THE WALL OF FACES

Great sadness fills our hearts today
As pipes and drums, in slow march play.
A comrade’s fallen by the way,
And now we say goodbye.

This hero to the very end
Was more than just a casual friend,
Who would a stranger’s life defend,
And now we say goodbye

But we shall cherish, all our days,
The character this life portrayed
With sacrifice so freely made,
And now we say goodbye.

The hand salute, o’er Stars and Stripes,
And distant skirl of highland pipes,
Bid last farewell with hero’s rights,
And now we say goodbye.

While here on Earth, you gave your best.
Now in the Master’s arms you rest.
T’is by your memory we are blessed.
And now we say goodbye.

I was in the 76 Màs with paul- I was a pilot, capt
and aircraft commander C-141. Paul was a good man, and a hero. I still think of him. I feel sorry for his family and his loss.

TSGT Paul E Yonkie is buried near his parents at the Brandy Camp Cemetery in Horton Township, PA.

Dear TSgt Paul Yonkie, Thank you for your service as a Flight Engineer Tech. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. 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.

When the civil war inside Laos during the late 1950’s threatened communist insurgency spreading into Thailand, the Thai government began allowing the United States to covertly use five Thai bases beginning in 1961 for the air defense of Thailand and to fly reconnaissance flights over Laos. One of the bases was Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base, located in northeastern Thailand. At 10:30 PM on July 26, 1968, a Thai Communist dac tong (sapper) unit carrying AK-47’s, grenades, and satchel charges successfully penetrated the defensive perimeter of Udorn RTAF and, despite detection, reached and damaged some USAF aircraft, killed a Thai Security Guard, and critically wounded a U.S. Air Force airman. The size of the force, which opened its attack with automatic weapons fire on the northwest end of the base, was estimated at eight to ten persons by intelligence officers. The security police and the local Thai police, however, estimated there were up to twenty-five attackers. TSGT Paul E. Yonkie, an aeromedical evacuation crew member from the 76th Military Airlift Squadron, was inside a USAF Lockheed C-141 Starlifter with other flight crew members when the attack began. The crew evacuated the aircraft and headed for cover in the grass next to the runway. Enroute, Yonkie suffered fragmentation wounds to his chest and abdomen from an exploding satchel charge. The blast also severely wounded the C-141’s pilot in both hands. Yonkie was medically evacuated to the U.S. Air Force Hospital at Clark Air Base in the Philippines where he succumbed to his injuries September 1, 1968. The C-141 aircraft and a USAF McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II aircraft were heavily damaged during the attack. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and “Project CHECO Report: Attack on Udorn, 27 December 1968”]