THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. We should be forever thankful for the sacrifices of you and so many others to ensure the freedoms we so often take for granted.

Dear Sgt Thomas Waterman, Thank you for your service with the 432nd Combat Engineer Group. Your name will be read at the wall tomorrow. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Veterans’ Day is in 2 days. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage, guidance, and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

SGT Thomas L. Waterman is buried at Sherwood Burial Park in Salem, VA.

Your sacrifice is not forgotten.

HOOAH

On this Memorial Day I remember my old friend, Tom Waterman, whom I met at Sheppard Air Force Base when he was assigned to my crew as a TV cameraman. Tom was older than many of the airmen at our educational TV facility...he was a college grad who'd already been working in TV when he enlisted. He was a southern gentleman who didn't curse, always had a smile, and was an excellent cameraman; we became fast friends. I taught Tom to bass fish and we went to visit my Uncle Clifton in Quitman, TX where he and his wife Toni got to see a part of Texas that was more like their home in Roanoke, Virginia. We caught a lot of beautiful bass and had a big fish fry. Not long after, Tom was sent to Thailand. In the spring of 1970 Tom's wife Toni called to tell me he had been killed in a freakish accident along with eight other airmen in the TV station at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base. We later learned that Tom was off-duty but was in the station shooting photos of his buddies at work...he loved photography. I have tried to honor Tom, who never saw any situation without appreciating its comic side, by adapting this philosophy as my own. God bless him and all the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service of our country.

Established 8 Jan 1972, AFTN Memorial VFW Post 10249 in Udon thailand, is named in memory of the nine airmen killed on duty when a battle damaged RF-4C Phantom aircraft crashed into the Armed Forces Thailand Network (AFTN) Udorn Radio-TV Station on 10 Apr 1970. www.udonvfw10249.org