His friends completed the tree for him and dedicated it to Sergeant China Joe Nye. There's captains and majors and colonels and I assume they know what they are doing. He retired a first sergeant in June 1973, with twenty years service. He added a masters degree in Latin American studies to his M.A. I still have my leg, and I can walk on it. The ending of We Were Soldiers comes once Hal Moore makes the decision to call in Broken Arrow, a request for all available combat aircraft to attack enemy positions. The battle was the culmination of Operation Silver Bayonet I, a combined American-South Vietnamese offensive to relieve the . Crandall kept his helicopter on the ground in the line of enemy fire, so that four wounded soldiers could be loaded aboard. CANTU, Vincent, fifty-one, mortarman, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav, left the Ia Drang battlefield and immediately rotated home for discharge, two weeks late, in December 1965. Galen Bungum, left, and Joe F. Mackey, two of the unhurt survivors of Lt. Henry Herrick's Lost Platoon. Other donors to the fund are readers of the book from across America, Veterans, and supporters of the fund. He knew he had to get out of the clearing, so he started pulling himself along the ground using only his arms, when someone grabbed him and dragged him the rest of the way into the trees. "The main point that I try to get across when I speak to Soldiers, and this is what saved me, is the training," he said. He and Russell Adams are still best friends. GALLOWAY, Joe, fifty, war correspondent attached to the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry at X-Ray, served sixteen months in Vietnam on his first tour for United Press International, 1965-1966. Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. (U.S. Army), This strategy, as flawed as it was, had some potentiality of working, Wiest, the historian, said. Major Bruce P. Crandall's UH-1D helicopter climbs skyward after discharging a load of infantrymen on a search and destroy mission. It is based on the Battle for Landing Zone X-Ray, part of the Battle of Ia Drang, the first major battle of the Vietnam War. In 1946, Ho Chi Minh had warned the French, who were trying to restore control over their former protectorate, that you can kill 10 of my men for every one I kill of yours, yet even at those odds, you will lose and I will win.. Charlies foot was pinned in the wrecked cockpit when the white phosphorus target-marking rockets under the wings cooked off. KNOWLES, Richard, seventy-five, assistant division commander of the 1st Cavalry Division, served a second consecutive tour in Vietnam, commanded the 196th Light Infantry Brigade, and then was commanding general of Task Force Oregon (precursor to the American Division). 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. His primary job is helping communities located near Army chemical-weapons depots write their emergency-response plans. Recalling the aftermath of the fight, he said, 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. His last project on active duty was researching and writing a history of the all-black 24th Infantry Regiment during the Korean War. The majority of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, under the command of Lt. Col. Robert McDade, didnt enter the fight until X-Ray had already been relieved by Moore. Since completing her degrees, she has decided to take a step back from academia to focus her career on writing and sharing history in a more accessible way. He was the father of four children, aged twelve through twenty. This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. By the third day of the battle, the Americans had gained the upper hand. 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. Charlie Company took the brunt of the assault. His dissertation is on the LZ Albany battle. James T. Lawrence, a first lieutenant in the Battle of Ia Drang Valley, learned a lesson in leadership the hard way 50 years ago. Resend Activation Email. Gwin left the Army at the end of his ROTC commitment and went home to his native Boston, where he teaches and writes. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Basil Plumley is a grandfather now, kind and soft-spoken, but do not be deceived: He is the lion in winter. Spec. About 80 U.S. soldiers were killed, 124 wounded, in the first two days of the fight. Karen works part-time as a freelance designer and helps with her husbands construction and contracting business. For the last twenty-one years he has been in the tire business. It is laced with hard facts, observations, anger, sadness and even some humor. . Hal Moore ensured that all of the men came home, and they therefore did . He married in 1981 and is the father of four daughters: an eight-year-old, a five-year-old, and infant twins. Hear three personal perspectives from men who survived. After years of advising the South Vietnamese against the communist North, and months of chasing black-clad guerrillas, a large. Today he is an orchestra leader and serves in the state militia. He is partly paralyzed as a result of his terrible wound. He is the perennial master of ceremonies at the Ia Drang dinners; he claims he is the only one of the brothers who can get through an entire sentence without using the f-word. He and his wife and young son live in Lawndale, California. Although it was left out of We Were Soldiers, Albany was no less bloody than X-Ray. PAYNE, D. P. (Pat), fifty, recon-platoon leader, Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry in the Ia Drang, served two tours in Vietnam and left the Army as a captain in June 1969. By Trevor Arendall, July 9 . "To do it you've got to get up. The plane hit several tombstones and flipped over. (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. Nebraska, It was the first major combat action between U.S. ground forces and the North Vietnamese Army. Im so proud to have been there and so proud of the guys who were there with me. RIDDLE, Bill, fifty-two, artillery forward observer with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, completed his Army service in the summer of 1966. With only 700 effective soldiers left of the original 2,200, the 33d Regiment needed help. Major Bruce Crandalls UH-1D helicopter climbs skyward after discharging a load of infantrymen on a search and destroy mission in Ia Drang. After retiring from the Army, Freeman became the northwest area director of aircraft services for the U.S. Department of the Interior. Merchant retired a lieutenant colonel in 1982. Weve updated the security on the site. Mrs. Mapson is a member of the Columbus chapter of the 1st Cavalry Division Association. Baker, who was less than a foot away from me, was screaming that I was in charge and that I had to do something," he said. Five years ago he attended a reunion of Alpha Company veterans of LZ Albany. BARTHOLOMEW, Roger J. At a surprise fiftieth-birthday party for Ernie, he was presented a plaque engraved with sergeants stripes and inscribed with a message from Colonel (ret.) Rozanski returned to the Ia Drang five times on various intelligence missions and described the place as a cemetery. He was retired, disabled, as a major in the mid-1970s. CRANDALL, Bruce, fifty-nine, who commanded the helicopters in the Ia Drang Valley, returned to Vietnam for a second tour in 1967. Towles received a masters degree in history from Kent State in 1989, and is currently working on his doctorate. They have two grown children. He was chief of security at a hospital in Columbus, Georgia, until his death on April 18, 1992. His injured right hip deteriorated, and on the Thursday before Thanksgiving, 1986, he found himself back on an operating tablethe same place he had been on the Thursday before Thanksgiving, 1965. Georgia, SETELIN, John, forty-eight, squad leader, Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, left Vietnam with three Purple Hearts and left the Army a sergeant. Scott says: On the boat going to Vietnam I bet Plumley a case of beer I would be wounded first, and that I would be home for Christmas. He now lives in Dublin, New Hampshire, and works for a firm that sells office supplies. Surprisingly, Adams, Beck's buddy who was shot in the head, was among the. He was director of training development at Fort Benning when he retired as a colonel in 1983. At approximately noon,the North Vietnamese 33rd Regiment attacked. The vision of VVMF is to ensure a society in which all who have served and sacrificed in our nation's Armed Forces are properly honored and receive the recognition they justly deserve. We lived in tents. MICELI, Carmen, forty-eight, rifleman, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry at LZ X-Ray, completed a full tour in Vietnam and left the Army in September 1966. This account has been disabled. When I was down, men were running past me, swishing the elephant grass and speaking Vietnamese and executing the wounded. He spent more than 14 hours in the air andcompleted a total of 22 flights, most under intense enemy fire. 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 owns a property-management firm in Tampa, Florida. Jemison works part-time as a security guard in Columbus, Georgia, and he says: Each night I go back to Vietnam to fight that same battle, over and over.. They saved some 70 soldiers. I felt a flash of panic. A high school dropout, he went back to college, earned a B.A., and was working on an M.A. During a 14-hour period, Major Bruce Crandall and Captain Ed Freeman, repeatedly landed their helicopter under intense enemy fire at Landing Zone X-Ray. 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. Together, they flew in supplies, water, and ammunition needed for the troops. The idea was that whole battalions could be dropped and complete their mission on the ground, calling in artillery barrages, helicopter support, and bombing sorties (including . He is married and has two children. The problem was it had to be applied by a country that was much more willing for it to be applied for the long haul. LOSE, Charles R., the medic of the Lost Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, has dropped out of sight. He is a colonel and the provost marshal of the U.S. Army Forces Command (Forscom) in Atlanta, Georgia. Lt. Don Cornett along with 154 Troopers from 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment were killed in the Ia Drang Valley, Nov. 17, 1965, at a small clearing known as Landing Zone Albany. PARISH, Willard, fifty-one, mortarman in Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, who won the Silver Star for his work as a machine gunner in LZ X-Ray, was among the draftees who rotated home in December 1965 for discharge. USA, Fort Benning, VIERA, Arthur, Jr., forty-eight, an M-79 grenadier with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, survived the terrible wounds he suffered in X-Ray. SELLECK, Pat, fifty-one, radio operator, recon platoon, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry at X-Ray, was discharged from the Army on November 29, 1965, and returned to his old job at the telephone company. One infantry company began the day of Nov. 14 with 110 men. He returned to serve two more tours in Vietnamone with the Special Forces, one with an intelligence agency. After the Ia Drang campaign, Hastings was badly burned when the O-1E Bird Dog spotter plane he was piloting was shot down over the Mang Yang Pass and crash-landed in the old French Group Mobile 100 cemetery beside Route 19 on Christmas Eve 1965. The first major American direct fire conflict took place in November of 1965 in the Ia Drang Valley. Edwards is the acting borough manager of Dublin, Pennsylvania; he and his wife, Nancy, live in nearby New Hope. U.S. airpower lifted the siege and drove back the North Vietnamese. At the end of a year only fifteen of the original contingent were still there, Gwin included. The film follows the experiences of both Moore, portrayed by Mel Gibson, and his wife, Julia, played by Madeleine Stowe. He and his wife live in Phoenix, Arizona. Of Mrs. Mapsons five brothers, three served in the Army, one made a career in the Air Force, and one is a lawyer. FORREST, George, fifty-four, who commanded Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cav in the Ia Drang, retired a lieutenant colonel in 1980 after twenty-one 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 was forty-five. 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. 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. Too Tall Ed retired from that job on January 3, 1991. "The emotions are so high, the noise is tremendous, the confusion is everywhere; they had overrun us by now. This is the tale of the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam in 1965. They have two sons, one an oil-industry consultant, the other an Air Force sergeant who served in the Persian Gulf War. Some of the survivors broke into tears of relief. Of the 500 men, 150 were killed and only 84 were able to return to immediate duty. Moderate. Throughout the day, he changed helicopters after some were so badly damaged to stay in the air. Within an hour, they came under attack for the first time by North Vietnamese regulars, launching a four-day battle that killed hundreds of Americans and perhaps more than 1,000 Vietnamese and changed the course of the Vietnam War. He lives in Golden, Colorado, where he owns a firm that deals worldwide in antiques. After a North Vietnamese strike against the Special Forces camp at Plei Me, American forces deployed in an effort to destroy the attackers. BROWN, Thomas W. (Tim), seventy-three, the 3rd Brigade commander in the Ia Drang, retired a brigadier general in 1973, after thirty-plus years of service and a second tour in Vietnam, with two Silver Stars and two Bronze Stars from his three wars. He retired from the battlefield only after all possible service had been rendered to the infantry battalion. In Washington, Ia Drang convinced Johnson that he was in for a long, bloody war. Difficult. On February 26, 2007, President George W. Bush presented Crandall with the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Ia Drang Valley. In 1982, he joined U.S. News & World Report magazine. 5 memorials LTC Roger Jay Bartholomew 2 Nov 1932 - 27 Nov 1968 Westlawn-Hillcrest Memorial Park NADAL, Ramon A. On November 27, 1965, Diduryk wrote a detailed account of Bravo Companys actions at X-Ray for the ROTC students at his alma mater, St. Peters College in Jersey City, New Jersey. He underwent four operations on his shattered hip and then was shipped home for discharge on December 21, 1965, ten days overdue on his two-year hitch and judged fifty percent disabled. The Pleiku Campaign took place from 20 October to 26 . The Troopers of 2/7 Cav relieved their sister unit, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, on Nov. 16, following 1/7 Cav's three day battle with the People's Army of Vietnam near the base of the Chu Pong Massif. His personalized license plate proclaims: LZ X-Ray. The fighting continued for three hours. 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