THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. The remembrance from Cindi Kenney Janicki is touching and reflects her admiration and respect for you. As long as you are remembered you will remain in our hearts forever.

Dear Cpl Lawrence Snyder, Thank you for your service as a Rifleman. Your 54th anniversary is soon, sad. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. It is Spring , and Lent. Time moves quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage, guidance and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

In April 1968, the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, was placed at Ca Lu Combat Base on National Highway QL- 9 in Quang Tri Province, RVN, and assigned responsibility for securing the highway from Khe Sanh Combat Base to the coast. Golf Company, 2/9, under 3/1 control, provided the battalion extra military capability and were placed at bridges along the route. On the morning of April 18th, a squad (reinforced) from 2nd Platoon, Golf 2/9, positioned at Bridge 28 reported contact with North Vietnamese Army (NVA) forces. The remainder of 2nd Platoon, Golf 2/9, accompanied by two tanks, moved out from Ca Lu to reinforce them and exploit the contact. When they arrived on scene, they found the NVA in well-concealed bunkers along the sides of a heavily vegetated ravine running north from the bridge. While the NVA had a fair field of fire against the bridge and both approaches to it, the Marines could only bring glancing fire against the bunkers. At 10:25 AM, a five-truck convoy of B Battery, 1/11 artillerymen from Khe Sanh attempted to run the gauntlet across Bridge 28. All five vehicles were hit by enemy fire resulting in numerous personnel killed and wounded. The artillerymen became stranded and engaged by fire from the ravine, and Golf 2/9 suffered heavy casualties attempting to extricate the dead and wounded from the convoy. On April 20th, Mike Company, 3/1 was helilifted onto the high ground north of the enemy positions and assault down the ravine. Golf 2/9 coordinated supporting fires on the enemy positions, and by nightfall, enemy fire had been reduced enough to allow movement across Bridge 28. By noon of the 22nd, QL-9 was declared open to traffic. A total of twenty-nine NVA had been killed versus twenty-five Marines. The Marines lost during the three-day fight at Bridge 28 included (B Battery, 1/11): CPL William Adams Jr., LCPL Donald R. Allen, and PFC Gilbert Mendoza; (Mike 3/1) CPL Don E. Davis, CPL Robert C. Hawes, LCPL Alexander Chisolm, LCPL John M. Vaughn, PFC Kent R. Bolter, PFC John L. Czechowski, PFC Eugene Harris, PFC Francis X. Kane, PFC Charles J. Rachon, and PFC Edward E. Whalen; (Golf 2/9) CPL Lawrence J. Snyder, CPL James D. Craft, LCPL Tomas Gonzales, LCPL Michael D. Padilla, LCPL Thomas J. Worley, LCPL William P. York, PFC Lee C. Adams, PFC Michael J. Caporale, PFC Neil H. Exum, PFC Andrew J. Payne, PFC Scott A. Wright, and PFC Lewis J. Young. [Taken from virtualwall.org and “Command Chronology (3rd Bn, 1st Marines) April 1968” at ttu.edu]

Larry, you were so special to me. You were friends with my older sister’s husband. I was 5 when we met and 9 when you were killed. You treated me like your little sister and I was so excited every time you came to visit. I still remember when you came home to visit once when you were in the Marines. I was with my mom and Dad and as we drove through Beaver I told them I saw you. They told me that was silly because you were in Vietnam Nam. We went to my sisters house to visit, I was sitting on the front stoop when I looked up the road and you came around the bend walking. I can still remember running to you as your arms folded around me and how much I loved you. Looking back I must have been annoying but you never let on or acted that way. Every Memorial Day I think of you and secretly wish I would just look up the road and see you coming. My hero, my friend.

He loved us so.
Every day, in a hundred ways, he told us so.
In ho nesty, in affection, he told us so.
He loved us so.
Every day, in a hundred ways, he showed us so.
With loyalty and bravery
he hoswed us so.
He was our defender, and he kept us free!
He took an oath to guard us, and fought for liberty!
He loved us so, and we should know.
For we loved him so.
Corporal Snyder, you were the very essence of DUTY!...HONOR!...and COUNTRY! You had been there and done that in Vietnam! You were one brave man who did brave deeds for our America! You had fought for the right, without question or pause! Your name and fame are the BIRTHRIGHT of EVERY American citizen! In your youth and strength...your love and loyalty...you had given all that motality can give! You had given all to defend liberty everywhere! Rochester is very proud of you! You sacificed your life so that freedom and justice may live! You had lived up, to the motto of the Corps!...SEMPER FIDELIS!...and to the code of conduct and chivalry of those who guard this beloved land!...an ideal SO NOBLE that it arouses in all of us a sense of pride, and yet, of humility!trongly and honestly believe that Avonmore's own Jill Corey, whom I stronjgly and immensely admire as one of my three top favorite songbirds of all time, the other two being Walton-on-Thames's opwn Julie Andrews, England's musical queen, and London's own Dusty Springfield, another thrush from England, would be very proud of your service to America, and the sacrifices you made o keep us and our country free! Well done, Corporal! Be thou at peace. SEMPER FI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!