THE WALL OF FACES

Dear Jim in Heaven,
We grew up in Issaquah together. You lived on the hill by the cemetery, I lived just below you by the creek and right next door to your grandparents. You were always so kind to share them with me and they added much joy to my life. Though we were in different social circles at school you were always so kind to me and we had a special bond. I was devastated when I learned of your passing in Vietnam. It truly broke my heart. Many years later I found your name inscribed on a marble plaque on a public building on Second Street in Seattle near the Pike Place Market - a list of those from King Co. who had made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, and decades later the Moving Wall came to Santa Barbara County, CA where we were living at the time and I literally fell on my knees sobbing when a kind volunteer helped me find your name there. I still have and will always keep the rubbing of your name. I'm so thankful we had a wonderful childhood together in Issaquah, and I pray that God will always bless your soul Jim. In love and friendship and honor, Robin (George) Gehrs

I was reading Corrine’s rememberance and I can’t begin to explain how heartwrenching it is. I don’t know you, but thank you for your service and sacrifice for your country. Happy birthday in heaven may you watch and guide the fellow young soldiers in todays age.

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. The remembrance from Corrine Derosa is especially poignant and reflects the anguish experienced by so many who lost loved ones in this war. May you rest in eternal peace.

Jim was a senior at Issaquah High School when I was a Junior. I was madly in love with him, but he didn't even know it. He hardly knew me. He was so kind and always had a smile on his face. Right before he left for Nam a bunch of kids threw a party for him. I ended up at that party too. I remember sitting on the stairs with him and some other kids while we talked and worried about him leaving us. The sad news came just a few months later that he had been killed. At first, the papers said he was missing, then shortly after than they had found him. I was devastated. When I visited the wall in 2011 with my grandson, we took a rubbing. I still think of him often - 50 years later.

Dear Cpl James Brady,
Thank you for your service as an Indirect Fire Infantryman with the 1st Cavalry. Keep watch over the USA, it still needs your courage and strength, perhaps now more than ever. God bless you, and rest in peace.