TADEMY, Dudley, 3rd Brigade fire-support coordinator in the Ia Drang, served a second tour in Vietnam with the 1st Cavalry and retired a colonel in January 1987, after thirty years service. (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. The battle was later dramatized in the film We Were Soldiers. Hal Moore and the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment fought at the former for three days, beginning on November 14. He retired in 1990. I marked off 65 names and thats when it really hit me what had happened and it just overwhelmed me. During his two tours in Vietnam, Crandall flew lead ship on 756 separate missions. (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. Lefebvre earned graduate degrees in secondary school administration and public administration. Lessons in leadership, in the importance of training, in courage, in sacrifice and in loss. 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. They died dirty. 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. 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. Fred Gilreath of Surgoinsville holds a framed photo of his older brother Luther Gilreath who was killed 50 years ago on the second day of the Battle of Ia Drang, Nov. 15, 1965. Mississippi, The battle of Ia Drang was an engagement of the Vietnam War. He checked in with the nearest Veterans Administration hospital; they sent him home, telling him they would call him back for an operation to place a plate over the hole. Major Bruce Crandalls UH-1D helicopter climbs skyward after discharging a load of infantrymen on a search and destroy mission in Ia Drang. On his next flight, three soldiers on his helicopter were killed and three were wounded. The single, bloodiest day in the Vietnam War. MARM, Walter J. At the end of a year only fifteen of the original contingent were still there, Gwin included. He was forty-five. 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. WINKEL, Paul Patton, Jr., sixty, Orange 1 flight leader, Bravo Company, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion in the Ia Drang, served a second combat tour in Vietnam. He worked an additional fifteen years as a civilian employee at Martin Army Hospital at Fort Benning, Georgia, and retired again in 1990. Successful in their mission, the Americans travel back to their landing zone to be taken back to base. On his chest he wore the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and five Purple Hearts. When I was down, men were running past me, swishing the elephant grass and speaking Vietnamese and executing the wounded. A native of Mendenhall, Mississippi, Kennedy was thirty-one years old at the time of his death. The North Vietnamese forces had succeeded in engaging the U.S. forces in very tight quarters. He is a captain and the commander of Engine Company Number One. In his spare time Wal-lenius draws, paints, and does etchings and prints, sometimes of Vietnam War scenes. This is the tale of the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam in 1965. 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. 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.. Spec. Moderate. 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. Becoming a Find a Grave member is fast, easy and FREE. He and his wife, Billie, have a son in college and a daughter still at home. The bullet was still in there. The assault at LZ X-Ray began before noon on 14 November. 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. 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. I think of all those guys killed in action, wounded in action, and their friends, their relatives and all those altered lives. 2 Ia Drang also served as a test for the U.S. military of its new air mobility tactics. MEYER, Edward C. (Shy), sixty-three, 3rd Brigade executive officer in the Ia Drang, retired as Army Chief of Staff, a four-star general, in 1983 after thirty-two years service. He and his wife, Kornelia, live in Columbus, Georgia, where for several years Scott taught military subjects to Junior ROTC in the high schools. He is assistant principal of a public high school in the Bronx. Today he is a city bus driver in Houston, Texas. I didn't do as I should have.". He spent that night among the dead and wounded. Alpha Company arrived in Vietnam with 146 officers and men. Vince Cantu never went back to his music. About 80 U.S. soldiers were killed, 124 wounded, in the first two days of the fight. He and his wife live in Sag Harbor, New York, where they operate a summer season shop that deals in contemporary original art. Most of the planes touched down between midnight and six A.M., but George Nye was always there, rain or shine. 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. He is a master gunsmith and runs his own business repairing and selling weapons. Thanks for your help! Every night I rub a towel over all my scars and see them in the mirror. They are representative of the more than three million Americans who served the United States of America in its long and bitter war in Vietnam, representative of those who loved one of the more than 58,000 Americans who died in that war. 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. Too Tall Ed retired from that job on January 3, 1991. Some of them had blood on their faces from scratches and from other guys' wounds. Westmorelands recommendation for more troops carried the day even as Johnson and his advisers privately questioned prospects for success. 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. (67 votes) Very easy. Another 71 Americans had been killed in earlier, smaller skirmishes that led up to the Ia Drang battles. We were taking an administrative break, guys were taking off their packs and lighting cigarettes and the enemy was less than 100 yards on our right flank and deploying and we couldn't see 'em or hear 'em," he said. "When things started it just erupted," Lawrence said. 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. MARTIN, John C., fifty-one, rifleman in Lieutenant Sissons platoon detached from Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry for duty in X-Ray, served a second combat tour in Vietnam. EIN: 52-1149668, Copyright 2023 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Javascript must be enabled for the correct page display. 'Can't you see I'm dying?' Crandalls back was broken; he spent five months in an Army hospital recovering. (U.S. Army). The film follows the experiences of both Moore, portrayed by Mel Gibson, and his wife, Julia, played by Madeleine Stowe. 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. They are all Don Cornett to him, his best friend. (Skip), fifty-three, commander of Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cav in the Ia Drang, is still on active duty. Pujals recently closed his law practice. That headquarters type turned up and he returned my old helmet, bullet hole and all. His awards include the Combat Infantrymans Badge with two stars; two Silver Stars; two Bronze Stars; four Purple Hearts; a Master Parachutist Badge with five combat-jump stars; a European Theater Service ribbon with eight campaign stars and four invasion arrows; a Korean Service ribbon with three campaign stars and one invasion arrow; a Vietnam Service ribbon with one silver and three bronze campaign stars; and the Presidential Unit Citation badge. There was a problem getting your location. Feb 25, 2017. JEANETTE, Robert J., fifty, Ghost 4-6, weapons-platoon leader, Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cav in the Ia Drang, lives in Monsey, New York, a suburb of New York City. As one writer concluded, "The Ia Drang Valley is where the U.S. truly went to war," and it "set the tone for the" many years of relentless fighting that would follow. They saved some 70 soldiers. 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. "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. 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. Moore considered the outcome a draw. He retired a colonel in 1982, with twenty-three years service. He went home to Salinas, California, where he lives with his wife and three sons. We were caught inside of what was essentially an L-shaped ambush.". Today he is president of a major chemical-waste management corporation in Oak Brook, Illinois. 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. Despite their efforts, the North Vietnamese retake the position soon after. The Pleiku Campaign took place from 20 October to 26 . Lt. Don Cornett, along with 154 troopers from 2/7 Cav, were killed in the Ia Drang Valley at a small clearing known as Landing Zone Albany. That same month, the United States began bombing North Vietnam in Operation Rolling Thunder. The Ia Drang Valley is where the U.S. truly went to war. He is a freelance commercial artist in Harrisburg and occasionally turns his hand to fine-art drawings of his war experiences. He was medically evacuated the next morning. Galen Bungum, left, and Joe F. Mackey, two of the unhurt survivors of Lt. Henry Herrick's Lost Platoon. 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.) 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. 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. For the next ten years he was a football coach at Morgan State University in Baltimore, his alma mater. Bob Edwards saying that these were the stripes Paolone earned at LZ X-Ray but never got. His friends completed the tree for him and dedicated it to Sergeant China Joe Nye. Purp is married, the father of three daughters, and cuts hair at Gibbs Barber Shop, where he has worked for the last nineteen years. 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 co-authored the book We Were Soldiers Once And Young with Hal Moore. Companies C and D took the brunt of the Communist attack, and most of the men were quickly hit. 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. After several routine lifts into the area, https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/857/ELIAS-ALVAREZ-BUZO/, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLK63b6Cn53unPuhknan6Y4fJwl-F5v14o, https://www.vvmf.org/The-Wall-That-Heals/, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLK63b6Cn53unMMj-yZYEch0RuYy1YN1zl, https://vvmf.wordpress.com/2015/11/07/he-spent-14-hours-in-the-air-rescuing-wounded-in-the-ia-drang-valley/, https://www.stripes.com/news/special-reports/vietnam-stories/1965/ia-drang-valley-where-the-us-truly-went-to-war-1.376662, https://www.facebook.com/VietnamVeteransMemorialFund/videos/2239219906358006/, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLyBazkpUFQ, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx1rzDNcFmE, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKtWX9TDFYc, https://www.military.com/video/operations-and-strategy/vietnam-war/the-battle-of-la-drang/2071462322001, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIAEcZ29aG4, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdDYNI7V0co, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7-U0FBiYUU, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/battle-la-drang-valley, https://whut.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/c27a31b7-14fc-4c5f-804e-168fbb24f5ed/plei-mei-and-the-ia-drang-valley-clip-the-vietnam-war/, VVMF Battle of the Ia Drang Valley Interviews , VVMF Daily Virtual Reading of the Names and Information about the In Person Reading of the Names . He became a legend in the unit for his behavior in combat, and his face became an American icon when a young reporter named Peter Arnett snapped his photo. The other 58,000 names on that wall are men and women who also had a spouse, or children, they had mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters. Lawrence and Cornett were roommates at Infantry Officer Basic School, roommates in jump school and on the ship together that brought them to Vietnam. 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. He retired a lieutenant colonel in 1977, and lives with his wife in Arlington, Texas. He retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1985; on November 26, 1987, he was killed in the crash of a private plane in Bakersfield, California. BEAN, Roger, fifty-two, Huey pilot who was wounded in LZ X-Ray, was wounded again in early 1966 in the Bong Son campaign. He lives in Pleasant Valley, Connecticut, and works in real estate sales and development. Tully retired a colonel in 1976. By the next morning, only eight were left standing . It was the most successful ambush against U.S. forces during the course of the entire war. South Carolina, In the fall of 1965 the Vietnam War was an event most Americans saw as a series of smaller battles leaving little to remember. WINTER, Pete, fifty-one, rifleman, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, was discharged in December 1965. The American death toll was a shock to President Lyndon Johnson, who immediately dispatched Defense Secretary Robert McNamara to Saigon to find out what was going on. Please reset your password. He and his wife, Theresa, and their six-year-old daughter, Megan, live in Glen Allen, Virginia. Although he was a civilian, Galloway was awarded the Bronze Star medal for helping to rescue wounded soldiers during the battle. After two days of intense North Vietnamese attacks and mounting casualties, Moore radioed the code word Broken Arrow, calling for all available aircraft to rescue an American unit about to be overrun. 4 Oscar E . He retired a colonel in December 1981, after twenty-four years service. "The emotions are so high, the noise is tremendous, the confusion is everywhere; they had overrun us by now. The location of the battle, far into the jungle from any roads, meant troops had to be airlifted in. He is now an attorney in San Diego, California. He was judged seventy percent disabled due to wounds suffered in LZ X-Ray. To me that seems proper, and just, and so right.. The North Vietnamese Army starts with the most flags but to combat this the 7th Cavalry Regiment has superior airpower meaning that the USA can quickly insert and extract players into and out of flags. Linda Carole Mustion has not added any memorials to this virtual cemetery. Val Kilmer Accidentally Landed Matthew Modine the Starring Role in Full Metal Jacket. Things were quiet, but in the morning, the North Vietnamese attacked. 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. Hal Moore ensured that all of the men came home, and they therefore did . Now a senior writer for U.S. News, Galloway recently had one last combat tour. With the arrival on foot of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry commanded by Lt. Col. Robert McDade, on the morning of November 16, there were now three Cavalry battalions crammed into the clearing, including Lt. Col. Walter Tullys 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry. "I can't even begin to explain it," he said. 5 memorials LTC Roger Jay Bartholomew 2 Nov 1932 - 27 Nov 1968 Westlawn-Hillcrest Memorial Park His helicopter came under intense enemy fire, but they continued to carry out the wounded, even though that wasnt their mission. Word reached the battalion traveling to Columbus, who sent Bravo Company back to Albany to serve as reinforcements. The bullets missed his head by fractions of an inch, but the impact knocked him backward and he couldn't move from the waist down. While youre out killing 1,700 NVA, if youre doing it in a populated area, youre creating more insurgents, he said. This browser does not support getting your location. BRAVEBOY, Toby, rifleman, Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cav, recovered from his wounds and his week-long ordeal alone on the abandoned battlefield at Albany and returned safely to his family in Coward, South Carolina. 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