THE WALL OF FACES

On May 16, 1971, a New York Times article described heroin use by American troops in Vietnam had reached epidemic proportions. The piece reported that 10 to 15 percent of lower-ranking enlisted men were heroin users, and military officials working in drug‐suppression estimated that as much as a quarter of all enlisted personnel, more than 60,000 men, were hooked. They added that some field surveys reported units with more than 50 percent of the men on heroin. In Vietnam, the drug was plentiful, cheap, and 95 percent pure. Its effects could casually be achieved through smoking or snorting, as compared to the U.S., where the drug was impure, only about five percent heroin, and had to be main-lined or injected into the bloodstream to achieve a comparable high. The habit, which cost $100 a day to maintain in the U.S., cost less than $5 a day in Vietnam. SP5 Donald G. Chmiel was a Food Service Specialist serving with the 56th Army Postal Unit, Headquarters & Headquarters Company (HHC), Long Binh Post, Army Support Command, Saigon, 1st Logistical Command, U.S. Army Republic of Vietnam. At 7:00 AM on August 25, 1970, a mess hall sergeant attempting to wake Chmiel in his bed in his unit’s enlisted men’s billets at Long Binh Post found him expired. Army postmortem studies determined he died of aspiration of gastric contents with pulmonary edema and congestion, common adverse events following a heroin overdose. Chmiel, 26, was posthumously promoted to Staff Sergeant. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and “G.I. Heroin Addiction Epidemic in Vietnam.” New York Times (New York, NY), May 16, 1971]

Taken from the Anchorage Times (Anchorage, AK), September 2, 1970, courtesy of Jill Galbraith, Adult Services Librarian, Anchorage Public Library, Anchorage, AK.

Image courtesy of Redbird Research LLC, Saint Charles, MO.

Never forgotten.

HOOAH

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. As long as you are remembered you will always be with us....