THE WALL OF FACES

A butterfly lights beside us like a sunbeam
And for a brief moment its glory
and beauty belong to our world
But then it flies again
And though we wish it could have stayed...
We feel lucky to have seen it.

Never forgotten.

HOOAH

Dear Sp4 Clifford Taira, Thank you for your service as an Infantryman. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Today is the last day of spring. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage, guidance and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

Operation Apache Snow was a joint U.S. Army and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) military operation designed to keep pressure on North Vietnamese Army (NVA) units in the A Shau Valley and prevent them from mounting any attacks on the neighboring coastal provinces. The operation began on May 10, 1969, with the NVA mostly conducting a fighting retreat in the valley. The 29th Regiment eventually made a stand in elaborate previously prepared bunker positions on Ap Bia Mountain (Hill 937), a prominence 1.2 miles from the Laotian border west of the A Shau Valley. The following day, the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division, advanced on Hill 937, where intelligence indicated a significant enemy presence. The going was tough as the Americans pressed through bamboo thickets, triple-canopy jungle, and the occasional clearing choked with tall elephant grass. When Company B neared the abandoned village of A Luoi, gunfire erupted from camouflaged bunkers. The unit suffered three soldiers killed from 4th Platoon: SP4 Terry L. Larsen, SP4 John E. McCarrell (posthumously promoted to Sergeant and awarded the Silver Star for bravery), and SP4 Aaron L. Rosenstreich; nineteen others were wounded. These would be the first casualties in the battle for Hill 937, soon known to the soldiers as Hamburger Hill. The survivors withdrew, leaving the wounded where they fell. After a quick regrouping, the paratroopers dashed back to retrieve their comrades, but again Communist fire drove them off. The commander of the 3rd Battalion, LTC Weldon F. Honeycutt, ordered Company B to make another assault. Under a curtain of supporting small-arms fire, the soldiers charged the bunkers, passing the bodies of their comrades as they went. By 4:45 PM, they had cleared the enemy from the hillside. Later that evening, helicopters evacuated the wounded, but tragedy struck when a helicopter gunship accidently fired on the battalion command post, killing one, SP4 Clifford K. Taira, and wounding thirty-five. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and “Transition: November 1968-December 1969” by Adrian G. Traas]

Specialist Four Clifford Kazumi Taira, Served with Company D, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.