack. The company mortar section fired 60mm mortars and artillery from Khe Sanh Combat Base helped disorganize and disperse the enemy. A U.S. Air Force AC-47 “Spooky” gunship came overhead but withheld firing due to heavy fog. By 6:30 AM, Company E had beaten back the attack using small arms, M79 fire, and aggressive hand-to-hand combat. Accounts of CS (tear gas) grenades being deployed was erroneously reported; the gas was discharged but after the canisters were hit by frags from enemy mortars requiring some Marine to temporarily don masks. Seven Americans died in the fighting and twenty-four were wounded. The lost personnel included PFC Jack C. Bogard, LCPL Tyrone F. Lamitie, LCPL Joseph A. Molettiere, LCPL Louis F. Staples, PFC Martin L. Rimson (died of wounds after evacuation), PFC Alan R. Smith, PFC Charles R. Stevenson, and PFC Ernest V. Taylor. Marine CH-46 helicopters arrived at first light and carried the dead and wounded to the 3rd Medical Battalion station at Khe Sanh, later transferred to the hospital at Dong Ha or naval hospital ships offshore. NVA losses were reported at 109 killed; however, Marines present at the battle believe this to be an exaggeration and recall a much lower number. Engineers brought C4 explosive up to the hill that they used to blow open a pit where they buried the enemy bodies. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org, historynet.com, virtualwall.org, and information provided by Doug Simons (November 2022)]

Dear PFC Alan Smith, Thank you for your service as a Rifleman. Your 74th birthday just passed, happy birthday. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Winter will end soon, and Lent has begun. Time moves quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage, guidance and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

Never forgotten.

Semper Fi, Marine

On the remembrance of your 73rd birthday, your sacrifice is not forgotten.

Semper Fi, Marine