He spent thirty-two months in the hospital recovering from the wounds he suffered in LZ X-Ray. "Back then Stars and Stripes would carry the casualty reports and I had a red pen and started checking off the names of guys I knew who were listed as KIA. The "Lost Platoon," led by Lt. Henry T. Herrick, became separated from the rest of Lt. Col. Harold G. "Hal" Moore's battalion at the start of the battle of Ia Drang on Nov. 14, 1965. The training kicks in and can save you.". Their mission was to find and kill the enemy. About 80 U.S. soldiers were killed, 124 wounded, in the first two days of the fight. HOWARD, John, fifty-four, medical-services officer, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cav in the Ia Drang, retired a lieutenant colonel in 1983, after twenty-five years service. SCOTT, James A., sixty-nine, the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalrys sergeant major, served a second Vietnam tour in 1970-71 as command sergeant major, USARV Scott retired as a command sergeant major on May 1, 1973, after thirty years, ten months, and twenty days of service, wearing the Combat Infantrymans Badge with one star; six Bronze Stars; three Purple Hearts; a European Campaign ribbon with four battle stars and one invasion arrow; a Korean Service ribbon with two battle stars; a Vietnam Service ribbon with four battle stars; and the Presidential Unit Citation badge. He and his wife, Kornelia, live in Columbus, Georgia, where for several years Scott taught military subjects to Junior ROTC in the high schools. Finally, after 10 months, had some makeshift buildings. KENNEDY, Glenn F., first sergeant, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, was killed in action on May 6, 1966, during Operation Davy Crockett in the Bong Son plain. During his two tours in Vietnam, Crandall flew lead ship on 756 separate missions. Before the Battle of la Drang was over, 305 Americans had been killed along with an estimated 2,000 North Vietnamese troops. He and his wife, Theresa, live on a farm in northern Virginia with their sons Lee, fifteen, and Joshua, twelve. They have four children and three grandchildren. LOSE, Charles R., the medic of the Lost Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, has dropped out of sight. George Nye was a sparkplug of Operation Welcome Home, which brought veterans groups, brass bands, and Bangor townsfolk to the airport by the hundreds to hug and shake hands with the Desert Storm veterans. Alex Kolyer for MPR News On this Veterans Day,. (U.S. Army), This strategy, as flawed as it was, had some potentiality of working, Wiest, the historian, said. In addition, they were exhausted from the fight at X-Ray, so it was easy for hundreds of NVA troops to sneak up and launch an attack. All Rights Reserved. At 4:00 AM this morning, Command Sergeant Major Basil L. Plumley of the U.S. Army's 1 st Battalion, 7 th Cavalry Regiment, died. "The fear factor, when you know someone is within yards of you and is trying to kill you desperately, the fear factor can shut you down. This operation responded to the NVA attack on an American . Weve updated the security on the site. There is a problem with your email/password. You can always change this later in your Account settings. Crandall continued to fly into and out of the landing zone throughout the day and into the evening. JEKEL, Alex (Pop), seventy, Huey pilot in X-Ray and Albany, retired in the late 1960s as a chief warrant officer-4. SAVAGE, Ernie, forty-eight, the fourth man to inherit command of Lieutenant Henry Herricks 2nd Platoon, the Lost Platoon of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry at LZ X-Ray, retired a sergeant first class in 1982 after twenty years active duty. Then he somehow managed to crawl away, saying that he was going to organize the troops. Lt. Col. Hal Moores 1stBattalion, 7thCalvary wasordered to take on an air assaultin the Ia Drang Valley. The mission of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) is to honor and preserve the legacy of service and educate all generations about the impact of the Vietnam War. I ask that question every day. He is now a financial officer with the U.S. The Battle of Ia Drang was the first major engagement during the Vietnam War, between members of the U.S. Army and the Peoples Army of North Vietnam. They had this Learning to be a Teacher program; I tried it and loved it. Due to a statute of limitations being lifted, Freeman was awarded the Medal of Honor on July 16, 2001. In his spare time Wal-lenius draws, paints, and does etchings and prints, sometimes of Vietnam War scenes. Alley is general manager of a box factory in Dayton, Tennessee. If you have questions, please contact [emailprotected]. He is partly paralyzed as a result of his terrible wound. They have a son and two daughters. YOUNG, James, fifty-one, rifleman, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry in LZ Albany, made it home to the family farm outside Keysville, Missouri, on Christmas Eve, 1965, with an Army discharge in his pocket and a quarter-size hole in the side of his skull. A native of Mendenhall, Mississippi, Kennedy was thirty-one years old at the time of his death. This is the tale of the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam in 1965. He was forty-five. The North Vietnamese regulars and Viet Cong guerrillas absorbed even higher casualties from better-equipped American troops on the ground as well as helicopter gunships and B-52s raining bombs, bullets and napalm. Freeman won a battlefield commission in the Korean War. DIDURYK, Myron F., commander of Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cav in LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany, completed his tour in Vietnam with Bravo Company in 1966, and later returned to Vietnam and the 1st Air Cavalry Division as a major. HASTINGS, Charlie W., fifty-three, forward air controller at LZ X-Ray, retired as a colonel from the U.S. Air Force on March 1, 1992, after thirty years service. They are stories that not only serve to maintain our connection with history, but also educate us and force us to confront the good and the bad and learn from it. Book Sources: The Battle of Ia Drang Valley We were soldiers once -and young : Ia Drang, the battle that changed the war in Vietnam by Ha Moore; Joseph Galloway Call Number: Boca Raton General Collection DS557.8.I18 M66 1992 ISBN: 0679411585 Publication Date: 1992-10-20 Everyman in Vietnam by Michael Adas; Joseph J. Gilch The day before he died, George picked up a Christmas tree, which he planned to decorate with yellow ribbons and small American flags for the airport terminal; soldiers from the Gulf were still arriving and he didnt want them to think they had been forgotten. OUELLETTE, Robert, fifty, battalion commanders radio operator in LZ X-Ray, left the Army in August 1966. The North Vietnamese attempt one final attack, but are soon overrun and ordered to evacuate the headquarters they took only a few days prior. MCDONALD, George J., fifty-two, mortarman, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, left the Army in 1966 and went home to Pass Christian, Mississippi, where he is a commercial fisherman. He retired a major in 1980, after twenty years service. Outnumbered when they arrive, the men are forced to fight for their lives while eliminating the 4,000-strong North Vietnamese force. In January 1991, General H. Norman Schwarzkopf summoned the reporter to his headquarters in Saudi Arabia and said: Im sending you to the commander out here who is most like General Hal Moore, and the division which has the most challenging and dangerous mission in my battle plan. Galloway rode with then-Major General Barry McCaffrey and the 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) on a hair-raising tank charge through the western Iraq desert to the Euphrates River valley. 'The torture stopped': 1969 brought temporary changes to infamous Hanoi Hilton, Patriotism or protest? Knowles retired from the Army in 1974 as a lieutenant general. He is a master gunsmith and runs his own business repairing and selling weapons. His twelve-year-old granddaughter recently interviewed Ray about his experiences in Vietnam and wrote a school essay she titled: My Grandfather: An American Hero.. This battle took place from 11-14-1965, thru 11-18-1965. KEETON, James, fifty-nine, battalion aid station medic, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, served a second tour in Vietnam with an adviser group. I think this battle pushes Johnson further into Westmorelands corner. 1st Lt. Donald Cornett at his base camp in Vietnam, shortly before the battle of Landing Zone Albany where he was killed in action, Nov. 17, 1965. HERREN, John, fifty-eight, commander of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav, served a second tour in Vietnam as a staff officer at MACV/Saigon, was a battalion commander in Germany, and served in the office of the secretary of defense until his retirement in 1985 as a colonel. (Tony), fifty-six, commander of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, later earned a masters degree in psychology and taught at West Point and at the Army War College. In the spring of 1992, Frank Henry was posthumously inducted into the Army Aviation Hall of Fame. It featured a question-and-answer session with some of the battle's key players, including retired Lt. Gen. Hal Moore. Mindful of the effects of propaganda, each side declared victory. To the Americans, the battle validated their new airmobile strategy using helicopters to move troops quickly into remote jungle areas often without roads and inflict heavy casualties by airpower and artillery. Advisory Group, Pleiku. Both were present at the Battle of Ia Drang, the first large-scale engagement of the Vietnam War. Returning home, he single-handedly raised his two young children while earning two masters degrees. Vince Cantu never went back to his music. He lives in Olympia, Washington, and works for the state government. Easy. Five years ago he attended a reunion of Alpha Company veterans of LZ Albany. Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Harold Moore led the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, against numerically superior elements of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) led by General Chu Huy Man (Builder et al., 1999). To me that seems proper, and just, and so right.. GEOGHEGAN, Camille, twenty-seven, daughter of Lieutenant John Lance (Jack) Geoghegan, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav, killed in action November 15, 1965, is a human resources specialist at a company in McLean, Virginia. The Ia Drang Valley is the place the U.S. really went to warfare. To replenish his battered forces, the North Vietnamese commander ordered the 2,000 soldiers of his reserve regiment, the 66th, forward from its staging area in Cambodia into the Ia Drang valley. Some of the survivors broke into tears of relief. In March 1991 he found a new purpose in life: meeting the chartered airliners touching down at Bangor International Airport, the first American landfall, bringing American soldiers home from the Persian Gulf. Today he is an orchestra leader and serves in the state militia. Her daughter, Camille, was soon joined by a brother, Robert, and a sister, Barbara. LARSEN, Stanley R. (Swede), seventy-seven, commanding general, II Field Force Vietnam, retired a lieutenant general in 1972 and for seven years was president of a large company in San Francisco. More than anything else in the world I would like to be back in the Green Machine, he says. WHITESIDE, Jerry E., fifty-five, fire-support coordinator in LZ X-Ray, served a second tour in Vietnam as an adviser. Cash served a second tour in Vietnam as an adviser to the Royal Thai Army forces. After years of advising the South Vietnamese against the communist North, and months of chasing black-clad guerrillas, a large formation of American troops faced well-trained, well-equipped regulars of the Peoples Army of Vietnam. After a North Vietnamese strike against the Special Forces camp at Plei Me, American forces deployed in an effort to destroy the attackers. Theres a lot of pain but at least I lived. Jeanette says: When I was in the hospital in 1966, I was down in the doldrums, feeling sorry, and they tried to nudge me out of that. Assigned as the operations officer of the 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry, Diduryk was killed in action on April 24, 1970, in a Huey helicopter at an abandoned fire base near the Cambodian border. He retired in August 1990, and now lives in Peekskill, New York. Early Ia Drang Valley 1965 KIA group - 2/8 Calavary - LZ Cavalair Early Ia Drang Valley 1965 KIA group - 2/8 Calavary - LZ Cavalair. Photo extracted from U.S. Army motion picture footage from November 1965. The XO was going fast. NADAL, Ramon A. Although survivors had been trickling in during the morning they thought the 2/7th had been annihilated in the fighting at Albany. It was Nov. 15, 1965, in the valley of the Ia Drang in the wild mountains of the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. The former arrives in Vietnam in November 1965, and, soon after, is tasked with leading his 400 men in an effort to take out the enemy troops who attacked one of the bases in the Ia Drang Valley. He and his wife live in Lake Forest, Illinois. It wasnt until Albany was back in American hands that the engagement officially drew to a close. The men were still in an administrative maneuver, so when the word to halt came they plopped down where they were. in history. This resulted in the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley, a forested area just east of the Chu Pong massif, from 23 October to 20 November. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency: Ia Drang Valley Incident. TOWLES, Robert, forty-seven, rifleman, Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, spent five months in Valley Forge General Hospital in Pennsylvania, recovering from twenty-eight shrapnel wounds he received at LZ Albany. MARUHNICH, John, sixty-two, mortar sergeant, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry in LZ X-Ray, retired a sergeant first class in 1974 with twenty-four years service. She and her husband live in Annandale, Virginia. The North Vietnamese forces had succeeded in engaging the U.S. forces in very tight quarters. Among the many survivors of the ambush was 1st Lt. Rick Rescorla, a platoon chief who died Sept. 11, 2001, rescuing individuals from the World Commerce Heart's south tower till it crashed round him. CASH, John, fifty-six, assistant operations officer in 3rd Brigade Headquarters, later commanded a rifle company in the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry for more than six months in 1966. The survivors of the Ia Drang on November 14, 1965 to Nov 1965 on Nov. 14 with men. Box 159 Tully retired a colonel in 1976. James Lawrence, a 77 year-old Vietnam veteran from Alabama, tells people about his best friend and the battle he died in whenever he gets the chance. Major Bruce Crandalls UH-1D helicopter climbs skyward after discharging a load of infantrymen on a search and destroy mission in Ia Drang. The following day, both battalions were informed of an incoming bomber run on LZ X-Ray, meaning they needed to go elsewhere. They were platoon leaders together in the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. Moore is the last to leave, refusing to do so until every man living and dead has left. Temperatures reached 100 degrees, and by the afternoon there was a firestorm battle for survival. Each side realized it was fighting a war of attrition. When someone shook me and tried to get me moving I was actually offended. His personalized license plate proclaims: LZ X-Ray. Very difficult. In 1974 he transferred from the infantry to the military police. Controlling the central highlands would enable the North Vietnamese to cut the south in two and separate South Vietnams northern cities of Hue and Da Nang from the capital, Saigon, to the south. This article was originally published Nov. 11, 2015, as part of the Vietnam at 50 project. Jeanette spent the better part of a year in a military hospital while his shattered leg was repaired. Background. ADAMS, Warren, sixty-two, first sergeant, Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav in the Ia Drang, retired in 1968 as the best-educated command sergeant major in the Army. Muscogee County, The battle was later dramatized in the film We Were Soldiers. Companies C and D took the brunt of the Communist attack, and most of the men were quickly hit. Linda Carole Mustion has not added any memorials to this virtual cemetery. Freeman reconstituted the unit and led it back up Pork Chop. He joined IBM as a salesman in Austin, Texas, and spent twenty years with them, rising to the post of Midwestern regional manager. It was a small football size clearing for the first helicopters to be used in combat. Merchant retired a lieutenant colonel in 1982. He retired a first sergeant in June 1973, with twenty years service. Although it was left out of We Were Soldiers, Albany was no less bloody than X-Ray. Lawrence's story is one that he has told so often to so many people that it is fluid and impactful without being rehearsed. AINSWORTH, Hank, fifty-four, who flew the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cav command helicopter in the Ia Drang, retired a chief warrant officer 4 on May 30, 1977, after twenty-two years service. He is married and has four children. Major Bruce Crandall made over 20 flights into intense enemy fire during a battle in the Ia Drang Valley, South Vietnam, in November 1965, evacuating 70 wounded and delivering ammunition. Between the Army and the Interior Department, Freeman logged a total of seventeen thousand hours flying time in helicopters and eight thousand hours in fixed wing. He works at Fort Benning, Georgia, evaluating Army Reserve training. The real life Battle of Ia Drang took place between November 14-19, 1965. At the end of a year only fifteen of the original contingent were still there, Gwin included. They were unaware that two battalions of fresh PAVN soldiers had been camped out along the Ia Drang River on the other side of the landing zone. (U.S. Army). Why I wasn't killed, I couldn't say.". THORPE, Henry, fifty-eight, commander, Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry in the Ia Drang, left the Army as a captain in September 1967, after eight years service, and went home to his native North Carolina. No one pulled security. Although each survivor's story is unique, they all carry the same lessons. (AP Photo) A wounded American soldier is aided to a helicopter for evacuation from Ia Drang Valley area, near Plei Me, Vietnam, November 18, 1965. KOMICH, Leland C., fifty-two, Huey pilot with Bravo Company 229th in X-Ray and Albany, retired a chief warrant officer-4 with more than twenty years service. One killed, 15 injured after clashes erupt at Afghan border again December 16, 2022. It wasn't until about two weeks later, as he read Stars and Stripes, that it hit him what he had survived. He and his wife, Deurice, live in Columbus, Georgia, where he is president of the 1st Cavalry Division Association local chapter and an occasional quail hunter. He and his wife and their four Saint Bernard dogs live in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He lives in Golden, Colorado, where he owns a firm that deals worldwide in antiques. It was fifty-five years ago on November 14, 1965, the First Cavalry Division commanded by Lt. Col. Hal Moore landed in the Ia (pronounced Eye) Drang Valley, South Vietnam. It was much bigger than what we had seen before against a much more tenacious enemy, Wiest said of the battle. When I was down, men were running past me, swishing the elephant grass and speaking Vietnamese and executing the wounded. That all would change when the First Cavalry Air Mobile Division flew into the Ia Drang Valley in the central highlands of South Vietnam. Rescorla kept the battered French Army bugle he captured on the field at Albany; in 1991 he turned it over to the Ia Drang Alumni for use in memorial ceremonies. Word reached the battalion traveling to Columbus, who sent Bravo Company back to Albany to serve as reinforcements. He was evacuated, via Clark Field, to Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver. Savage and the 22-year-old medic, Sp5. His friend, James Lawrence, speaks with organizations and Soldiers about the lessons learned from the Army engineer recognized for exemplary work in obsolescence management, Norway adds top-tier military experience to State Partnership Program, Army's Environmental Restoration Program revitalizes contaminated lands, Army Lt. Col. Adams: A pioneer worthy of commemoration, US and UAE soldiers train together at Joint Readiness Training Center, Unified network operations underpins Army's digital transformation, SMA plans to reward Soldiers who meet rising standards. He has written a book about his experiences and has spoken more than 20 times to veterans organizations, junior high and high school students, and civic groups. Major Bruce P. Crandall's UH-1D helicopter climbs skyward after discharging a load of infantrymen on a search and destroy mission. "The XO let out a low moan, and his head sank. He retired a lieutenant colonel in 1977, and lives with his wife in Arlington, Texas. WALLENIUS, Jon, forty-nine, mortar observer, Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry in LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany, got out of the Army in August 1966. In the same way, the story of his experiences at LZ Albany is a story that could be told by the nearly 400 Troopers of 2/7 Cav who fought and died at LZ Albany, or the 1/7 Cav Troopers at LZ X-ray or the more than 2.6 million US personnel who served in Vietnam. Surprisingly, Adams, Beck's buddy who was shot in the head, was among the. Crandall kept his helicopter on the ground in the line of enemy fire, so that four wounded soldiers could be loaded aboard. It had been a small undeclared war mainly fought by South Vietnamese troops with a few U.S. advisers in the mix, sometimes on the ground, sometimes in helicopters, said Andrew Wiest, a history professor at the University of Southern Mississippi and the founding director of its Dale Center for the Study of War and Society. Photo extracted from U.S. Army motion picture footage from November 1965. He shares this message with the groups he speaks to, but being able to impart some wisdom and knowledge from his experiences to Soldiers is special to him, because for him it is an opportunity to maybe bring a Soldier home safely.
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