THE WALL OF FACES

Nor shall your glory be forgot; While fame her record keeps, Or honor points the hallowed spot; Where valor proudly sleeps.

May those who served never be forgotten. Rest in peace CPL. Wickel, I salute your brave soul. My heart goes out to you and your family. Semper Fidelis!

Dear Cpl Kenneth Wickel, Thank you for your service as a Rifleman. Your 78th birthday is soon, happy birthday. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. It is the 7th Day of Christmas, Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage, guidance, and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

Corporal Kenneth William Wickel, Served with Company G, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, Third Marine Amphibious Force.

On Memorial Day 1966 (May 29, 1966), 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, were conducting squad- and platoon-sized patrols, sweeping villages just south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Thua Thien Province, RVN. A platoon from Golf Company had just finished a couple days of patrolling near a village east of the Battalion temporary Command Post Headquarters located along Highway 1 just north of Hue. They radioed another Golf Company platoon relieving them of North Vietnamese Army activity in the area, referring to a fire mission they had called in that morning which resulted in several enemy killed. The other platoon rogered the intel and the relieved Marines moved on to Battalion CP. About the time they arrived, the Battalion net erupted with radio calls of contact. They could hear mortar and machine gun fire coming from the village. Evidently, a large group of NVA set up a giant, horseshoe-shaped ambush in and around the village. When the Marine platoon got in the middle of the kill zone, the NVA opened fire from three sides. The results were devastating. Twenty Marines and a Navy corpsman were killed. A reaction force sent to the scene found numerous NVA machine gun cartridges and different firing positions around the village, indicating a sizeable and strong force. After the ambush, the enemy slipped away undetected. The lost Marines included PFC David B. Brandon Jr., PFC Gordon M. Briggs, PFC James W. Briles, PFC Thomas W. Britton Jr., LCPL Robert A. Corkill, LCPL Richard E. Crowe, LCPL James R. Heath, LCPL Billy J. Holt, PFC David W. Johnston, SSGT James J. MacKenna, PFC RB Marchbanks Jr., LCPL Jerry L. Noland, PFC Ernest G. Paul, PFC Ronald Ralich, PVT Roy J. Richard, PFC Edward C. Sexton, SSGT Walter B. Stevens, PFC James H. Stewart Jr., LCPL Charles E. Walker, and CPL Kenneth W. Wickel; the lost Navyman was HM Aldon M. Asherman Jr. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and information provided by Danny M. Francis (May 2019) at two1marines.blogspot.com]