Never forget.

Semper Fi, Marine

During the month of April 1968, 2nd Battalion, 26th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, participated in Operation Pegasus in the Khe Sanh area, occupying a defensive position at Hill 558, two miles northwest of Khe Sanh Combat Base (KSCB). The battalion had been there since January 16, 1968, improving and defending the position. Their assignment was to prevent enemy movement from the northwest into KSCB and clear the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) off Hill 700, a saddle between Hills 881 and 861. On April 5th, a long-distance patrol was proposed, and Company G, 2/26 was assigned the mission. The task of the patrol was to determine if the NVA occupied the high ridge west of and overlooking Hill 558. The patrol departed at 7:00 AM on April 6th, reaching the ridge at 11:30 AM. With one platoon of Company G deployed on line, the company continued to move forward. Before reaching the crest of the hill, they came in contact with an NVA force on a grassy overlook in view of KSCB. The Marines were engaged with automatic weapons and hand grenades. During the battle, witnesses reported seeing two Marines take cover in a bomb crater which took a direct hit from an enemy mortar round. Both men were killed, and their unit was unable to recover their remains before they were forced to withdraw from the area around 6:00 PM. The next day, Marines returned to the battle area and recovered the remains of eight men killed during the action; however, the remains of the two men killed in the bomb crater could not be located. They were identified as CPL James M. Trimble and PFC Anthony J. Pepper. At the time the formal search was terminated, Trimble and Pepper were declared Killed in Action/Body Not Recovered. On June 24, 1993, a joint American/Vietnamese team under the auspices of the Joint Task Force for Full Accounting (JTFFA) traveled to the area of loss but found no remains or personal effects belonging to either Marine in or around the bomb crater. Nevertheless, sufficient information regarding their case was collected and further field recovery efforts were planned. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org, pownetwork.org, and Command Chronology (2nd Bn 26th Marines)]

May this day and everyday find you in Gods eternal Holy Kingdom.
May be never forget your sacrifice and the sacrifices of so many others!

My mom often spoke fondly of you when she would tell us stories of her growing up. When she spoke of you, her little cousin, it was with love remembering you as a little boy and sadness of the loss of not getting to see you grow up to be the man you should have.
Today I sit and think of the man you became the moment you step on that plane to travel to a foreign land and take on something you probably knew nothing about. I was just a baby when the horrible news came to my family that you were missing in action. When family discussions took place over the years, I never understood as a child the sacrifice you and other men and women took for our country, I just witnessed the incredible sadness and heartbreak of my family over the loss of not knowing what happened to you over there. Now a lot older I want to Thank You for your service and all others as well. Military Members and their families are the Ultimate Warriors of our Country. God Bless and Hopefully one day you will come home to rest in peace.

James Trimble and my brother, Tony Pepper, went missing on the same day, April 6, 1968. They are both still missing as of the writing of this remembrance, December 28, 2015. There are plans for an excavation mission to return to Vietnam to search once again. Possibly in the summer of 2016. If anyone would like to contact me, please call or email. My phone number is 916-342-5668. I live in Sacramento, CA.

I am adding a photo of Tony. They are together in heaven.
Carrie