THE WALL OF FACES

DEAR COLONEL ALLEY,
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE AS A BOMBARDIER - NAVIGATOR. I AM GLAD THAT YOU WERE LOCATED, AND ARE HOME.
REST IN PEACE.

Colonel Gerald William Alley, Served with the 2nd Bombardment Wing But was temporarily assigned to the 22nd Bombardment Wing, 307th Strategic Wing, Strategic Air Command.

On December 22, 1972 a B-52D crew consisting of co-pilot CAPT Thomas W. Bennett, LTC Gerald W. Alley, bombardier CAPT Peter P. Camerota, navigator 1LT Joseph B. Copack Jr., pilot CAPT Peter J. Giroux, and tailgunner MSGT Louis E. LeBlanc departed Utapao on a bombing mission over Hanoi. When the B-52D was about 50 miles northwest of Hanoi, it was hit by Surface to Air Missiles (SAM). Bennett called the mayday and manually ejected the pilot, who had blacked out. Bennett then bailed out himself. The tailgunner later reported that he observed in the bright moonlight that the entire crew of six had deployed parachutes. Three of them, Camerota, Giroux and LeBlanc, were released from prisoner of war camps in Hanoi a few months later in the general prisoner release of 1973. The U.S. was not expecting them. They had not known that the three were being held prisoner. Alley, Copack and Bennett were not released and remained Missing in Action. On June 23, 1989, the U.S. announced that the Vietnamese had "discovered" the remains of Gerald W. Alley and Joseph B. Copack and had sent them home [Narrative taken from pownetwork.org; image from wikipedia.org]

Dear Colonel Gerald William Alley, sir

As an American, I would like to thank you for your service and for your sacrifice made on behalf of our wonderful country. The youth of today could gain much by learning of heroes such as yourself, men and women whose courage and heart can never be questioned.

May God allow you to read this, and may He allow me to someday shake your hand when I get to Heaven to personally thank you. May he also allow my father to find you and shake your hand now to say thank you; for America, and for those who love you.

With respect, and the best salute a civilian can muster for you, Sir

Curt Carter

There is a monument at the Veterans Memorial State Park in Boise, ID which pays tribute to Idaho’s Prisoner’s of War and Missing in Action from the Vietnam War. Dedicated in 1976, the memorial consists of a concrete pillar draped with a bronze American flag and bald eagle with raised wings. The emblem of the POW-MIA is affixed to the pillar above ten POW-MIA bracelets embedded in the column of concrete. Below that is a plaque which reads: DEDICATED JULY 4, 1976 TO IDAHO’S PRISONERS OF WAR AND MISSING IN ACTION IN THE SOUTHEAST ASIAN CONFLICT BY THE FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF IDAHO POW-MIA INC. The ten names on the bracelets include (in order from top to bottom): CAPT. LARRY CHESLEY 4-16-66 MAJ. DONALD WALTMAN 9-19-66 CHARLES WILLIS 2-28-68 MAJ. GERALD ALLEY 2-22-72 MAJ. JON BODAHL 11-12-69 LT. COL. WILLIAM COOK 4-18-68 MAJ. JOSEPH ECHANIS 11-5-69 CAPT. WILLIAM LEMMONS 6-18-67 CW2 JON SPARKS 3-19-71 COL. MARK STEPHENSON 4-29-67