THE WALL OF FACES

Never forgotten.

Semper Fi, Marine

Dear Lcpl John Velasquez, Thank you for your service as a Field Artillery Cannoneer. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart . Autumn has begun. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it still needs your strength, courage, guidance and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

Fire Support Base Alpha-3 was located just south of the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) along Route 605, three miles west of Gio Linh village in Quang Tri Province, RVN. On April 30, 1968, Marines from W Battery, 1st Battalion, 12th Marines, 3rd Marine Division were conducting a night fire mission at FSB Alpha-3 when a munitions accident occurred. Reportedly, the fuze of one round hit the primer of another causing an explosion at approximately 10:00 PM. Two artillerymen were critically burned in the incident. LCPL John R. Velasquez received second and third degree burns over ninety percent of his body, and CPL Jerry L. Andrews sustained second and third degree burns to his head and body. Both men were treated in Vietnam, afterwards medically evacuated to the burn center at the U.S. Army’s 106th General Hospital in Yokohama, Japan. Velasquez succumbed to his injuries on May 6th; Andrews expired on the early morning of May 11, 1968. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and the Fort Collins Coloradoan (Fort Collins, CO), May 23, 1968]

Today I thought of you as I have since your death on May 6 1968. I have immortalized you in two PBS docs that feature my work. If any of you who posted were in Vietnam with my brother, please contact me.