THE WALL OF FACES

Remember to save for them a place inside of you, and save one backward glance when you are leaving, for the places they can no longer go...

Dear SSgt Charles West, Thank you for your service with the 637th Combat Support Group. I researched you on the 56th anniversary of the start of your tour. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Advent has begun. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage, guidance, and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

On Saturday, June 17, 1967, a USAF Lockheed C-130B Hercules transport plane, serial number 60-0293, from the 772nd Troop Carrier Squadron with 49 passengers and seven crewmen aboard, was destroyed in a takeoff accident at An Khe Airfield in Binh Dinh Province, RVN. The aircraft was enroute to Pleiku when it developed a mechanical failure while departing. When the Hercules was nearing decision speed on take-off, the aircraft drifted to the left side of the runway. The crew brought the plane back onto the flight strip, but ran out of runway, sliding down an embankment where it burst into flames. None of the crewmen were lost in the crash, however, 34 of the passengers were killed; 15 survived. Of the 34 fatalities, 17 were U.S. military personnel, comprising of ten Army and seven Air Force members. The lost soldiers were SGT John E. Bernard, SP5 Robert L. Clukey Jr., SGT Howard E. Hurst, PSGT George T. Murray, SP5 Thomas R. Raschel, MAJ Benjamin F. Robertson Jr., 1LT James P. Schueller, MAJ Edward E. Strombeck, SSGT Willie L. Thigpen, and 2LT John W. Vaughan; the lost airmen included CAPT Herman G. Ebbinga, CAPT James R. Jones, LTC Paul F. Kiecker, 1LT Dennis S. Pazdan, MAJ Maurice A. Shaff Jr., TSGT William B. Weikal Jr., and SSGT Charles E. West. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and aviation-safety.net]

Staff Sergeant Charles Edward West, Served with the 637th Combat Support Group, 31st Tactical Fighter Wing, 7th Air Force.

Dear SSGT Charles Edward West, sir

As an American, I would like to thank you for your service and for your sacrifice made on behalf of our wonderful country. The youth of today could gain much by learning of heroes such as yourself, men and women whose courage and heart can never be questioned.

May God allow you to read this, and may He allow me to someday shake your hand when I get to Heaven to personally thank you. May he also allow my father to find you and shake your hand now to say thank you; for America, and for those who love you.

With respect, Sir

Curt Carter