1) Tribute: Camaraderie in the Corps,1968 - What Grunts Looked for in a Leader. The period from June 1967 thru June 1968 was a brutal time for rifle battalions in the Third Marine Division.

2) Casualty rates soared, frontline ground units could not replace killed and wounded officer's and NCO's quickly enough. Sergeants sometimes led half-strength platoons. Squads often consisted of a handful of grunts.

3) The Tet Offensive made it clear the war would not end anytime soon. Still the companies and battalions fought on, the esprit de corps high. Camaraderie and respect between junior officers and enlisted Marines endured.

4) The relationship of two highly respected Marines who fell in combat during this period, an infantry 2nd Lieutenant and an enlisted rifleman, served as one example.

5) Lt. Robert Burns commander of First Platoon, Mike Company, Third Battalion, Fourth Marines, was killed three months into his tour in a major battle with the North Vietnamese Army on Mike's Hill, off Route 9 near Camp Carroll, on 27 January 1968.

6) Lieutenant Burns was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for Valor just nine days earlier while commanding his platoon in action against the enemy near the embattled Con Thien Marine Base.

7) Lance Corporal Richard Murphy, who served under 2nd Lieutenant Burns was wounded at Mike's Hill and medevacued to the Hospital Ship USS Sanctuary. There he wrote his family describing Lt. Burns.

8) It's eloquently clear the high regard LCpl Murphy held for 2nd Lt. Burns and what grunts valued in junior officers. "You don't know how much i hate these communists (especially for killing Lieutenant Burns) Lt. Burns was a little guy with a big moustache.

9) He really knew his stuff and never harassed the troops. He tried to get us everything he could. When things got tense, he never lost his cool. By staying calm himself, it helped us not to freeze up in a fight situation.

10) In a firefight, Lt. Burns would disregard his own personal safety to see that we all had cover. "He used to say to me, 'Murph, when are those cigars getting here?' He smoked cigars and i told him i had some in the mail."

11) On 10 April 1968, recovered from his wounds and now back with Mike Company, Murphy wrote, "We passed Mike's Hill on the way to the Rockpile. I had a feeling of pride as if i heard the Marines Hymn. Most of us were quiet as we passed Mike's Hill.

12) I said a silent prayer to Lt. Burns and my other friends that gave their lives that day". Lance Corporal Murphy would have his life taken on 15 June in a major battle against a numerically superior NVA assault force on his battalion's perimeter on Hill 658 near Khe Sanh.

13) Over the years, friends and family of Lt. Burns and LCpl Murphy would leave tributes to their memory on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Wall of Faces. Rest in Peace.