THE WALL OF FACES

DEAR CHIEF MASTER SGT. ALBERTSON,
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE AS AN AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE SUPERINTENDENT. I READ YOU ARE STILL MIA. I HOPE YOU ARE FOUND. I HOPE YOU CAN BE REUNITED WITH YOUR FAMILY. I AM PRAYING FOR YOU!

Chief Master Sergeant Bobby Joe Alberton, Served with the 61st Troop Carrier Squadron, 64th Troop Carrier Wing, 7th Air Force.

I have worn Bobby's bracelet for many years now, and continue to do so. I was, like Bobby, a C-130 Flight Engineer, and for a while in the 1990s I flew in the same squadron that Bobby did when he was lost in 1966, the 61st Airlift Squadron. It was known as the 61st Troop Carrier Squadron when Bobby was assigned to it.

I flew combat missions in the C-130E/H in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and I wore Bobby's bracelet on every single one. I felt that somehow Bobby was with me in that airplane as we performed our missions, and was comforted by that.

I was also fortunate to have flown missions in support of Joint Task Force-Full Accounting in the 1990s while stationed in Japan, and had the honor of flying the remains of many of our fallen heroes from SE Asia out of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, and start them on their way home to the United States and their families. Bobby's bracelet was on my wrist on every single one of those missions too, and I thought of him often as I flew over the countryside of Vietnam.

I didn't know you Bobby, and was only five years old when you were lost, but our lives are somehow connected through that bracelet that I wear, and the fact that we both flew C-130s, in the same crew position, and are both from California.

Someday you'll come home, and I hope to be there when you do...

Dear CMS Bobby Joe Alberton, 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

You gave your life for your country and for this we Salute You.