2nd Platoon, C Company, 4th/47th, 2nd Brigade Long An Province – July 11, 1967
Janice Pattillo discovered thevirtualwall.org and placed this Memorial to her cousin.
November 18, 2002
My name is Janice KING Pattillo.
Harold Wayne King is my First Cousin.
Our fathers were brothers.
I can not believe after all these years I have stumbled on this site and found out what happened to my cousin.
This is like a gift from God – all these years and now I know.
It has always broken my heart that Wayne died so young and for nothing.
Old men send young men to die.
Wayne is buried on a hillside in a country church cemetery in his beloved Virginia by his little sister and parents, his grand parents and uncles and aunts and cousins.
I still see that young teenager driving past my childhood home in Virginia, waving and that beautiful shy smile.
God Bless his soul and the other brave soldiers who died that day.
So far from home and thinking of their loved ones. How my heart breaks for Wayne and all that could have been – a wedding, children and grandchildren – dreams that died in a rice paddy – so far from the beautiful hills of Virginia. A young handsome cousin who felt he would never come home walks up the steps and boards his plane – never looking back – on his journey to eternity — Wayne, I love you and tears fall for you as you remain always young and we left behind, now graying.
“IN REMEMBERING, WE KEEP WHAT IS BEST AS TREASURES FOREVER” – YOU WERE THE BEST, MY DEAR COUSIN.
THANK YOU FOR THIS SITE
GOD BLESS YOU FOR NOT FORGETTING
and creating this site that has shown light for Wayne’s family on the details of his death.
Another young man on visits to the hills of Virginia throughout his twenty-four years, visting the cemetery learned of a cousin he never knew. My son, Michael Pattillo, also lies in a cemetery now. And, Michael and Wayne are together for eternity. Wayne’s elderly Mother joined Wayne in 2002, for those who knew Wayne.
From Wayne’s first cousin,
Janice KING Pattillo
1158 Woodland Circle, Lawrenceville, Ga. 30043
Jspattillo1@aol.com
Letter to Bill Reynolds
From Tammy King Simpson, September 3, 2012
My uncle was Harold King who passed away on July 11, 1967. My name is Tammy King Simpson and I want to thank you for the letter that was posted with the memorial of my uncle. My cousins and I always wondered what happen to him he was always spoken very highly of by his brothers, but they never talked about his death or his time in service. My family always called him Wayne by his middle name. My dad was less than 2 years older than Wayne and was very close to him. My mother said a fellow soldier that was with him called a few years ago and they also received a letter of a reunion,
but my daddy was unable to talk about it or respond to the letter. Mom said she spoke with a gentleman, maybe you I don’t know about what happen to him.
I have been lucky to have grown up in a close net family and all of Wayne’s brothers have continued to run the family farm that they grew up on here in the mountains of Floyd, Virginia. The farm still has my grandmother’s house where they all grew up. My brother, my cousins, and I worked many afternoons after school and summers together with our Dads on the farm so we heard lots of stories about Wayne when they were growing up. My cousins and I use to sneak upstairs in my grandmother’s house and look at Wayne’s uniform and metals, but we never asked about his time in the service because everyone would get quiet, change the subject, or cry. I am crying now writing this e-mail to you, but my family appreciates your posting on the website. So many families had love ones MIA, so I feel at least we had the closer of bringing him home.
I work at the Veterans Hospital in Salem, Virginia, so this website really hits home in many ways for me. I have shared it with some of my co-worker so we can be reminded again of the sacrifice so many of you made for our country. Everyday I go to work I try to remember my uncle and that one of my patients could be someone else’s family member.
Thank you so much for all you have done. You have my deepest respect.
God bless you and take care,
Tammy King Simpson
