THE WALL OF FACES

Never forgotten.

HOOAH, Doc

You will forever remain in our hearts and prayers

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 sun 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.

SFC Chalmers Humphreys was a light weapon infantry advisor and SSG Edward Ambrose a combat medic advisor, both serving with Mobile Advisory Team IV-72, Advisory Team 84, Military Assistance Command Vietnam. Humphreys and Ambrose were part of a five-man Mobile Advisory Team located at Tram Chim on the Plain of Reeds near the Cambodian border in Kien Phong Province, RVN. On the morning of August 17, 1969, Humphreys returned from a night ambush to the mud fort at Tram Chim with two Viet Cong prisoners his militia team had captured. While the prisoners were being interrogated, Humphreys and Ambrose were in the kitchen area brewing coffee on a kerosene stove. A gunshot was suddenly was heard, and the MAT team members and militiamen scrambled for their weapons. Within seconds, one of the Americans noticed a fog of vapor venting from a propane cylinder that powered the team’s small refrigerator. The round that had been fired had struck and penetrated the gas canister. Before anyone could react, the propane cloud reached the kitchen where Humphreys and Ambrose were using an open flame. A large explosion blew some members from the team house. Fire engulfed the bamboo and thatch structure. More explosions took place when 81mm mortar rounds stored in wooden boxes behind the kitchen began cooking off. Vietnamese and Americans abandoned the fort, some retreating to a U.S. Navy river patrol boat moored in an adjacent canal. Ambrose emerged from the inferno. critically burned. Quickly taken aboard the Navy PBR, he was given first aid and later medivacked to an evacuation hospital. After being stabilized, he was immediately transferred to the burn center at the U.S. Army’s 106th General Hospital in Yokohama, Japan. Back at the MAT team’s fort, after the detonations subsided, the team members returned to the compound where they found Humphreys’ body in the charred remnants of the kitchen. His remains were placed in a body bag and brought by helicopter to a Graves Registration unit. Ambrose succumbed to his injuries seven days after arriving in Japan. It was reported that the VC prisoners were also critically burned and were presumed to have died from their injuries. Humphreys was posthumously promoted to Master Sergeant. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and information provided by Terry T. Turner (June 2019)]

I never got to meet you GrandDad but I wanted to follow in your footsteps, following your footsteps give me a since of pride that provides the best feeling ever. I Love you GrandDad, Hooah.