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.

Dear Sp4 Matthew Thornton, Thank you for your service as an Infantryman. I researched you on your 74th birthday, happy birthday. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. It is another summer. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it still needs your strength, courage, guidance and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

During a "clandestine, spontaneous happening" at the CPT Rocky Versace Plaza and Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Memorial Day 2020, the "Friends of Rocky Versace" remembered SP4 Matthew Winston Thornton, U.S. Army, as well as Alexandria's 67 other Vietnam War Fallen Heroes. A video of the "happening" is available for viewing at this link/URL:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/imz166z2qreygsu/Friends%20of%20Rocky%20Versace%2C%20Memorial%20Day%202020.mp4?dl=0

The "Friends of Rocky Versace" remember one of the 68 Alexandrians whose name is chiseled into a stone bench beneath a Gold Star at the Captain Rocky Versace Plaza and Vietnam Veterans Memorial, SP4 Matthew Winston Thornton, on what would've been his 72d birthday - 5 July 2020.

Shown is an artist's rendering of Alexandria's Vietnam Veterans Memorial - the Captain Rocky Versace Plaza and Vietnam Veterans Memorial. SP4 Matthew Winston Thornton is one of 67 men from Alexandria, Virginia who will be remembered on the Memorial.