6 Oct 2002 Kenneth, my brother and friend, I miss you so much. Funny how things can change overnight. I remember that a few days before we were mad at each other, and I don't remember why. All I know is that on May 17, 1969, we went to pick some film and supplies, including fresh bread for the evening meal. When we came back, we ate and got ready to watch the movie. Remember how we ran when the B-52s downloaded their deliveries nearby? I could not believe that we went to sleep and at 1:30 AM the first RPG was heard and someone screamed "Incoming." I was taking care of the wounded, but I think I saw you and Rice just minutes before the RPG hit the bunker. I think I saw you, but I had so much to do that it did not click into my head. Around 6:30 AM, the black Cobra choppers controlled the perimeter. When I asked someone about you two, someone told me what had transpired and I lost it. I already had lost my hearing and voice, but I cried for hours. It was a pain that was unbearable, it lasted for years until I was able to see your name and Patrick's name on the Wall. I now it is a matter of time before we see each other. I hope you will remember me too. Godspeed to you, brothers. Francisco Cordero-Rivera 295 Hoyt St, Buffalo, NY 14213 darkaraphel@hotmail.com If one of Kenneth's or Patrick Rice's relatives read this, please feel free to contact me.

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall Fire Support Base HUSKY was located just outside Xuan Loc in Long Khanh Province. On the night of 17/18 May 1969 FSB HUSKY was hit by a combined mortar, rocket, and sapper attack. Parts of the FSB were overrun and a number of the heavy guns were destroyed or put out of action - for example, four of C Btry 2/9 Arty's six 105mm howitzers were unusable, hindering the defense. Although the FSB held out against the attack, thirteen soldiers and one sailor were killed and a number of others wounded. The American dead were SeaBee Team 1013, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 10 CE2 Philip L. Grieser, St Paris, OH B Btry, 2nd Bn, 35th Artillery: CPL Gary D. McCray, Claremont, NC HHB, 2nd Bn, 35th Artillery: CPT Norman P. Singer, Oklahoma City, OK SP5 Larry J. Budde, Preston, IA SP5 Robert L. Freeman, Ypsilanti, MI SP5 John J. Laskowski, Willimansett, MA SGT Dana M. Sykes, Winston-Salem, NC CPL Larry L. Holmes, Port Wentworth, GA PFC Henry F. Evans, Columbia, SC D Btry, 71st Arty Rgt, 2 Field Force, USARV SP4 Garry L. Uplinger, Cambridge, OH C Btry, 7th Bn, 9th Artillery: CPT Allen R. Culpepper, Minden, LA (Dist Svc Cross) SSG Kenneth E. Lockhart, Kingsport, TN SP5 Patrick L. Rice, Franklin, TX PFC Ronnie E. Parker, Fullerton, CA There may have been another American death from the attack ... on 29 July 1969 Staff Sergeant Harry E. Black of Willimantic, Connecticut, died of fragmentation wounds received earlier in the year. SSG Black had been assigned to Charlie 7/9 Arty when wounded - but the date he was wounded is not known. It is known that he was a patient at the Army's 249th General Hospital, Camp Drake, Japan, on 05 June 1969 and was evacuated to the United States on 21 June 1969. SSG Black had served in the Navy during World War II.

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