THE WALL OF FACES

Me hubiera gustado conocerlo, me gustaría creer sería un buen hombre y un excelente esposo y padre. Aún cuando no soy su pariento comparto con usted el mismo nombre, Juan y uno de sus apellidos, Valdez. Algún día en el mas allá lo conocere.

There is a place
Not far from here
Where spirits walk
And heroes live
And honor still resides.

It is a wall
With names inscribed
Of those who served
When they were asked...
The brothers of my youth.

I go there still
To walk and think
About my life,
And what I've done since
And things that might have been.

There is a debt
I can't repay
Too many lives were spent.
And one man's life cannot suffice
To make their deaths worthwhile.

But there is hope
In the memory
Of those we leave behind
Who know the price that freedom brings
Who can carry on in kind.

I send you now
To touch a name
So the vision can be passed
Remember there is honor still
It is for you to see it lasts.

They are not dead
And have a wish
As all old soldiers do
The reflection you see before you now
Is their wish to live in you.

Never forgotten.

HOOAH

Dear Sp4 Juan Valdez, Thank you for your service as an Infantryman. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. It was the anniversary of 9/11 yesterday. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it still needs your strength, courage, guidance and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

Just after midnight on April 13, 1968, E Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry, 196th Infantry Brigade, Americal Division, was in an overnight position on a plateau east of LZ Center in Quang Tin Province, RVN, when they were attacked by a large enemy force. E Company, a reconnaissance unit with an attached platoon (2nd Platoon) from A/3/21, pulled in its forward observation posts after taking three rounds of mortar fire. Ten minutes later, heavy fire from the south raked the formation as small arms fire and hand grenades hit the U.S. position. Shortly after, a ground attack was launched by the enemy. The Americans fought back with unit weapons and called in gun and flare ship support. The attack aircraft came on station at 12:50 AM, including a U.S. Air Force AC-47 “Spooky” gunship; the enemy, meanwhile, brought up heavy machine guns and sprayed the aircraft with automatic weapons fire from four locations. After nearly an hour and a half of fighting, the enemy broke contact. At 1:30 AM, E/3/21 radioed that enemy fire had diminished, and no shots had been fired for thirty minutes. A Company, 3/21, acting as a reaction force, cut a trail through dense jungle to the besieged company’s location. Upon arrival, they found E Company in disarray. The battle was over, but they discovered the men had failed to dig in, and when attacked, were dispersed in a disordered manner to find cover. It was difficult in the darkness for the reaction force to find and treat the wounded, collect the dead, and organize medivacs. By daylight, all were accounted for except one, radioman SP4 Warren J. Robinson. His remains were located in a burnt out hootch on the plateau and were placed in a poncho and evacuated. The enemy force, later estimated at two Viet Cong companies, killed thirteen Americans and wounded twenty-eight. Another two sustained minor injuries. The lost personnel included (from E/3/21) SP4 John M. Bell, PFC James L. Parker Jr., SGT Paul E. Poirier, SP4 Alfred L. Powell, SGT Grady Thacker, SP4 Juan P. Valdez, and PFC George E. Winfield; and (from 2nd Platoon, A/3/21) PVT Roland L. Ballew, PFC Agapito Gonzales Jr., 1LT Randolph M. Harrison, PFC Douglas R. Heath, SSG Ernest E. Lesure, and SP4 Warren J. Robinson. Six Viet Cong were reported killed. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org, “April 1968 Americal Division TOC Journal” at americalfoundation.org and information provided by William Karp (July 2022)]