THE WALL OF FACES

FOREVER REMEMBERED

"If you are able, save for them a place inside of you....and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the places they can no longer go.....Be not ashamed to say you loved them....
Take what they have left and what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own....And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind...."

Quote from a letter home by Maj. Michael Davis O'Donnell
KIA 24 March 1970. Distinguished Flying Cross: Shot down and Killed while attempting to rescue 8 fellow soldiers surrounded by attacking enemy forces.

We Nam Brothers pause to give a backward glance, and post this remembrance to you, one of the gentle heroes lost to the War in Vietnam:

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

From your Nam-Band-Of-Brothers

I am a senior at Gridley High School in Gridley, Illinois, and received an assignment to recognize and remember some of the Vietnam War Veterans that I thought at first to be ineffective and a waste of time. After completing my requirements, I began to receive e-mails from members of the veterans’ family and friends that truly changed my overall perspective of this assignment. The Gridley High School Posting Project as it is formally being called is an assignment that I have taken to heart. These amazing men/women sacrificed their all for their country and were so selfless in doing so. I just wanted to take the time and express my gratitude and admiration towards these people.

Thank you. Words could not express the things you have done to help this country. You made the ultimate sacrifice in giving your life to make this place better. Without your help, things could be different. Because of you, we can live the way we want. America has bettered from your efforts. God Bless! Crystal Alvey

Gridley, Illinois High School Posting Project

Thank you for giving your life to protect this great nation. Without the courage of men and women like you the United States would not be here today. My name is Jeremy Steffen and this is for the Gridley High School Posting Project.