THE WALL OF FACES

Terry was one of a group I now call my Viet Nam War friends. He & his wife became good friends while we all lived together in an apartment house in LB during the war. I am still in contact with his wife. I was told he was an orphan so I try to remember him in place of his family. I visited the memorial and took an etching of his name. I think of him each Memorial Day. Terry was a sweet young man and we all loved him. Thank you Terry for your sacrifice. Rest in piece.
Your friend, Ann Johnson.

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. May you rest in eternal peace.

I visited it early this morning in Harrisonville MO. The picture of you that someone left , caught my eye & interest. I'm retired Navy and served 4 years at a MIne Warfare Command. Thank you Terry for your service & sacrifice. War (& life) can be so senseless & random. Blessings & Peace to your family.

On January 23, 1967, two minesweepers from Mine Squadron 11 (Detachment A), Task Force 116, were conducting a routine patrol of a Saigon-area shipping channel when they were struck by Viet Cong heavy automatic weapons fire from the west bank of the Song Dan Xay River. The minesweepers, MSB-16 and MSB-32, were hit by VC hidden in a mangrove swamp as they passed along the channel, the main line for ships moving from the coast up to the port of Saigon. Two crewmen from MSB-16, EN1 Donald C Peddicord and SN Terry L. Braden, were killed by the first burst. Moments later, four PBR’s (river patrol boats) and a helicopter fire team exchanged heavy fire with the enemy. Approximately forty minutes later, an U.S. Army helicopter fire team arrived to lend support. During a low-level firing run, one of the Army helicopters, a UH-1B Razorback gunship (#63-12948) from the 120th Aviation Company, was seen to explode under heavy ground fire and crash into the trees in flames. PBRs immediately lifted a Vietnamese Regional Force platoon to the area. When the Regional Force troops reached the burning helicopter, they noted that the bodies of three of the crew members were still inside the helicopter. A fourth burned body was found near the wreckage. The troops were unable to remove the bodies because of the intense heat. Three hours later, when the troops were withdrawn by Navy river craft, the helicopter was still burning. The remains of the crew were recovered in the days following the incident. The lost Razorback crewmen included pilots CPT Guinn J. Rogers and WO1 Julian A. Fincher Jr., crew chief CPL Peter Maciel Jr., and gunner SP4 Michael J. Vitacco. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org, vhpa.org, and “VC Machine Gun Minesweeper, Down Helicopter.” Pacific Stars and Stripes, January 25, 1967]

DEAR SEAMAN BRADEN,
THANKS FOR YOUR SERVICE AS A SEAMAN. IT IS MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND, BUT ON ALL DAYS WE SHOULD HONOR YOU. IT HAS BEEN FAR TOO LONG FOR ALL OF YOU TO HAVE BEEN GONE. WE APPRECIATE ALL YOU HAVE DONE, AND YOUR SACRIFICE. WATCH OVER THE U.S.A., IT STILL NEEDS YOUR COURAGE. GOD BLESS YOU. MAY THE ANGELS BE AT YOUR SIDE. REST IN PEACE. YOU ARE ALL IN OUR PRAYERS.