THE WALL OF FACES

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.

Walter was my great uncle and I attended his funeral at Arlington when I was ten. I had the honor of escorting the traveling wall from Ozark, AL to Dothan, AL yesterday.

Dear Tsgt Walter Vail, Thank you for your service with the 3rd Combat Engineer Squadron. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. It is the anniversary of 9/11. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it still needs your strength, courage, guidance and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

On the remembrance of your 86th birthday, your sacrifice is not forgotten.

HOOAH

Before dawn on February 28, 1968, Communist forces launched an assault against various Allied military installations in the Saigon area, including Bien Hoa Air Base, 15 miles north of the city in Bien Hoa Province, RVN. Bien Hoa was hit with a barrage of approximately forty 122mm rockets, resulting in 14 U.S. personnel dead and 25 wounded. Twelve of the killed were airmen and another two soldiers. The lost airmen included SGT Martin L. Bennett, SGT James Boyd, SSGT Benjamin Craig Jr., TSGT James N. Galey, SSGT Willard F. Hayes, SGT Thomas G. Hazelwood, TSGT Herbert A. Kehrli, SSGT Charles F. Kerr, TSGT Dallis Perryman, SSGT Robert L. Platt, SSGT Perry V. Shroyer, and TSGT Walter W. Vail; the two soldiers were PFC Roy W. Duncan and SGT Thomas L. Herd. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and “Viet Cong Lob Shells, Rockets into Allied Bases Near Saigon.” Chicago Tribune, February 28, 1968.]