THE WALL OF FACES

Great sadness fills our hearts today
As pipes and drums, in slow march play.
A comrade’s fallen by the way,
And now we say goodbye.

This hero to the very end
Was more than just a casual friend,
Who would a stranger’s life defend,
And now we say goodbye

But we shall cherish, all our days,
The character this life portrayed
With sacrifice so freely made,
And now we say goodbye.

The hand salute, o’er Stars and Stripes,
And distant skirl of highland pipes,
Bid last farewell with hero’s rights,
And now we say goodbye.

While here on Earth, you gave your best.
Now in the Master’s arms you rest.
T’is by your memory we are blessed.
And now we say goodbye.

Bill was MIA. I was teen worship leader one Sunday, sitting up front with the choir. The minister had been in the Air Force, and he wove a story from his service into the sermon. Sitting behind him in the choir was Bill's wife, head bowed... folding her church bulletin into an airplane. So strong an expression of grief, it's stayed with me for decades.

Dear SSgt William Tyree, Thank you for your service with the 29th Troop Carrier Squadron. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. It is Labor Day weekend. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it still needs your strength, courage, guidance and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

Staff Sergeant William Everett Tyree, Served with the 29th Troop Carrier Squadron, 463rd Troop Carrier Wing, 7th Air Force.

On June 9, 1967, a USAF C-130B Hercules (#58-0737) from the 29th Troop Carrier Squadron, crashed approximately 12 miles east of Tan Son Nhut, RVN. The C-130B, with ten persons aboard, was conducting a series of scheduled logistics flights within South Vietnam. The last leg of the trip was from Nha Trang to Saigon. As the aircraft neared Saigon it was vectored around an artillery firing zone. The aircraft broke up in flight, with both wings separating from the fuselage, and crashed. It was assumed that the structural failure resulted from ground fire. There were no survivors. The lost crew included pilot CAPT Rafael L. Rivera-Balaguer, co-pilot CAPT Jerome F. Starkweather, navigator CAPT Richard W. Podell, loadmaster SSGT Ricky L. Herndon, and flight engineers SSGT Ira E. Scott and SSGT William E. Tyree. Its passengers (all U.S. Army) were 1LT Richard A. Gray, SP5 Frank R. Ragusa, SP4 Craig R. Schoenbaum, and SP5 Andrew H. Shimp. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and aviation-safety.net]