THE WALL OF FACES

Staff Sergeant Gary Michael Brannon, Served with Company D, 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, United States Army Vietnam.

Dear SSGT Gary Michael Brannon

From what your brother Johnnie Brannon said you where a nice man thanks you for every thang you have for this world.

This is your great nephew Cooper Brannon

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. The remembrance from your niece Teresa is poignant. As long as you are remembered you will remain in our hearts forever...

51 yrs ago today our lives changed forever, of course it was a few days later that we received the horrible news that my Uncle Gary had been killed in action on 3/25/69.He was the 6th child of my grandparents Roy & Allie Brannon, the 3rd son and the 2nd child they had to bury. It took a while to get him back home and we buried him on Easter Sunday. My grandparents were strong people very devout Southern Baptists, they never questioned why they sent their son to fight for our country and why he came home in a coffin with a flag draped over it. He was so proud to be in the Army, even though I was 9 when he was KIA, I still remember the last time he came home before going to Vietnam. He lined up his youngest brother who was 11, myself, and my sister 6, and my brother 4 and ran us through drills like he was a Drill Sgt., he had us crying and scared to death. I have no doubt if he had lived he would have made a career in the Army. But even though he was a tough country boy, he was the first one that came to our aid when something was wrong. It took a long, long time for my grandpa to laugh again, he would point out something on the farm and say "me and Gary fixed that" or "Gary told me that would work". He was proud of his Choctaw Indian heritage from grandma, he was a natural athlete and grandpa coached his baseball team. He didn't even make it to his 21st birthday like so many other sons, brothers, uncles, & husbands. The family always were together on holidays & we still laughed and made memories but there was always underlying sadness because that grin wasn't there in the pictures anymore. When he grinned it always looked like he was getting ready to play a prank on you, he always looked mischievous. We never heard from anyone who served with him, but things were different back in those days, no social media, we always wanted to know that he was still his happy, fun, mischievous self. We didn't want him to be afraid, he was a Christian so we know that we will see him again, in fact his baby sister Darlene was waiting for him, uncle Jack, aunt Pat, Grandpa & Grandma all joined him up there in heaven. Grandpa was ready, he said after he buried each of his children that a father shouldn't have to do that. 51 yrs ago today we lost a very brave and courageous young man, Gary Michael Brannon, you are still loved and missed by the ones you left behind. Thank you for this virtual wall, Teresa Durant, oldest niece of Sgt Gary Michael Brannon

SGT Gary M. Brannon, SSGT Lewis E. Sampler, and SP4 David A. Weber were infantrymen serving with D Company, 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division. 1LT Jimmy D. Bean was a platoon commander assigned to 1st Platoon, B Company, 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division. On March 25, 1969, all four soldier were killed in an engagement with the NVA after being inserted by helicopter near FSB Keane-FSB Meade, Duc Hoa District, Hau Nghia Province, RVN. The following is a personal account of the Delta Company ambush by Howard W. Mitchell: “We hit a hot LZ and headed for a tree line. My platoon was in the lead. When my four lead men were about 15 meters from the trees the enemy opened fire. The point went down instantly. We had walked right into an ambush, an L-shaped bunker complex, and they had us. We worked to recover the four point men and got one, but could not reach the rest. They had us pinned down under heavy fire and tried to flank us. We later found out we were facing a reinforced company of NVA regulars. The Battalion Command and Control (C&C) chopper came on station overhead. They called for one of our sister companies, Bravo, to move in to help us. They came in and drew heavy fire and soon they were pinned down, too. They lost a lieutenant right off the bat, along with several of his platoon. The medevacs that flew in to get our wounded drew heavy fire and could not land. The C&C called for more artillery support and F-4 jets. We spent all day trying to reach my three remaining point men. We could get within 20 or 30 meters, but no closer. They did not respond to any calls or signals. I lost one of my best platoon sergeants and several other men trying to get to them. At dark the Battalion Commanding Officer ordered us to pull back and establish a NDP (Night Defensive Perimeter). Later that night, one of our listening posts popped a claymore and dragged an NVA in brand new clothes and web gear into the perimeter. I remember one of my point men making it back to the NDP with napalm burns. He told me the other two were killed in the first few minutes of the fight. The next morning the enemy was gone, and we went back in and retrieved the other two.” The four men killed in action on March 25, 1969: SGT Gary M. Brannon (Delta Company), SSGT Lewis E. Sampler (Delta Company), SP4 David A. Weber (Delta Company) and 1LT Jimmy D. Bean (Bravo Company). Brannon and Weber received posthumous promotions to Staff Sergeant and Sergeant. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and information provided by Howard W. Mitchell at i-kirk.info]