15 November 2000 THE VIET NAM EXPERIENCE Gary Michael Montgomery His sleep is sometimes restless Walking at night in a cold sweat He rarely talks about it Nor of the horrors he's met Some days when it's quiet His eyes reach back in time And relive old high school days Before it was Viet Nam He seldom plays his albums now For reasons that are clear They bring him back to a childhood Of life and death and Bomy-Ba beer He will never speak of Gallantry Or of his Silver Star Unless, of course, you pry him Then he only goes so far And when the mood is right And the Beatles fill the air He'll tell his tale ... half jokingly Of men in combat and children in dispair He speaks of whores and orphans Their survival in a hellish lie Humans clinging to a life Where the only certainty is to die And yes ... he had a buddy And I have seen his face Smiling he stands by sandbags forever Frozen at some forgotten base To me he is the ... true to life hero Cause he's seen the worst that men can do And despite the terror of it all He chooses to live on and see his story through. Dedicated to Tim O. Moore and Sidney Claude Howard whose name is on the Wall "Sid" as Tim called him, was in the Marines and my husband Tim was in the Army. Sid sent the picture to Tim when he was at Bien Hoa. They were in Artesia High School together, in Artesia, California. They had been friends since the 5th Grade, at Willow School. Tim's thoughts on Sid: "He was my Brother, my Friend, he was funny, he was serious, and he loved to surf at Redondo Beach." When Tim returned to California after Viet Nam, he went to see his friend Jim Lee. He asked Jim, "Where is Sid?" Jim said, "Haven't you heard? He's dead." Jim Lee took my husband to Sid's gravesite. Tim sat there and cried for hours non stop. He never said "Goodbye". Sidney will always live in Tim's heart. Sidney has been honored in our family in many ways. His Viet Nam Photo is in the 1984 Annual at Virginia Military Institute; our son Gary Michael Montgomery made his dedication to Sidney Claude Howard. Mike also wrote the poem below the photo. From his friends, Tim and Eslye Moore eslye@gulftel.com Also remembered on The Virtual Wall Richard Hershel Miller Panel 14W Line 095 Thomas F Sandoval Panel 31E Line 001 David Allen Wilson Panel 34W Line 003

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall Fire Support Bases NEVILLE and RUSSELL were west of Cam Lo, with NEVILLE the westernmost of the two. In late February 1969, NEVILLE was occupied by Golf Btry 3/12 with Hotel Company, 2/4 as a security force. Five miles to the east, FSB RUSSELL had Hotel and Mortar Batteries, 3/12, and elements of 2/4 as a security force - primarily Echo 2/4, but also elements of H&S Company. In the early morning hours of 25 Feb 1969 both bases were hit hard by NVA sappers - about 200 from the 246th NVA Regiment at NEVILLE and an equal number from the 27th NVA Regiment at RUSSELL. In each case the attacks began with heavy mortar fire and supporting artillery fire from within the DMZ, followed by a ground attack clearly intended to destroy the artillery pieces in their gun pits. In each case the enemy partially overran the base, and in each case the Marines drove them out again. When the sun rose, the Marines had over three dozen dead and 100+ wounded, while there were 61 enemy bodies inside the two perimeters - but the guns had sustained no serious damage and were firing. Twenty-nine Marines and sailors were killed in the defense of FSB RUSSELL ... but on the afternoon of the 25th another Marine was wounded by NVA mortar fire - LCpl Sydney C. Howard of Lakewood, California. On 14 March 1969 he died from his wounds.

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