ANTHONY J. PEPPER USMC HAS BEEN REPORTED AS MISSING IN ACTION SINCE 6 APRIL 1968. HIS UNIT WAS ENGAGED IN AN ASSAULT ON A HOSTILE POSITION NEAR HILL 861 WEST OF KHE SANH, QUANG TRI PROVINCE, REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM DURING THE HOURS OF 11:00 AM TO 6:00 PM. THE COMPANY WITHDREW AT 6:00 PM AFTER BEING UNABLE TO REGAIN THE HILL. UPON COMPLETION OF THE WITHDRAWAL, YOUR SON COULD NOT BE LOCATED.
How can it be that 43 years has passed since my one and only brother went missing in Vietnam? I awake this morning to trees budding out, their lofty branches filled with robins joyfully proclaiming their gratefulness for this day. So much beauty to behold, everything coming to life, unfurling, blooming, growing and I remember my brother who was taken from us and from forty-three consecutive springs. 43 springs, 43 summers, 43 winters and 43 falls. But it is in the spring that I remember him the most. When daffodils pop their heads up in soft green grass and wave in a gentle breeze, I think of the hill where he fell in Vietnam, of the soft waving rice now growing there, and I wonder if he will ever be found.
I remember what my father always said:
Hope Springs Eternal
and feel that we will one day locate him and bring him home.
