14 Jan 2007 I've tried to write this several times on the site but just can't get the words right. David M. Sexton is my husband and the father of our son. David joined the Army instead of being drafted. We were going steady at the time. Then while in boot camp on his leave for Christmas he asked me to marry him and we became engaged. David went to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and he was coming home on leave in April on 1970 so I planned a very quick wedding on the 18th of that month. In June of that same year I flew out to Fort Sill to be with him till October when he got his orders to go to Viet Nam. I was carrying our child by then. David was a Gun Chief on a self-propelled 155 howitzer and was on a night fire mission when the gun exploded with him in it. I have seen my husband's declassified files and what they say happened but they don't tell about the problems that the men had with that gun prior to the event. I have the letters that tell about the gun not working right and that David asked if the gun couldn't stay off the line but it couldn't, so my husband and another man who lost his life from injuries died. Whether you believe in it or not but I was giving birth to our son when I saw what happened to David. I saw him inside the gun and he looked right at me and then he was gone. Our son was born 15 minuted later. David is the kind of person who would do anything for you all you had to do was ask. He would make you laugh no matter how badly you were feeling and if need be he would cry with you. He would smile and his eyes would smile also. David's my best friend, my husband, my son's father, and my life. He well always watch over us and be there for us. David was a straight A student through High School and College. He worked full time at night and school during the day to get the money for college. He went to college at Oberlin Business College and graduated with high honors. Then went to work as a junior accountant at New Departure in Sandusky, Ohio. He worked there till he joined the Army. He wanted a good life for a family and he knew how tough life can be coming from a family of 5 children. His father was a hard worker and his mother stayed home and raised the family. So he had great family values. I fell in loved with David's picture that I saw at his Aunt's and told her that I would marry him. Nobody could believe it when we started dating about a year after I said that. The first time we saw each other I just knew in my heart that David was the one and a week later we were on a double date when David asked me to go steady and not date another person. David was only the 3rd person I ever went out with. David would smile and make a bad day great. He would help anybody out, all they had to do was ask. He is strong and gentle all in one. I always knew when he was thinking about me and he knew when I was of him. I received letters from some of the men who were in Nam with him and they said that David didn't have to be the one on the gun that time but he wouldn't ask somebody to do something that he couldn't do himself because of the problems they were having with it. The men said that David cared for them all and they were friends. I was told back when that no remains were found of David and for 13 years that was what I believed but after receiving a small copy of his file I found out otherwise. I read that parts were found and were tagged and sent out to be returned but nobody knows what happened to them. Basicly they were lost. One thing My David always said to me was that "Blood for my country, sweat for the Army, but You Will Always Have My Heart". Well, reading his file one man described that they found my husband's heart and that should of come home to our son and me. That is what is hard to swallow. David is and always will be my Love, My Husband. I miss him so ---- much. From his wife, Patricia A. Sexton cricket1503@aol.com

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall B Battery, 5/4th Artillery, lost two men when the breech block on an M109 howitzer malfunctioned while firing. The blow-back resulted in internal powder and/or shell detonation and a fire which gutted the gun. The two men were SGT David M. Sexton and CPL Clyde Thomas of Pittsburg, Texas. When the burned-out gun had cooled sufficiently to permit recovery operations, remains of the two men were removed from the vehicle and taken by helicopter to Khe Sanh for further transport to the Graves Registration point at Quang Tri City. Sergeant Sexton's remains were somehow lost during the move from Khe Sanh to Quang Tri, and despite thorough investigation could not be located.

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