THE WALL OF FACES

Dear Major Robert Lloyd Abernathy, sir

Remembering you and those you served with on this upcoming Memorial Day holiday, May 29, 2017 You are not and will not be forgotten.

May America always stand, and may it stand for the freedom and values that you defended.

With respect, Sir

Dear Major Abernathy,

May you be at peace. We remember your sacrifice.

Major Robert Lloyd Abernathy, Served with the 4th Air Commando Squadron, 6250th Combat Support Group, 13th Air Force.

Dear Major Robert Lloyd Abernathy, sir

Remembering you and those you served with on this Memorial Day, May 30, 2016. You are not and will not be forgotten. May America always stand, and may it stand for the freedom that you defended.

With respect, Sir

The first AC-47D Spooky Gunships arrived in Vietnam in November 1965. Their guns had been removed in order to lighten the aircraft for the trans-Pacific flight. The guns would not arrive until a month later. In the meantime, the aircraft were put to work on courier and cargo flights. The 4th Air Commando Squadron (ACS) lost their first aircraft, an AC-47D (serial number 43-49492), on a night time cross country courier flight between Tan Son Nhut and Phan Rang on December 17, 1965 when it was struck by ground fire. The wreckage was located on December 23rd. The bodies of the nine men on board the aircraft, four 4th ACS flight crew members and 5 passengers, were recovered. They included pilot MAJ Robert W. Abbot, co-pilot MAJ Robert L. Abernathy, navigator 1LT Francis R. Buckley, flight engineer A1C Claude W. Mathews, and passengers TSGT John M. Chappell, TSGT Thomas N. Sloan, SSGT Ralph L. Hinson, and A1C Johnson A. Meade. [Taken from ac47-gunships.com and aviation-safety.net]