Honor Roll & Wall of Faces Committee
The 1/5 Vietnam Veterans Association has applied for, and been accepted as a Commemorative Partner in the America’s efforts to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War.
Commemorative Partner Program is designed for federal, state and local communities, veterans’ organizations and other nongovernmental organizations to assist a grateful nation in thanking and honoring our Vietnam Veterans and their families. Commemorative Partners are encouraged to participate in the Commemoration of the Vietnam War by planning and conducting events and activities that will recognize the Vietnam Veterans and their families’ service, valor, and sacrifice.” To learn more about this program, visit their website at: http://www.vietnamwar50th.com/commemorative_partners/commemorative_partner_program/
In conjunction with this program, and our efforts to update our Company Honor Rolls, research teams have been formed with two goals:
- To update our Honor Rolls to make sure we have accounted for every single KIA who lost their lives during the Vietnam War, and
- To ensure that each and every one of our Heroes has a photo on the “Wall of Faces” that will be part of the National Vietnam War Museum when it is completed in 2018. For more information, please visit their website at: http://www.nationalvnwarmuseum.org
In their efforts thus far, the Bravo Company team (includes Jim Latta, Jim Dougherty, Ben Drollinger and Gary Petrous – permanent point man) and the Delta Company team (Jon Johnson), have found that the Virtual Wall database (see the link, below) is invaluable, and their work is proceeding very smoothly thanks in large part to this wonderful resource.
In addition to our efforts on our Honor Rolls and the Wall of Faces, we are committed to conducting at least two events / gathering every year through the Commemorative Partner Program. One of those events every year will be our reunion Memorial Service, and we are looking for ideas on how we can work together to conduct a 2nd event as part of this outstanding program. Further, we are looking for volunteers to help out our Honor Roll / Wall of Faces Committee – especially a few guys from Alpha, Charlie and H&S Companies. The teams already in place have made a lot of progress, and they have developed some procedures for documenting the data, but it is really important to have a few guys who served in each company to help confirm the information, especially data about our U. S. Navy Corpsmen, who served in the infantry companies but who were carried on the rolls of H&S Company.
Please get in touch with Nick Warr, as soon as possible, if you would like to help with this effort. We should organize an event (starting in 2016) that will commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the major battles 1/5 fought:
- in 2016 – Operations JACKSTAY, OSAGE, COLORADO;
- 2017, Operations UNION I, UNION II, SWIFT;
- 2018, Operations HUE CITY, HOUSTON, MAMELUKE THRUST, and so forth through the end of the war.
Stay tuned for more updates and details regarding these efforts and programs in the next issue of our newsletter.
Addendum
In an on going effort to Honor the Fallen Veterans of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, Gerry Regan has searched numerous historical data bases, records, and files to create the pages that follow of Marines killed or missing in action from World War I, World War II, and the Korean War.
William Davis Martin
High School Graduate