THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. You died at 18 years of age. I am 74 and have lived a long and fulfilling life. It is tragic you never had that same opportunity. May you rest in eternal peace.

On May 16, 1971, a New York Times article described heroin use by American troops in Vietnam had reached epidemic proportions. The piece reported that 10 to 15 percent of lower-ranking enlisted men were heroin users, and military officials working in drug‐suppression estimated that as much as a quarter of all enlisted personnel, more than 60,000 men, were hooked. They added that some field surveys reported units with more than 50 percent of the men on heroin. In Vietnam, the drug was plentiful, cheap, and 95 percent pure. Its effects could casually be achieved through smoking or snorting, as compared to the U.S., where the drug was impure, only about five percent heroin, and had to be main-lined or injected into the bloodstream to achieve a comparable high. The habit, which cost $100 a day to maintain in the U.S., cost less than $5 a day in Vietnam. SP4 Sherman R. Taylor was a Food Service Specialist serving with the 24th Transportation Company, 39th Transportation Battalion, 124th Transportation Command, Army Support Command Cam Ranh Bay, 1st Logistical Command, U.S. Army Republic of Vietnam. On February 25, 1971, Taylor was reportedly drinking and very intoxicated in his company area three kilometers (2.4 miles) southeast of Cam Ranh Army Airfield in Khanh Hoa Province, RVN. He was helped to bed by two friends. At 6:50 AM the following morning, Taylor could not be awakened and was transported to the dispensary where he was declared dead by medical staff. A subsequent autopsy found he had aspirated the contents of his stomach. A later casualty report dated May 18, 1971, attributed his death to “acute narcotism.” Taylor was 18 years old. He had been in Vietnam only five weeks. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and “G.I. Heroin Addiction Epidemic in Vietnam.” New York Times (New York, NY), May 16, 1971]

Image courtesy of Redbird Research LLC, Saint Charles, MO.

Thank you to all remember and honor my uncle with your posts. They are heartwarming to read. Please don’t stop.

This picture is the only one I’ve ever seen of my uncle. If anyone has any other pictures of him, please share them.

“Uncle Sherman” - It’s a name you didn’t hear enough, or at all. Nor did anyone ever call you “Dad”, or refer to you as their husband. Calling you “Son” and “my brother” was a lost privilege.

You were gone too soon, shocking us all . You have been missed and mourned more than you know.

This Memorial Day, as so many in the past, we still remember and honor you and we still wish you were here.

With love for the Uncle I never met, but am sure I would have loved like all the rest - Julie Marchetti