LETTER I READ THIS MORNING - LEFT AT WALL IN 1985

June 8, 1985
Dear Eddie

Although it's been fifteen years since you've been gone it feels like it could have been fifteen days. Many times I have regretted not getting to know you better than I did. There was a quiet, sensitive goodness about you. You were one of the guys that had been with the unit awhile and was getting “short”. I knew about your girl, your Mom & Dad and that you wanted to put your time in and get home. If anyone knew you at all, they liked you a lot.

I'll never forget being awakened at three that morning by the hysterical crying of Denny Newbill and Jerry Hall. “One of our guys is dead!” was all I could get out of Newbill. When Jerry told me it was you, I can remember demanding an answer- "Oh God, Why? Why any of us? Why Eddie?” I never did get any concrete answers. Our whole company felt a tremendous loss. When I left in August, there was still a sense of grief around. Things never did get back to “normal”.

I hope you don't mind, but recently I made contact with your parents. They’ve moved twice and are now retired in Missouri, trusting in the Lord that you are at peace. They can't afford to travel much so I've sent them pictures of the Memorial and your name. They're good people, too. I hope to meet them some day.

For years, I felt your life, as well as the other 58,000 lives, was wasted and anyone who wasn't there could not or would not understand what we went through. That's changing now. People are beginning to realize that we were doing our jobs and doing them well. We had to pay the price and until recently, we were the ones tagged as losers, not our government. So if your names on this wall make it harder to send guys half way around the world to die, then maybe it wasn't a total waste.

I love you, brother. I pray some day we will welcome each other home. Peace.

John "Soup'' Campbell

SHE IS A FRIEND OF A FRIEND... SHE IS ON THE WALL

1st Lt. Sharon Ann Lane - On the Wall at 23W 112
Lt. Lane died from shrapnel wounds when the 312th Evac. at Chu Lai was hit by rockets on June 8, 1969. From Canton, OH, she was a month short of her 26th birthday. She was posthumously awarded the Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm and the Bronze Star for Heroism. In 1970, the recovery room at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver, where Lt. Lane had been assigned before going to Viet Nam, was dedicated in her honor. In 1973, Aultman Hospital in Canton, OH, where Lane had attended nursing school, erected a bronze statue of Lane. The names of 110 local servicemen killed in Vietnam are on the base of the statue.

DREW DIX CITATION

The President of the United States
in the name of The Congress
takes pleasure in presenting the
Medal of Honor
to

DIX, DREW DENNIS

Rank and Organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, U.S. Senior Advisor Group, IV Corps, Military Assistance Command. Place and date: Chau Doc Province, Republic of Vietnam, 31 January and 1 February 1968. Entered service at: Denver, Colo. Born: 14 December 1944, West Point, N.Y.

Citation:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. S/Sgt. Dix distinguished himself by exceptional heroism while serving as a unit adviser. Two heavily armed Viet Cong battalions attacked the Province capital city of Chau Phu resulting in the complete breakdown and fragmentation of the defenses of the city. S/Sgt. Dix, with a patrol of Vietnamese soldiers, was recalled to assist in the defense of Chau Phu. Learning that a nurse was trapped in a house near the center of the city, S/Sgt. Dix organized a relief force, successfully rescued the nurse, and returned her to the safety of the Tactical Operations Center. Being informed of other trapped civilians within the city, S/Sgt. Dix voluntarily led another force to rescue 8 civilian employees located in a building which was under heavy mortar and small-arms fire. S/Sgt. Dix then returned to the center of the city. Upon approaching a building, he was subjected to intense automatic rifle and machinegun fire from an unknown number of Viet Cong. He personally assaulted the building, killing 6 Viet Cong, and rescuing 2 Filipinos. The following day S/Sgt. Dix, still on his own volition, assembled a 20-man force and though under intense enemy fire cleared the Viet Cong out of the hotel, theater, and other adjacent buildings within the city. During this portion of the attack, Army Republic of Vietnam soldiers inspired by the heroism and success of S/Sgt. Dix, rallied and commenced firing upon the Viet Cong. S/Sgt. Dix captured 20 prisoners, including a high ranking Viet Cong official. He then attacked enemy troops who had entered the residence of the Deputy Province Chief and was successful in rescuing the official's wife and children. S/Sgt. Dix's personal heroic actions resulted in 14 confirmed Viet Cong killed in action and possibly 25 more, the capture of 20 prisoners, 15 weapons, and the rescue of the 14 United States and free world civilians. The heroism of S/Sgt. Dix was in the highest tradition and reflects great credit upon the U.S. Army.

VIETNAM MEMORIAL AT FORT CARSON

Fort Carson will host a Vietnam Veterans’ Welcome Home celebration June 10 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Ironhorse Park.
The half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, known as “The Wall That Heals,” will highlight this year’s event. The wall will be available for viewing 24 hours a day June 8-12, near Kit Carson Park outside of Gate 1.
The celebration, free and open to the public, will also feature family activities, entertainment, bus tours of Fort Carson and information booths about veterans’ services.
Access onto Fort Carson for visitors attending the activities June 10 will be through gates 1, 4 and 20. Drivers will be required to show a valid state driver’s license, vehicle registration and proof of insurance. All vehicle occupants 18 and older will be required to show valid state- or federally-issued photo identification. All vehicles entering the installation are subject to search. Visitors will be issued an event parking pass, which must be displayed on the dashboard of the vehicle at all times while on the installation. Nondecaled vehicles that are not removed from the installation by 5 p.m. June 11 will be towed at the owner’s expense.
The Vehicle Registration Office, building 6012, will be closed from 7-11 a.m. June 10 and the parking lot will be closed at 6 p.m. Thursday. Nondecaled vehicles will be processed at gates 2, 3, 4, 5 and 20 during this time.
Traffic control personnel will be directing visitors to the parking areas off of Wetzel Avenue south of Prussman Boulevard, the east side of the Ironhorse Park.
Handicap parking will be available at Kit Carson Park and the main parking lot at Ironhorse Park.
Coffee and doughnuts will be served without charge and vendors will have food and beverages for purchase.

D-DAY NORMANDY LESSON PLAN - BOSWELL PART FOUR

D-DAY NORMANDY LESSON PLAN - BOSWELL PART THREE

D-DAY NORMANDY LESSON PLAN - BOSWELL PART TWO