Adopted POW Anthony J Pepper

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10/9/47 - 4/6/68

My name is Anthony John Pepper. I served with Golf Company 2/26, Third Marine Division at Khe Sanh. I was killed while serving my country and for whatever reason I was left behind with so many others. Please bring me home. I want to come home.

This page is dedicated to the memory of Anthony John Pepper. I have adopted Anthony through "Operation Just Cause" in an effort to help bring awareness to the 2,050 Americans from the VietNam war who are still unaccounted for.

Any information found on this page that you believe to be an error, please contact me at Email J C Boucher or Email John

From the information I have received Anthony was involved in Operation Pegasus and was stationed on or near Hill 558. He was one of approximately 27 members of Golf Company killed in action. Below is information I have received concerning the chronology of events that took place:

Apr 1 -: Operation PEGASUS begins; 2/1 and 2/3 (1st Marines) attack west from Ca Lu along Route 9. Elements of 3d Bde, 1st ACD conduct helo assaults into LZ Mike and Cates. Joint engineer task force begins repair of Route 9 from Ca Lu to Khe Sanh.
Apr 3 -: 2d Bde, 1st ACD assaults LZs Tom and Wharton.
Apr 4 -: 1/5 CavSqd moves northwest from LZ Wharton and attacks enemy units near old French fort; 1st Battalion, 9th Marines moves southeast from rock quarry and assaults Hill 471.
Apr 5 -: 1/9 repulses enemy counterattack on Hill 471 and kills 122 North Vietnamese. 1st Bde, 1st ACD departs Ca Lu and assaults LZ Snapper.
Apr 6 -: One company of 3d ARVN Airborne Task Force airlifted to KSCB for the initial link up with defenders. Elements of 2d Bde, 1st ACD relieve 1st Battalion, 9th Marines on Hill 471; 1/9 commences sweep to northwest toward Hill 689. 1st Bde, 1st ACD helilifted north of KSCB. 2/26 and 3/26 push north of combat base; Company G, 2/26 engages enemy force and kills 48 NVA.
Apr 8 -: 2/7 CavSqd links up with 26th Marines and conducts official relief of combat base. 1/26 attacks to the west. 3d ARVN Airborne Task Force air assaults into LZ Snake west of Khe Sanh and kills 78 North Vietnamese.
Apr 10 -: LtGen Rosson arrives Khe Sanh and directs LtGen Tolson to disengage and prepare for Operation DELAWARE in A Shau Valley.

The Forgotten Hero

An old veteran walked down the street
Smiling and waving to all he did meet

No one returned his wave or his smile
They knew he would be gone after a while

His uniform was old, but clean and neat
He took pride in his looks, but had little to eat

The limp he had with each weary step
Was from a mortar in a foxhole as he slept

He left one foot in that land far away
And no one seemed to care to this very day

Was it on the Normandy beach on that awful day
Or maybe on a ship in Pearl Harbor Bay

Or the Colmar Pocket in southern France
When everyone said "we don't have a chance"

You see, he is a veteran, the forgotten man
He has seen it all from Europe to Saipan

So now he is in the autumn of his life
In his mind he can hear the drum and the fife

He stops, and there, waving in the breeze
Though not a leaf was stirring in any of the trees

The Stars and Stripes was billowing out above
He saluted, and left with his heart full of love

He limped away with a tear in his eye
He had come full circle, he was ready to die

And that's the story, not of one man
But of all who fought to save our fair land

So it seems very fitting on this Veteran's Day
To pay tribute to all that were in harms way

They were so young, they were so brave
They didn't deserve to go to an early grave

They gave their all on the battlefield
So all who came later had a chance to live

The people that ignored him on that city street
Wondered aloud about this man they did meet

When they saw Old Glory waving with no wind
They wanted to see that old veteran again

They turned to tell him they had been wrong
But they were too late, the old man was gone

No one ever saw that old man again
He had disappeared in the cold winter rain

And that's what's happening to our heroes of war
Soon they will all be gone to that heavenly shore

So dodge the draft or burn your flag
But don't mess with a vet with only one leg

He has seen it all, he's not afraid anymore
He's been through the Hell they call war

Being a coward or a hero is up to you
As for me, I fought for the "Red, White and Blue".

Written by D. L. Williams ©

Mr. Williams served in the Army and fought in the Battle of the Bulge.

I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young soldier saluted it,
and then he stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform.
He was so young, so proud.
With hair cut square and eyes alert,
a standout in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?
How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many ships at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?

No--Freedom isn't free!

I heard the sound of taps one night,
When everything was still.
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
that taps had meant "Amen"
When a flag had draped a coffin
of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
of all the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons, and husbands
with interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard
at the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington,

No---Freedom isn't free.