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Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado — The American Mountains (Southwest)
 

Forward Air Controllers Monument

 
 
Forward Air Controllers monument (center panel) image. Click for full size.
Photographed by Mark Parker, July 4, 2024
1. Forward Air Controllers monument (center panel)
Inscription. This memorial is dedicated to those special Air Force aviators, support staff. Army Special Forces and Marine observers who lost their lives during the war in Southeast Asia from 1961-1975 while flying or supporting the forward air controller mission.

Forward Air Controller Requiem

Bow your head and reflect,
On the men we are here to honor,
The men who served their country.
The men who gave the ultimate.

They were all forward air controllers,
The loneliest job in the world.
They faced the enemy alone.
The courage came from within.

When everyone was calling "Help!",
They were the ones to help.
The emergency number in the sky,
The guardian angel to many of us.

Say the name of a fallen hero.
Say the name of a lover or husband.
Say the name of a son grown brave.
Say the name of a dad no longer here.

They are now a long time gone.
We honor them for their courage.
We honor them as fallen warriors,
Who gave their lives, so others would live.

Major John J. Duffy, DSC, US Army Retired Written for and recited at the Dedication Ceremony

(left panel:)
Medal of Honor
Captain Stephen L Bennett
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29 June 1972

Arthur J Abramoff • Kenneth D Adkins • James W Adkisson • Henry L Allen • James P Allenberg • Barry K Allmond • Vincent C Anderson • Stuart M Andrews • Catalino B Antonio Jr • John J Bach • Fred E Bailey • James S Baird • John R Baldridge Jr • Robert Ball • Charles D Ballou • Sam F Beach Jr • George J Bedrossian • James H Bennett Jr • David E Benson • Jerry E Bevan • Thomas J Beyer • Francis J Birchak • Craig S Blackner • Charles E Blair • Bruce E Boltze • Herbert W Booth Jr • Donald I Bowers • David G Brenner • Gardner Brewer • Frank H Briggs • Daniel M Brown • Joseph O Brown • Wendell L Brown • Robert W Brunson • Richard W Budka • Claude M Bunch • Park G Bunker • William O Burkett • Joseph K Bush • James M Butler • Douglas H Butterfield • James F Cameron • John I Cameron • Ivan J Campbell • Robert M Carn Jr • Donald G Carr • John L Carroll • Joseph Carter Jr • jerry L Chambers • Donald L Chaney • Joseph L Chestnut • Richard N Christy • Larry J Clanton • James W Clement • Harry J Coates Jr • Billy J Coley • David L Collins • John F Conlon • Glenn R Cook • Johnnie
Forward Air Controllers monument Medal of Honor (left panel) image. Click for full size.
Photographed by Mark Parker, July 4, 2024
2. Forward Air Controllers monument Medal of Honor (left panel)
C Cornelius • Morrison A Cotner • Bruce A Couillard • Ommie T Cox Jr • William T Crawford • James E Cross • George M Cunningham • Norman N Cunningham • Daniel R Davis • Larry L Dean • Richard H Defer • Samuel M Deichelmann • James B Des Rocher • Freddie D Dickens • Jackie L Dickens • Edward R Dodge • Douglas H Dorsay • George R Dover • Thomas A Duckett • John E Duffy • Edward J Dupere • Garrett E Eddy • Richard L Edwards • Francis X Egan • John X Egger Jr • Jerome Elkins • Richard G Elzinga • Albert A Engelhardt • Tonie L England Jr • Charles E Engle • John L Espenshied • William H Fabian • Philippe D Fales • David A Farrow • Joseph B Fearno • Allen E Fellows • Wayne A Ferguson • William M Fernandez • Aaron G Fidiam • Peter W Fields • Albert C Files • William R Finn • Walter H Forbes III • Richard L Foxx • Lawrence J Frahman • Charles S Franco • Lauren D Fritz • Glen L Fullerton • Joseph Gambino Jr • Francis E Geiger • James R Gilmore Jr • Arthur Glidden • Charles H Gray Jr • Richard T Gray • Remi H Greeff • Bruce B Greene • Charles F Griffin • Andre R Guillet • Harlow K Halbower
Forward Air Controllers Monument Medal of Honor (right panel) image. Click for full size.
Photographed by Mark Parker, July 4, 2024
3. Forward Air Controllers Monument Medal of Honor (right panel)
• Ted H Hallenbeck • George B Hamilton • Kenneth J Hamrick • Arthur H Hardy • Lee R Harley • Gregg Hartness • John H Haselton • Robert D Hauer • Donald R Hawley • Fredrick M Heckler • Lucius L Heiskell • Hal K Henderson • James C Henneberry • Richard W Herold • Barry W Hilbrich • James D Hoag • David H Holmes • Lester E Holmes • Marshall M Holt Jr • Gerald E Hull • James L Hull • Paul V Jackson III • John C Jacobs • Donald L Jacobsen • Robert L Johnson

(right panel:)
Medal of Honor
Captain Hilliard A Wilbanks
 24 February 1967

Omar D Jones • Thomas J Jozefowski • William A Justice • H Walker Kaiser • Charles L Karr • Carl F Karst Dennis • John W Kennedy • James C Kindel • Paul F Klug • David L Knott • Ronald I Krauss • Kenneth D Krehbiel • Alva R Krogman • Peter J Landry • James F Lang • Billy E Lankford • Roger G Leadbetter • John A Lehecka • Don R Lewis • David C Lindberg • Harold B Lineberger • Abel Luna • Donald A Luna • Joseph A Machowski • Harreld P Martin • Patrick R Martin • Phillip L Mascari • William W McAllister • Edward E McBride • Carl O McCormick • Kurt C McDonald
Foot placard in front of Forward Air Controllers Monument image. Click for full size.
Photographed by Mark Parker, July 4, 2024
4. Foot placard in front of Forward Air Controllers Monument
"Greater love had no man than this, that a man gave his life for his friends" John 15:13
• Michael J McGerty • Homer C McIntvre • Richard W Meacham Jr • Paul A Meiners • George B Menges • Robert K Milbrath • Herbert W Miller • John R Minutoli • Harold L Mischler • Donald A Mollicone • Dennis E Morgan • George W Morris Jr • John W Mower • Steven A Mueller • Carmen Muscara • John D Musgrove • Frank F Musick • X Quy Nguyen • V T Nguyen • Charles J Nolder • Arthur E Norman • Thomas W Norman • George H Norton • Edgar E Nuschke • Jose H Ortiz • Dan B Packard • Joseph E Parker Jr • Anthony J Pearson • Mark A Peterson • Jerry N Phillips • Leon J Perce • Jack C Plumb • Larry F Potts • John P Powell • Jerry W Pyle • Harley B Pyles • James L Ratliff • Marion E Reed • G David Reese III • Walter A Renelt • Robert F Rex • Lon D Richards • Victor Romero • Hal J Rowlett • Stephen C Ruby • Charles P Russell • Robert E Ryan • John L Ryder • John M Rydlewicz • Thomas A Sanders • William S Sanders • Albert F Sayer Jr • Griffin E Scarborough • William L Schultz • Uwe-Thorsten Scobel • Stephen R Scrivener • Douglas M Seeley • Jerry A Sellers • Dominic Sementelli • Rolland B Shubbuck
Forward Air Controllers Monument memorial bench image. Click for full size.
Photographed by Mark Parker, July 4, 2024
5. Forward Air Controllers Monument memorial bench
It is the lonely mission
The Forward Air Controller
His eyes are the eyes above the battle
He is the link to those below.

While others avoid and strike fast,
He lingers and irolls for contact,
Seeking out the enemy below,
Determining the strike force needed

His is the job to control the air attack
He determines the needs of ihe troops,
And works the airstrike margins.
His judgement is relied upon by all.

Watching a "FAC" roll in hot on target,
All guns blazing at his destruction,
Is to watch a man of courage in action.
This is the daily job of the "FAC".
Major John J. Duffy, DSC. US Army Special Forces, ret.
• Marlin L Siegwalt • Paul J Simon • William G Sipos • Winfield W Sisson • Wilbur A Skaar • Owen G Skinner • James L Smith • Lewis P Smith II • Norris R Smith • Warren P. Smith Jr • William W Smith • Herman.Smits Jr • Wilbur T Stair • Robert E Staley • Rodney H Stone • Ronald E Storz • Kennard E Svanoe • Richard C Swift • Charles F Swope • Hershall Tallent • Raymond Tanner • Roger L Teeter • Daniel W Thomas • Edmund F Thornell • Ronald E Tinsley • Thomas J Tolliver • Jerry W Toon • George H Tousley III • Timothy M Tucker • Willis G Uhls • John W Van de Venter • Harold R Vogel • Richard S Voigts • Michael S Vrablick • Bruce C Walker • Tim L Walters • George B Waring • Ralph R Wensinger • Richard L Whitesides • Michael E Widener • Ovid K Wiggins • Derex S Williams Jr • Paul R Windle • Thomas H Wolfe • William E Wood Jr • James C Woods • Robert F Woods • Karl E Worst • Mannifred Yates • David L Yoakum • Louis C Zucker • James H Zumbrun • Andrew Matyas

 
Erected 2008.
 
Topics. This monument and memorial is listed in these topic lists: Air & Space • War, Vietnam.
 
Location. 38° 49.641′ N,
Wide view Forward Air Controllers Monument image. Click for full size.
Photographed by Mark Parker, July 4, 2024
6. Wide view Forward Air Controllers Monument
Monument to the right, stationed NNW of the center Veterans Memorial in the background
104° 47.775′ W. Monument is in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in El Paso County. It is on Memorial Drive. Veterans Memorial is at Memorial Park. Entrance is on the east side from South Union Boulevard. Touch for map. Monument is at or near this postal address: Memorial Drive, Colorado Springs CO 80910, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this memorial monument is in Colorado’s Front Range and in Pikes Peak Region. It is also in the American Mountain West. Globally, it is in North America, the Rocky Mountains, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Comancherνa.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Misty (here, next to this marker); All Gave Some Some Gave All (a few steps from this marker); TACP (a few steps from this marker); The 89th Infantry Division (1942-1945) (a few steps from this marker); In Honor of Those from El Paso County (a few steps from this marker); In Pursuit of Peace (A La Poursuite de la Paix) (a few steps from this marker); 71st Infantry Division
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(within shouting distance of this marker); The Freedom Memorial (within shouting distance of this marker). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Colorado Springs.
 
More about this monument. To reach the marker, follow Memorial Drive around monuments until first large parking area to the left. This monument is NNW of the center Veterans Memorial near the Northwest walkway
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on July 21, 2024. It was originally submitted on July 20, 2024, by Mark Parker of Hickory, North Carolina. This page has been viewed 477 times since then and 56 times this year. Photos:   1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. submitted on July 20, 2024, by Mark Parker of Hickory, North Carolina. • Andrew Ruppenstein was the editor who published this page.

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Aug. 22, 2026