THE WALL OF FACES

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

GARRYOWEN

Dear Cpl Pau; Stepp, Thank you for your service as an Infantryman with the 1st Cavalry. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. The 47th anniversary of the official end of the war just passed. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage, guidance and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

Paul and I were close buddies in our squad. I took the picture with him holding his m16 that you see. What no one knows is that he risked his life by leaving the safety of our bunker in order to grab the m16's that we had left outside. When the rockets began we all just dove into the bunker not even thinking about our weapons. When he tried to get back to the bunker, a mortar round landed very close.

Fire Support Base Jay was located near the Cambodian border in an area known as the Dog’s Head. The encampment provided artillery fire support to the 1st Cavalry Division’s operations north of Saigon along the border. The fire support base was little more than a field blasted out of the jungle to welcome cargo helicopters, which hauled in the heavy equipment, artillery pieces, and supplies. FSB Jay had six 105 mm artillery guns in sandbagged fire pits which were surrounded by berms of dirt manned by a company of 1st Cavalry troopers to keep the North Vietnamese Army at bay. The artillerymen’s accommodations at Jay ranged from half-culvert pipes with blast walls to bunkers made of dirt-filled ammunition crates covered with timbers when Army engineers cut back the jungle around the fire support base for fields of fire. Because of the fire support base’s isolation, there was no way in or out except by air. On March 29, 1970, the NVA’s 95-C Regiment decided to eliminate the 1st Cavalry Division’s artillerymen at FSB Jay with heavy rocket, mortar, and ground attacks. At 0415 hours, a 200-round barrage rocked the base. The first rounds slammed into and around the TOC (tactical operations center), knocking down the antennas and cutting all communication between FSB Jay and other American units. At the same time, NVA ground troops poured out of the jungle and swarmed the base. Mortar fire continued to rain down, striking the ammo dump and causing a horrendous roar. Another round hit a supply of C-3 explosive, it also exploding in spectacular fashion. Sappers blew a hole in the southwest corner and entered the compound. The artillerymen put up a determined defense, and by dawn the attack began to break. As the NVA retreated, the three guns remaining blasted away at the enemy using canister rounds, their muzzles set to zero elevation. After 45 minutes of fighting, 14 Americans were dead and 53 wounded, spread across two batteries of the 12th and 19th Artillery and 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division. The cost to the NVA was high, as 74 lifeless NVA bodies were counted after the battle. That same day, FSB Jay was ordered closed, and by mid-afternoon it was gone. The fourteen Americans lost at FSB Jay included SGT Dwight I. Ade, SP4 Bartolo A. Barela Jr., SP5 Michael A. Blondin, PFC James M. Furgerson, SGT William R. Hainley, CPL Jimmy I. Hicks, CPL James R. Holmes, SGT Staret J. Ingleston, CPL David M. King, CPL Donn M. Lorber, CPL Murl A. Moyers, CPL Warner Starks, CPL Paul R. Stepp Jr., and CPL Michael J. Wainwright. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org, dailyrepublic.com, lrrp.com, and “Fire Base Illingworth: An Epic True Story” by Philip Keith]