THE WALL OF FACES

Private First Class Thomas Howard Zehner, Served with the 88th Transportation Company, 124th Transportation Battalion, 8th Transportation Group, 1st Logistical Command, United States Army Vietnam.

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. As long as you are remembered you will always be with us….

Dear PFC Thomas Zehner, Thank you for your service as a Light Vehicle Driver. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Today, spring begins, and it is Lent. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage, guidance, and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

On February 20, 1967, a civilian twin-engine Beechcraft airplane on approach to Nha Trang Airbase in Khanh Hoa Province, RVN, crashed after getting caught in the prop wash of a much larger C-130 Hercules transport aircraft. The Beechcraft spun out of control, lost a wing after clipping a telephone pole, and crashed into a U.S. Army truck and Vietnamese bus on Beach Road, 1 ½ miles from the city of Nha Trang. The accident killed two American servicemen in the truck, driver PFC Thomas H. Zehner from the 88th Transportation Company, and passenger A1C Elmo Burney Jr. from the 637th Supply Squadron, 31st Tactical Fighter Wing. Seven other persons were killed, including two Americans on the Beechcraft. The plane, leased by Continental Air Service, reportedly was enroute from Saigon carrying five U.S. civilian employees of the RMK-BRJ construction company. Three other Americans and four injured Vietnamese civilians were taken to the 8th Field Hospital in Nha Trang in fair condition. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and “9 Die as Plane Rams Viet Bus, U.S. Army Truck.” Pacific Stars & Stripes, February 22, 1967]

“Bruce serviceman killed in Viet Nam mishap.” Ladysmith News (Ladysmith, WI), March 2, 1967, courtesy of Maryjane at Rusk County Community Library, Ladysmith, WI.