Jimmy, it was a long time ago that we served together in 1970, I remember as if it was last night. When we got hit, you did just what you told me you would do many times. You gave your life so others could live, what more could Corps or Country ask? Your picture hangs in my home, just above where I am writing you, you're always in my heart, and you will never leave my Wall. I have a copy of your NAVY CROSS to the left of your picture. Jimmy, thank you for saving us, Semper Fi forever ... (CAL) 1st platoon, Hotel 2/1 Marines REMEMBERING To walk where I have walked, To see what I have seen, To feel what I have felt, Then, and only then, would one be one with myself, To finally understand how I feel. To be able to be finally free, From the haunting faces of dying friends, To be free from the memories of Death That come in the night To bring you back again and again. To be able to once again smile, If only for a little while, To feel love once again, To be able to have a friend. Your friends just couldn't understand What changed your life forever, in that distant land, You feel so lost, so helpless, Where it was once so easy to proudly stand. So where are the answers to be found? I hope and pray they hurry while I'm still around. For I love my country, it is my home, I'd give my life to protect it and I know I'm not alone. For there are others who have walked where I have walked, Others who have seen what I have seen, And felt what I have felt, Others who are still waiting to finally "come home" . . . L/Cpl Michael C. Caltagirone Hotel 2/1 Marines, Vietnam 1969-70. Published 1990 by the National Library of Poetry. A note from The Virtual Wall Lance Corporal Alfred Jimmy Herring received a posthumous award of the Navy Cross, approved on 20 Feb 1997 almost 27 years after the action remembered above. The award was presented to his mother, Mary Alice Cox of Mullins, SC, at the morning Colors ceremony on 4 April 1997 at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Paris Island, SC. The MCRD press release is quoted in part: Herring was a radio operator with Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, during combat operations against the enemy in the Republic of Vietnam in September 1970. While advancing to an area along the Song Bong River, 25 miles southeast of Danang to establish an observation post, Herring's patrol tripped a booby trap. The patrol immediately began to receive heavy fire from a concealed enemy force. Although wounded, Herring checked the status of the other members of the patrol and reported by radio that everyone but himself was either severely wounded or dead. While awaiting reinforcements, he was wounded a second time as he single-handedly repelled three separate enemy attacks. Herring courageously assisted the other wounded Marines to a position of relative safety, and dressed their wounds. Upon arrival of the relief force, he attempted to assist in the evacuation of his wounded comrades, though mortally wounded himself. He allowed himself to be carried aboard the transport helicopter only after he was assured all the other wounded Marines had been boarded. MCRD Paris Island Press Release 28-97 dtd 08 Apr 1997 Transcribed by K J Davis, CDR USN (Ret), 23 Feb 2002

 

A memorial from his Squad Leader and friend forever, Mike (Cal) Caltagirone P O Box 836, Old Forge, N Y 13420 calhotel6970@msn.com  5 Feb 2002

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