THE WALL OF FACES

Dear SGT Thomas Daniel Tighe, sir

As an American, I would like to thank you for your service and for your sacrifice made on behalf of our wonderful country. The youth of today could gain much by learning of heroes such as yourself, men and women whose courage and heart can never be questioned.

May God allow you to read this, and may He allow me to someday shake your hand when I get to Heaven to personally thank you. May he also allow my father to find you and shake your hand now to say thank you; for America, and for those who love you.

With respect, and the best salute a civilian can muster for you, Sir

Curt Carter

TIGER,THE LAST TIME I SAW YOU WAS IN THE FALL OF "69".WE WERE IN FIBBERS. WE DRANK SOME BEERS, AND TALKED ABOUT YOU GOING TO THE NAM.I HAD DONE MY THIRTEEN MONTHS IN NAM FOR THE CORPS IN "67 - 68" AND BEEN DISCHARGED ON AN EARLY OUT THAT OCT. THE NEXT TIME WE WERE TOGETHER WAS IN JANUARY "70" AT THE CODY-WHITE FUNERAL HOME. MANY OF YOUR FRIENDS FROM MILFORD HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF "66" GATHERED TO HONOR YOU. YOU ARE REMEMBERED!!! SEMPER-FI - DOGFACE. GARY BLOXSOM USMC.

Mr.Tighe,I was too young to remember the conflict and I lived just a few streets away from where your family lived in Milford but I do remember the sadness our town felt of your passing and the perceived senselessness of your untimely death. I can only say that you are missed by your family, by your town, and by your friends and neighbors.

WE WILL NEVER FORGET YOU. THANK YOU.

We honor our Milford Soldiers and all war Veterans this month with our own recreation of the virtual wall memorial at Saint Ann School in Milford.
This month we pay tribute and honor 8 soldiers from Milford our hometown- whose names are now permanently inscribed upon the healing wall- The Vietnam Memorial.
My elementary school and high school classmate, John Tighe, was brother to Thomas.
Saint Ann School prays for Thomas Daniel Tighe and the Tighe family(s) and for all our Milford Soldiers this Memorial Day 2001.
Roxann Riskin Computer-Tech Teacher and
Saint Ann School Students

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

Thomas Daniel Tighe was a member of First Battalion, 46th Infantry, 196th Light Infantry Brigade, Americal Division. He is honored here by the veterans of 1/46th.

"The Professionals," of 1/46 came in-country via the USS Upshur on October 4, 1967 as part of the 198th Light Infantry Brigade. The 198th became part of the Americal Division. After one month of orientation at Duc Pho, the battalion was deployed north of Chu Lai and patrolled from Hill 54, Hill 69, LZ Young and LZ Baldy in Quang Tin Province. In March of 1969, the battalion moved to LZ Professional, in the mountains southwest of Tien Phuoc, Quang Tin Province, to relieve a battered 1/52 Infantry of the 198th. In July of 1969, 1/46, which had been operating under operational control of the 196th LIB of the Americal, became a permanent member of that brigade. The battalion operated from LZ Professional until August of 1970. In February of 1970, the battalion established a temporary firebase at LZ Mary Ann, at a remote mountain site near Hau Duc, Quang Tin Province. The battalion returned to Mary Ann in the summer of 1970 and operated from there and LZ Young, which was between Tien Phuoc and Tam Ky, during 1970 and 1971. The battalion left Mary Ann in April of 1971 when the Americal Division was deactivated and the 196th Brigade reverted to its status as an independent brigade and deployed at Danang, to provide security for the port. In June, 1972, 1/46 left Vietnam. Of the names on this wall, 233 of them, close to half the battalion's actual field strength at any given time in Vietnam, were members of 1/46, or died while deployed with us.