THE WALL OF FACES

Some may think you are forgotten
Though on earth you are no more
But in our memory you are with us
As you always were before….

Dear PFC James Workman, Thank you for your service as a Military Policeman. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Today is Washington's birthday, and Lent 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.

Your service and sacrifice will always be remembered. Your loss is mourned.

On the evening of June 30, 1969, LTC Nguyen Viet Can, commander of the ARVN 11th Airborne Battalion that guards the Vietnamese Presidential Palace, and two of his junior officers entered the Ivory Tower bar, a popular Saigon nightspot frequented by American GI’s. While there they confronted a U.S. serviceman they found with an attractive Vietnamese woman. LTC Can purportedly shouted, “I’ve been in the army for sixteen years and I’m tired of seeing Americans with Vietnamese girls!” At approximately the same time, two military policeman from 716th Military Police Battalion, SGT Eugene T. Cox and PFC James H. Workman, arrive at the same nightclub in response to a report of a drunken soldier in the bar. PFC Workman and SGT Cox went to the third floor bar and ordered an American Army sergeant to leave because it was past curfew. LTC Can blocked the door and offered to buy drinks but his offer is refused. As Cox started down the winding staircase, LTC Can pulled a pistol and shot him four times in the back and head. Workman was coming from the bar when he was reportedly shot 10 times by the colonel and at least one other ARVN officer. LTC Can, CAPT Do Ngoc Nuoi, and CAPT Pham Van Bach all faced trial over the deaths of the two MPs. However, each escaped prosecution from all of the charges." [Taken from laudizen.com and the book Fragging by George Lepre]

Soon after the incident, a group of us was returning from the evening programming at the American Forces Vietnam Network. Some of us were billeted at the Plaza Hotel across from the Ivory Tower bar. Tran Hung Dao Street was partially blocked by MP jeeps with flashing lights, so I got out to walk around. I had a "press" card. It was an appalling scene, not unlike the senseless police killings so common in America today. We were at war, but street crime was part of life in Saigon. Now 50 years later, and forever more, I will remember that tragic night and the MPs killed in the line of duty. I didn't know them but I respect them as the cops they were, serving far from home. Such a shame.