THE WALL OF FACES

Private First Class John Richard Cacioppo, Served with the 37th Signal Battalion, 21st Signal Group, 1st Signal Brigade, United States Army Vietnam.

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.

Dear Pvt John Cacioppo,
Thank you for your service as a Dial/Manual Control Office Repairer. As another summer comes to an end, it is important for us all to acknowledge the sacrifices of those like you who answered our nation's call. Please watch over America, it stills needs your courage and faithfulness. Rest in peace with the angels.

John and I roomed together in the same dorm in Alva, Oklahoma. We were both on the college gymnastic team. I went into the army in Feb., 1967 as a combat medic. I did not get out of the military until May, 1970. When I returned to college I noticed a memorial dedicated to John. That was the first time I knew that he had been killed. I've been to the Memorial in D.C. and I have a rubbing of John's name. He was a friend and I think of him often.

Before dawn on February 27, 1967, the Viet Cong shelled the vast American air base at Da Nang with rockets and mortars, killing eleven American military personnel and at least 30 Vietnamese. Another thirty-two Americans and 70 Vietnamese were wounded in the shelling. Aircraft and buildings were damaged in the attack and small fires were started which swept through a Vietnamese area on the base perimeter. A total of 18 rounds rained down on the base, causing the flight line to be closed down for a period. All the American casualties were on the air base while the Vietnamese casualties occurred in a village adjacent to the complex. The eleven American losses included eight soldiers, two airmen, and one Marine. The lost soldiers were SP4 Bobby J. Barcena, PFC John R. Cacioppo, SP4 Wilson L. Cook, SP4 James L. Cunningham, PFC Timothy E. Perry, SP4 Virgil Stanley, SP4 Brian C. Wehner, and SP4 Neil S. Williams; the airmen were A2C Gary L. Fuller and A1C Robert H. Jones; the Marine was CPL Arthur J. Turner. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and “Attack Air Base; Kill 11 GIs.” Chicago Tribune, February 27, 1967.]