THE WALL OF FACES

The 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry “Bobcats” were sent to Vietnam in January 1966, assigned to the 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division. The 1/5 Infantry was a mechanized unit utilizing M113 armored personnel carriers and Patton M48A3 tanks. During its first three months in country, the 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division with the attached 1/5 Infantry was engaged in continuous ground combat against the Viet Cong (VC) to secure a base of operations for itself near Tan An Hoi in the Cu Chi District of Hau Nghia Provence, RVN. On the early morning of February 14, 1966, A Company, 1/5 Infantry prepared to depart its base camp and move across the Ben Muong waterway on a dismounted Reconnaissance in Force of the area beyond the stream. A densely jungled rubber plantation honey-combed with Viet Cong tunnels and overrun by snipers, it was known to American GIs as "Hell's Half Acre." The Bobcats crossed their line of departure at 6:30 AM. Three hours later, they were making slow but steady progress on the sweep, destroying thatch-roofed huts and tunnels and confiscating rice caches. By 11:00 AM, they had sustained ten wounded. Shortly after, two Chicom Claymores anti-personnel mines were command detonated by the VC, killing eight and wounding three. The lost personnel included (from A-1/5 Inf) CPT William A. Hoos Jr., SSG Gene C. Milligan, SP4 Walter N. Ammons, and PFC Ira C. Boggs Jr.; (from C Btry, 1st Bn, 8th Arty Rgt) Forward Observers SGT John W. O. Groover and PFC Bobby J. Braswell; and (from 25th Admin Co, 25th Inf Div) journalist PFC Terry J. Reed; also killed was Canagarathan “Charles” Chellappah, a photojournalist with the Associated Press. His final roll of film captured dramatic photographs of wounded soldiers being treated after the first Claymore explosion. He died in the subsequent blast. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org, virtualwall.org, and wikipedia.org; Image: Photo of injured Americans taken by Charles Chellappah moments before his death.]

On the remembrance of your 74th birthday, your sacrifice is not forgotten.

Forever 18.

HOOAH

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.

SP4 Walter Norris Ammons is buried at Sunset Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Chester, VA.

Your sacrifice is not forgotten.

HOOAH

DEAR SPECIALIST 4TH CLASS AMMONS,
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE AS AN ARMY GRUNT.
18 WAS FAR TO YOUNG TO DIE.
REST IN PEACE.