THE WALL OF FACES

Dear HN Joseph Wilk, Thank you for your service as a Hospitalman with the 9th Marines, Semper Fi, thank you for the lives you saved. Your 54th anniversary is soon, sad. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. It is the Epiphany. 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.

On the remembrance of your 74th birthday, your sacrifice is not forgotten.

Semper Fi, Doc

On January 22, 1969, Marine engineers with a security squad from C Company, 1st Engineer Battalion, 7th Marines were returning from a sweep of Route 4 (QL-4) along the Song Yen (river) when they were ambushed two miles south of Hill 55 in Quang Nam Province, RVN, by an enemy force from both sides of the road. The 10:05 AM attack occurred while the team was moving west towards Hill 37 between the hamlets of Gaio Ai and Da Hoa An in the Dien Ban District. A deadly crossfire of automatic weapons fire from the north and south sides of the road killed five Marines and a Navy corpsman. The lost personnel included (from C/1/7) LCPL Johnny S. Holt, LCPL Kenneth W. Mokuau Jr., and CPL John F. Weaver; also (from Headquarters & Service Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines) LCPL William M. Mooers, LCPL Aubra E. Morgan Jr., and HN Joseph A. Wilk Jr. Three others were wounded. Both the sweep team and security force returned fire causing unknown enemy casualties. A squad-sized Marine reaction force from Hill 55 was sent to secure the ambush site and organized the medivac of all the dead and wounded. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org, marines.togetherweserved.com, and “Command Chronology (1st Engr Bn), January 1969” and “Significant Events III MAF, January 1969” at ttu.edu]

Thank you Doc Wilk for your courage and for your devotion to your Marines.

There is a special place in my heart for you.