THE WALL OF FACES

Ernest is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

If I should die, and leave you here awhile, be not like others, sore undone, who keep long vigils by the silent dust, and weep...for MY sake, turn again to life, and smile...Nerving thy heart, and trembling hand to do something to comfort other hearts than thine...Complete these dear, unfinished tasks of mine....and I, perchance, may therein comfort you.

NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense

No. 970-07 IMMEDIATE RELEASE

06 August 2007

FIVE MISSING IN ACTION SOLDIERS FROM

VIETNAM WAR ARE FINALLY ACCOUNTED FOR

AND RETURNED TO THEIR FAMILIES

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that group remains of five U.S. servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, will be returned to their families soon for burial with full military honors.

They are -

Chief Warrant Officer
DENNIS CLARK HAMILTON
of Barnes City, Iowa

Chief Warrant Officer
SHELDON D. SCHULTZ
of Altoona, Pennsylvania

Sergeant 1st Class
ERNEST FRANK BRIGGS JR
of San Antonio, Texas

Sergeant 1st Class
JOHN THEODORE GALLAGHER
of Hamden, Connecticut

and

Sergeant 1st Class
JAMES D. WILLIAMSON
of Olympia, Washington

all of whom served in
the United States Army.

The group remains of this crew will be buried on 14 August at Arlington National Cemetery across the Memorial Bridge from Washington, D.C.

Gallagher's remains were individually identified, and his burial date is being set by his family.

Representatives from the Army met with the next-of-kin of these men to explain the recovery and identification process, and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the Secretary of the Army.

On 5 January 1968, these men crewed a UH-1D HUEY helicopter that was inserting a patrol into Savannakhet Province, Laos.

As the aircraft approached the landing zone, it was struck by enemy ground fire, causing it to nose over and crash.

There were no survivors.

All attempts to reach the site over the next several days were repulsed by enemy fire.

Between 1995 and 2006, numerous U.S. / Lao People's Democratic Republic / Socialist Republic of Vietnam teams, all led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), conducted more than five investigations, including interviews with Vietnamese citizens who said they witnessed the crash.

Between 2002 and 2006, JPAC led three excavations of the site, recovering remains and other material evidence including identification tags for Schultz, Hamilton and Briggs.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC also used dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.


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WENT THE DAY WELL ?

" Went the day well ? We died, and never knew.
But, well or ill, Freedom, we died for you."

FOREVER REMEMBERED

"If you are able, 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.....Be not ashamed to say you loved them....
Take what they have left and what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own....And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind...."

Quote from a letter home by Maj. Michael Davis O'Donnell
KIA 24 March 1970. Distinguished Flying Cross: Shot down and Killed while attempting to rescue 8 fellow soldiers surrounded by attacking enemy forces.

We Nam Brothers pause to give a backward glance, and post this remembrance to you, one of the gentle heroes lost to the War in Vietnam:

Slip off that pack. Set it down by the crooked trail. Drop your steel pot alongside. Shed those magazine-ladened bandoliers away from your sweat-soaked shirt. Lay that silent weapon down and step out of the heat. Feel the soothing cool breeze right down to your soul ... and rest forever in the shade of our love, brother.

From your Nam-Band-Of-Brothers

I have not forgotten you. I chair the Adoption Committee for The National League of Families of Prisoners of War and Missing in Action in Southeast Asia. We will always remember the 1,889 Americans still unaccounted for in Southeast Asia and the thousands of others that lost their lives. We will not stop our efforts until all of you are home where you belong.

We need to reach the next generation so that they will carry on when our generation is no longer able. To do so, we are attempting to locate photographs of all the missing. If you are reading this remembrance and have a photo and/or memory of this missing American that you would like to share for our project, please contact me at:

Candace Lokey
PO Box 206
Freeport, PA 16229
[email protected]

If you are not familiar with our organization, please visit our web site at :

www.pow-miafamilies.org