THE WALL OF FACES

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

As a fellow Buckeye, I say "THANK YOU"

As a Veteran, I say "JOB WELL DONE"

As an American, "YOUR DEATH WAS NOT IN VAIN"

And as a Believer, "YOUR SPIRIT IS ALIVE AND STRONG"

Again, thank you for your faithful service, contribution, and most precious of sacrifices given to this great and wonderful country of ours! PEACE MY FRIEND

I served as a Navy Corpsman/Medic with the 3rd Marines in Quang Tri Province during February 1970. At the Vietnam War Memorial dedication ceremony in 1982, I found my name on The Wall. I later learned from the Memorial Directory that Thomas Allen from Ohio was remembered on The Wall. I remain deeply touched by that experience, because my full name is Charles Thomas Allen and I was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania on August 19, 1947. My mother, Lois Allen nicknamed me "Tommy" and I grew up in Calvert County, Maryland, as Tommy Allen. My father's name is Robert "Bob" Allen. The common threads that run through our lives are a mystery to me but I know that there is a reason for everything. I have often wondered why Tommy Allen of Delta, Ohio was killed in Vietnam and I survived. I have mentioned Tommy to others and I will continue to keep his remembrance alive. Peace be with you. Tom Allen

Though I was too young to remember Tommy, my Dad never failed to keep his memory alive with stories of the two of them growing up in Delta, Ohio. My Dad instilled in me a great respect and understanding for the sacrifice Tommy gave to our country. These same lessons I will certainly pass down to my own children and will expect them to keep the memory of Tommy alive for generations to come.

Tommy was my brother....2 years younger. He was so witty and way ahead of the times. Before he left for the Marines, he used to spoil his first born nephew, my son Andy. He used to load Andy in his red VW convertible and cruise around town with him. They were a pair. I wonder so often, what he would be doing now...how many children he would have and by now how many grandchildren he would have. I miss him so much.