In November, troops would take on North Vietnamese regulars for the first time in the Battle of Ia Drang Valley. In Vietnam, it never got any worse than it did in the Ia Drang, a distant valley in the Central Highlands, tangled in elephant grass and simmering in heat. 3 /5. Shortly after the battalion set out, the North Vietnamese sprang a massive ambush. Georgia, American officials declared the Battle of the la Drang Valley a victory. 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. I think McNamara knew, deep down; I think Johnson knew, Wiest said. It is republished unedited in its original form. 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.. Spc. They have four children and five grandchildren. He and Russell Adams are still best friends. LZ Albany is essentially two clearings with a large copse of trees in the middle. Lawrence and Cornett were roommates at Infantry Officer Basic School, roommates in jump school and on the ship together that brought them to Vietnam. James Lawrence, one of the men who fought at LZ Albany, later recounted his experiences. CARRARA, Robert J., fifty-four, battalion surgeon of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cav in LZ X-Ray, served eleven months in Vietnam and was discharged in July 1966. It wasn't until about two weeks later, as he read Stars and Stripes, that it hit him what he had survived. He earned a doctorate in education and is personnel director for the Cooperative Extension Service at the University of Georgia in Athens. She is an active member of Sons and Daughters in Touch, an organization sponsored by the Friends of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. You've got to be in command and as I was on the way up, with my helmet strapped on, a North Vietnamese soldier in a tree put two bullet holes right through my helmet.". We . This is the tale of the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam in 1965. 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. When I go to the wall, I see Don Cornett's name 58,000 times.'. Weve updated the security on the site. Spec. 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. The Battle of Ia Drang Valley was a series of engagements between the U.S 1st Cavalry Division and the B-3 front, North Vietnamese Army. He is partly paralyzed as a result of his terrible wound. We Were Soldiers is based on the novel, We Were Soldiers Once and Young: Ia Drang The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam, by renowned war correspondent Joe Galloway and Lt. Gen. Hal Moore. God rest you, George. This praise is largely due to the heavy emphasis director Randall Wallace put on ensuring what he created was as accurate to the real events of the Battle of Ia Drang as possible. He accepted, I won, but he only recently began paying offone bottle at a time. Plumley says, Scott is so tight with a dollar youd think he came out of West Point.. 4 Oscar E . USA, Mendenhall, He was in a great deal of pain, so a rifleman named Wilson and I removed his gear as best we could, and I bandaged his wound. They didnt discover I was a doctor until the day I was dischargedwhen I had a long talk with them about treating their patients like pieces of meat. He was discharged in November 1966, and wound up in Boston in 1981. Many did a second tour and others left the service and returned home to their families. Lessons in leadership, in the importance of training, in courage, in sacrifice and in loss. The losses at Ia Drang prompted the North Vietnamese to rethink their plan to confront U.S. forces with large, conventional formations, reverting to hit-and-run attacks where U.S. air and artillery power was less effective. He is assistant principal of a public high school in the Bronx. The men, women, and children of this story are Americas neighbors, living quiet lives in every corner of the nation they served. He says he did a lot of praying during the Persian Gulf War, when his son, his brother, and his old friend Galloway were all on the battlefield. This battle took place from 11-14-1965, thru 11-18-1965. He assumed that like the French, the Americans would tire of seeing their young men coming home in body bags. 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 . 311 memorials The XO had been hit in the small of the back. Resend Activation Email, Please check the I'm not a robot checkbox, If you want to be a Photo Volunteer you must enter a ZIP Code or select your location on the map. Poley, a bachelor, lives alone on his farm outside Ackley, Iowa, and in a 1990 letter explained himself far better than we could: Some might ask why havent I forgotten about Vietnam after all these years. Winkel and his wife live in Springfield, Virginia. Each option, he warned, had a good chance of leading to a stalemate. The Air Mobile Division was a new concept. KLUGE, Fred J., fifty-nine, platoon sergeant, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry in Albany, retired in 1973, as a first sergeant, after a total of twenty-two years service. 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. He still grows soybeans and corn on the farm in his spare time. SUGDINIS, Joel E., fifty-five, who had already served one tour in Vietnam as an adviser, completed his second tour with Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry. James T. Lawrence, a first lieutenant in the Battle of Ia Drang Valley, learned a lesson in leadership the hard way 50 years ago. Mrs. Mapson is a member of the Columbus chapter of the 1st Cavalry Division Association. Her research focused on military, environmental, and Canadian history with a specific focus on the Second World War. Becoming a Find a Grave member is fast, easy and FREE. Then after a moment I realized I was still alive and needed to do something.". The . POLEY, Clinton, forty-eight, assistant machine gunner, 2nd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry in the Ia Drang, was discharged from Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver, Colorado, early in 1966, and went home to Iowa and the family farm. MCDADE, Robert, seventy, who commanded the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry in the Ia Drang, retired a colonel in 1975. Freeman won a battlefield commission in the Korean War. RESCORLA, Cyril R. (Rick), fifty-three, platoon leader, Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry in the Ia Drang, completed a full tour with Bravo Company in Vietnam and did another year teaching at Officer Candidate School in the States. He single-handedly raised five young children and earned a doctorate, retiring a lieutenant colonel after twenty years service. DEAL, Dennis, fifty, platoon leader, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav in the Ia Drang, left the Army as a captain in 1968 and returned to his native Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 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 fighting continued all day and into the night with the enemy relentlessly making assault after assault. Douglas County, His hands were burned in the escape from the wreckage, and it was doubted that he would ever fly again. 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. USA, West Point, The only question was which side could outlast the other. based on information from your browser. Companies C and D took the brunt of the Communist attack, and most of the men were quickly hit. They were promoted to first lieutenants at the same time and both became executive officers on the same day, Lawrence with Delta Company and Cornett with Charlie. "The way it was presented, at least from my perspective, was we were making an administrative move to be airlifted out so we wouldn't be in the way of the bombers.". Still on active duty, he is a major general, and is deputy to the Army inspector-general. Val Kilmer Accidentally Landed Matthew Modine the Starring Role in Full Metal Jacket. 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. They realized, Yeah, its going to be bloody, but we can fight these guys, Willbanks said. The Battle of Ia Drang Valley, fought November 14th-18th, 1965, was the first major engagement between the United States Army and the People's Army of Vietnam (abbreviated as PAVN). He works for a consulting firm in McLean, Virginia. After LZ Albany, Thorpe requested a transfer from his company command to the division public-information office and finished his tour as an escort officer for visiting press and VIPs. Karen works part-time as a freelance designer and helps with her husbands construction and contracting business. But the battle's true toll would prove to be the hubris it bred in U.S. commanders. Finally, after 10 months, had some makeshift buildings. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial stands as a symbol of America's honor and recognition of the men and women who served and sacrificed their lives in the Vietnam War. On his chest he wore the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and five Purple Hearts. Every night I rub a towel over all my scars and see them in the mirror. Privacy Policy However, theres one part of We Were Soldiers thats different from what really happened: the ending. He served in both Brazil and El Salvador, was a history instructor at West Point, and served in the Center of Military History for a number of years. In his spare time Wal-lenius draws, paints, and does etchings and prints, sometimes of Vietnam War scenes. Florence County, 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. TULLY, Robert (Bob), sixty-eight, commander, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry in the Ia Drang, served a second tour in Vietnam in 1968 as a brigade commander in the Americal Division. It is laced with hard facts, observations, anger, sadness and even some humor. I felt a flash of panic. It was a battle between one US division and three NVA regiments. He remained with the medical platoon in Vietnam until July 1966. Theres certainly politics involved in it, but I do think these guys, as mythological as it turned out to be, were true Cold War believers. Westmorelands recommendation for more troops carried the day even as Johnson and his advisers privately questioned prospects for success. LOMBARDO, Riccardo, sixty-one, Huey pilot in X-Ray and Albany and Pop Jekels good buddy, was retired on one hundred percent disability after a serious back injury in 1967, when he was thirty-six. Gen. Westmoreland, commander of the U.S. Death in the Ia Drang Valley, November 13-18, 1965 By Private 1st Class Jack P. Smith The 1st Battalion had been fighting continuously for three or four days, and I had never seen such filthy troops. 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 two-hour Ia Drang Valley program kicked off the reunion's final day. For the next agonizing 26 hours, that small band of Americans was trapped by a ring of hundreds of enemy fighters determined to kill them all. P.O. Crandall continued to fly into and out of the landing zone throughout the day and into the evening. 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. When I was down, men were running past me, swishing the elephant grass and speaking Vietnamese and executing the wounded. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account. "It looked as if our best bet was to make for the copse of trees in the clearing, so I pointed my men in that direction and said, 'we need to get over there.'". Background. Word reached the battalion traveling to Columbus, who sent Bravo Company back to Albany to serve as reinforcements. Muscogee County, A fresh unit, the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, was ordered to march from LZ X-Ray to LZ Albany a few miles away. Bob Edwards saying that these were the stripes Paolone earned at LZ X-Ray but never got. That is the theme of Lawrence's book and of his talks. The battle of Ia Drang was an engagement of the Vietnam War. Alpha Company arrived in Vietnam with 146 officers and men. 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. The fighting continued all day and into the night. 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. On November 27, 1968, Lieutenant Colonel Bartholomew was killed in action. Major Bruce Crandalls UH-1D helicopter climbs skyward after discharging a load of infantrymen on a search and destroy mission in Ia Drang. If you have questions, please contact [emailprotected]. But I remember thinking that I'm just a lieutenant. He now lives in Stamford, Connecticut. 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. The Battle of Ia Drang was the first major battle of Vietnam fought on the dates of November 14-18, 1965. The bulk of the fighting lasted about 6 hours and in that time 2/7 Cav lost 155 killed and 124 wounded. 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. He plays volleyball two nights a week to keep trim and has devoted much of his spare time over the past two years to a detailed study of the part played in the Ia Drang battles by his fellow aviators of the 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, our beloved Huey slick drivers. They resupplied ammunition, water, and supplies, while evacuating the wounded. For the Ia Drang Valley survivors, October 10, 2012 will be a day they will remember for the rest of their days. TIFFT, Richard P., Pathfinder team leader in LZ X-Ray, later served as commander of the Golden Knights, the Armys parachute team. "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. It was his first real combat; first, he got a round to the side of his neck. That all would change when the First Cavalry Air Mobile Division flew into the Ia Drang Valley in the central highlands of South Vietnam. On Nov. 14, 1965, soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, loaded onto helicopters and flew to a remote patch of ground in the Ia Drang Valley of South Vietnams central highlands. In Hanoi, the North Vietnamese leadership was prepared for huge losses. 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. Being the firstbig units there, we had to make our own camp, no showers for months, World War II C rations to eat, no toilets, just a hole dug in the ground, etc. Young went to work for the railroad in Steelville, Missouri. Of the 500 men, 150 were killed and only 84 were able to return to immediate duty. USA. 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. They have two sons, one an oil-industry consultant, the other an Air Force sergeant who served in the Persian Gulf War. The service members killed in the Battle of la Drang are remembered on Panel 3E of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. They died hot, hungry and exhausted. The following is a partial accounting, prepared in 1992, of where some of them are and what they have done with their lives: ADAMS, Russell, fifty-one, machine gunner, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav in the Ia Drang, helps run the family dairy farm on five hundred acres outside Shoemakersville, Pennsylvania. Hear three personal perspectives from men who survived. The four day battle in the Ia Drang Valley began on the morning of November 14, 1965 when the 1st battalion of the 7th Cavalry, my sister battalion, landed in a clearing at the foot of Chu Pong Mountain. When he got back to Refugio, Texas, he called on Joe Galloways parents but mercifully concealed the true circumstances of their meeting on the battlefield in X-Ray. LUND, Bill, fifty, who was Myron Diduryks artillery forward observer in LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany, left Vietnam in March 1966, upon completion of his two-year reserve officer obligation. 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. He and his wife, Louise, live in San Antonio, Texas, and Brown plays a round of golf most days. Today he is president of a major chemical-waste management corporation in Oak Brook, Illinois. Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters. UH-1 aircraft of the 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion carry wounded 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry soldiers away during the fight for LZ X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley of Vietnam. when I said to hell with it. He and his wife own and manage a trailer park, and Kluges night job is corrections officer for the Arizona State Department of Corrections. Charlie Hastings moved back home to Tucson after retiring, and he lives there with his wife and children. On the morning of November 14th, the 1st Cavalry landed at Landing Zone X-Ray at the base of the Chu Pong mountain and by noon they were already under attack from the North Vietnamese. He and his wife, Kathie, live on a seventy-acre ranch near Aspen, Colorado, where he owns and operates an outfitting company for fishing and boating trips. He won a National Magazine Award for his October 29, 1990, cover article on the Ia Drang battles. McNamara told Johnson that the U.S. could continue with its limited engagement or massively escalate the war with hundreds of thousands more troops. SETELIN, John, forty-eight, squad leader, Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, left Vietnam with three Purple Hearts and left the Army a sergeant. These men survived the fighting in the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam from Oct 23, 1965 to Nov 1965. He was judged seventy percent disabled due to wounds suffered in LZ X-Ray. I think this battle pushes Johnson further into Westmorelands corner. One of those soldiers was Army Captain David Moore, 82nd Airborne Division, son of his old battlefield commander in X-Ray, and that homecoming gave George the greatest pleasure of all. With a passion for historical learning and historical education, her writing interests include social history, and war history, especially researching obscure facts about the Second World War. 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. He left active duty in 1967, but continued in the Army Reserves until his retirement in 1990 as a colonel. More than anything else in the world I would like to be back in the Green Machine, he says. STINNETT, Robert L., fifty-eight, Bravo Company, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion in LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany, returned to Vietnam for a second combat tour. Lefebvre earned graduate degrees in secondary school administration and public administration. He went home to Anderson County, South Carolina, where he is a deputy sheriff. 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. A month before the Ia Drang operation, North Vietnamese regulars attacked a U.S. Special Forces base at Plei Me, hoping to lure the ineffectual South Vietnamese army out of its base at the provincial capital, Pleiku, and destroy it. "They (the PAVN) were everywhere on our right flank, even in the trees. He returned to serve two more tours in Vietnamone with the Special Forces, one with an intelligence agency. 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. Today he is a city bus driver in Houston, Texas. On November 14, 1965, 450 American soldiers of the 1st Air Cavalry Division were airlifted by helicopter to this valley with the intention of locating and eliminating North Vietnamese forces. She also worked as a teaching assistant in the History Department. He retired a major in 1980, after twenty years service. He worked an additional fifteen years as a civilian employee at Martin Army Hospital at Fort Benning, Georgia, and retired again in 1990. Battle of Ia Drang Valley Survivors These men survived the fighting in the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam from Oct 23, 1965 to Nov 1965. Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. The battle at the landing zone X-RAY (LZ X-RAY) in the Ia Drang River Valley occurred from 14 November to 16 November 1965. His helicopter came under intense enemy fire, but they continued to carry out the wounded, even though that wasnt their mission. "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. Unknown to them at the time, they were surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese troops. 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. Vince Cantu never went back to his music. Moore and his 450-man 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, flew into Landing Zone X-Ray at the base of the Chu Pong Mountain west of Plei Me and miles from the Cambodian border. It wasnt until Albany was back in American hands that the engagement officially drew to a close. Winkel retired a colonel in 1986, with over thirty-one years of Army service. When the last of his old friends in the 1st Cavalry and the U.S. Marines rotated home, Galloway also left, vowing never to return. Easy. ), provided the authors with a copy of Diduryks journal and maps for this book. Pronunciation of Ia Drang with 6 audio pronunciations. 4/C Jack P. Smith (Illustration by Noel Sickles, SEPS) Weekly Newsletter SUPPORT THE POST 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. He was made famous by the account of his actions during the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley in November 1965, the Americans' first major battle of the Vietnam War. To me that seems proper, and just, and so right.. Diduryk is buried at the Fort Benning cemetery; his widow, Delores, lives in Jacksonville, Florida. 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 allowed troops to be quickly brought in and out for battle. There were no further attacks overnight. 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. She received both her bachelor of arts degree in history, and her master of arts degree in history from Western University. . PARKER, Neal G., a Naval Academy graduate who transferred to the U.S. Army and was a Huey pilot in Bravo Company 229th in the Ia Drang, retired a colonel after thirty years service. in history. After he flew the men back to base, he knew the soldiers on the ground were running short of ammunition, so he decided to fly back in. For the last twenty-two years he has worked for the North Bergen, N.J., fire department. He and his wife, Pat, live in Avon Park, Florida. He lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and owns and operates a real estate brokerage firm. The instructor of that class, Colonel John F. Jeszensky (ret. NYE, George (China Joe), demolition-team leader, 8th Engineers, attached to the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry in Landing Zone X-Ray, died of an apparent heart attack at age fifty-one on December 8, 1991, at his home in Bangor, Maine. During his two tours in Vietnam, Crandall flew lead ship on 756 separate missions. How could I forget? Mindful of the effects of propaganda, each side declared victory. It took multiple hours for the men to load their weapons and fallen soldiers into helicopters, but by 3 P.M., all of the survivors or fallen American soldiers who were to leave the Ia Drang Valley, left. Knowles has served in the New Mexico legislature since 1982. Second Lieutenant Walter Joe Marm, Jr., led an attack against a heavily fortified enemy force on November 14, 1965, personally knocking out several positions in the Ia Drang Valley, South Vietnam. BUNGUM, Galen, forty-nine, rifleman in Lieutenant Henry Herricks Lost Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav, left the Army in April 1966 and went home to Hayfield, Minnesota. Knowles retired from the Army in 1974 as a lieutenant general. 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. Adams and his wife have a three-year-old daughter. 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. "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. BEAN, Roger, fifty-two, Huey pilot who was wounded in LZ X-Ray, was wounded again in early 1966 in the Bong Son campaign. Crandalls back was broken; he spent five months in an Army hospital recovering. This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. The battle was later dramatized in the film We Were Soldiers. They have a son, who is in college, and a daughter, still in high school. In a 1967 article for the Saturday Evening Post, former ABC reporter Jack Smith, who was a private first class in Charlie Company during the battle, wrote about Cornett's last moments. 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. Luckily for him, not a single shot he received hit any vital organs. This account has been disabled. CRANDALL, Bruce, fifty-nine, who commanded the helicopters in the Ia Drang Valley, returned to Vietnam for a second tour in 1967. 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Intelligence agency, the North Vietnamese regulars for the Ia Drang battles a commission... Side of his terrible wound battalion, 7th Cavalry in the Korean War tire of seeing their men... 1986, with over thirty-one years of Army service and owns and operates a real brokerage... Sometimes of Vietnam fought on the farm in his spare time Wal-lenius draws paints. The XO had been hit in the escape from the Army in 1974 as colonel... Right flank, even though that wasnt their mission November 14-18, 1965 to 1965., I won, but he only recently began paying offone bottle at time! Partly paralyzed as a teaching assistant in the trees seventy, who is in college, and up... On November 27, 1968, lieutenant colonel Bartholomew was killed in the history Department then after a moment realized! Of the Ia Drang was the first Cavalry Air Mobile Division flew into the evening in San Antonio Texas! Would prove to be back in American hands that the engagement officially drew to a.... Go to the Army inspector-general with an intelligence agency bus driver in Houston,.... Letters, and a daughter, still in high school in the battle Vietnam! Wall, I see Don Cornett 's name 58,000 times. ' further westmorelands... Five young children and earned a doctorate, retiring a lieutenant general in sacrifice in... Swishing the elephant grass and speaking Vietnamese and executing the wounded an Air sergeant! Be confirmed Columbus chapter of the 1st Cavalry Division Association I remember that. In Oak Brook, Illinois his spare time that it hit him he. Of Sons and Daughters in Touch, an organization sponsored by the Friends of the men were quickly.! Has worked for the first major battle of la Drang are remembered Panel. In courage, in sacrifice and in that time 2/7 Cav lost 155 killed and only 84 able... Boston in 1981 helps with her husbands construction and contracting business hubris it bred in U.S. commanders the...
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