I think McNamara knew, deep down; I think Johnson knew, Wiest said. 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. ALLEY, J. L. (Bud), Jr., fifty, communications officer, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cav in the Ia Drang, completed a full tour with his battalion and left Vietnam and the Army in August 1966. He is a captain and the commander of Engine Company Number One. In the end, 79 Americans had been killed, and 121 men were wounded. MILLS, Jon, fifty-four, Bruce Crandalls copilot in the Ia Drang, retired a lieutenant colonel in 1980. 311 memorials Linda Carole Mustion has not added any memorials to this virtual cemetery. One killed, 15 injured after clashes erupt at Afghan border again December 16, 2022. 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. Freeman won a battlefield commission in the Korean War. USA, Mendenhall, It was his first real combat; first, he got a round to the side of his neck. North Vietnamese forces had higher casualty rates, due to the U.S. airstrike and artillery support. A U.S. platoon was lured into a trap and surrounded, holding off repeated North Vietnamese attacks despite the death of the platoon leader and several noncommissioned officers. He spent more than 14 hours in the air andcompleted a total of 22 flights, most under intense enemy fire. It wasn't until about two weeks later, as he read Stars and Stripes, that it hit him what he had survived. 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. 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. The XO had been hit in the small of the back. Both were present at the Battle of Ia Drang, the first large-scale engagement of the Vietnam War. 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. President Johnson Jeanie Hunter in Oskaloosa, Ia on November 24, 1984 and she survives bikinis. 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. Hear three personal perspectives from men who survived. He co-authored the book We Were Soldiers Once And Young with Hal Moore. Heroes of Vietnam: Death in the Ia Drang Valley American soldiers fought their first pitched battle of the Vietnam War here. 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. He lives in Olympia, Washington, and works for the state government. There's captains and majors and colonels and I assume they know what they are doing. This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. Outnumbered when they arrive, the men are forced to fight for their lives while eliminating the 4,000-strong North Vietnamese force. About 40 minutes later, North Vietnamese launched their attack, hiding in the tall elephant grass and in stands of trees. He retired from the battlefield only after all possible service had been rendered to the infantry battalion. She also worked as a teaching assistant in the History Department. Lawrence, even in his paralyzed state, was able to give some direction to his company. A bitter conclusion to the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley came soon afterward, when Gen. Westmoreland told the 2nd Battalion survivors that they had achieved "a great victory over the Communists from the North." (Joe), fifty, platoon leader, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry and the only man to receive the Medal of Honor, Americas highest decoration for valor, in the Ia Drang campaign, is a colonel and still on active duty after twenty-eight years. Scott and Basil Plumley meet most Fridays over breakfast at a local cafe for spirited discussions of the relative merits of their service, their two 7th Cavalry battalions, and other weighty issues. He added a masters degree in Latin American studies to his M.A. 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. Please ensure you have given Find a Grave permission to access your location in your browser settings. SHADDEN, James Haskell, fifty, mortarman, Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, survived half a dozen operations and one year in Army hospitals recovering from the wounds received at LZ Albany. A system error has occurred. One killed, 15 injured after clashes erupt at Afghan border again December 16, 2022. His lieutenants bars were pinned on by General James Van Fleet and, at Freemans request, his first assignment was as commander of Bravo Company. Parish now runs the Bristow, Oklahoma, toll gate on the Turner Turnpike. 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). Married and the father of three children, Winter works for the Long Island Railroad and lives in Howard Beach, Queens, New York. Of the 500 men, 150 were killed and only 84 were able to return to immediate duty. 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. Towles received a masters degree in history from Kent State in 1989, and is currently working on his doctorate. That is the theme of Lawrence's book and of his talks. A Chicago native, Doc Carrara returned home, changed his specialty to pathology. In her spare time, Rosemary enjoys spending time with her partner, her cats, and her horse, or sitting down to read a good book. Our town is only ten thousand people and we lost eleven young men from here killed in Vietnam, says Purp. Then after a moment I realized I was still alive and needed to do something.". They died dirty. Every night I rub a towel over all my scars and see them in the mirror. Carrara says, I dont dwell on Vietnam, but now and then I hear something or smell something and flash back to those days. He now lives in Dublin, New Hampshire, and works for a firm that sells office supplies. Hes in a unique position to want to believe these optimistic reports and hes getting a lot of them.. 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. A miserly, ungrateful Veterans Administration ruled that Shadden was only thirty percent disabled. Each side realized it was fighting a war of attrition. Many did a second tour and others left the service and returned home to their families. He retired a command sergeant major and lives in Columbus, Georgia. We have set your language to Becoming a Find a Grave member is fast, easy and FREE. BEAN, Roger, fifty-two, Huey pilot who was wounded in LZ X-Ray, was wounded again in early 1966 in the Bong Son campaign. While Beck survived the ultimately victorious 2-1/2-day fight at Ia Drang, 305 other American soldiers did not. Box 159 Nebraska, No one pulled security. He was the father of four children, aged twelve through twenty. We . Postal Service in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He spent seven months there while his shattered thigh and legs were repaired. Moore commanded the 7th Infantry Division in Korea, was commanding general at Fort Ord, California, and then was the Armys deputy Chief of Staff for personnel. He was paralyzed. While youre out killing 1,700 NVA, if youre doing it in a populated area, youre creating more insurgents, he said. On November 14, 1965, Captain Ed Freeman made repeated flights into the Ia Drang Valley under intense fire to bring in supplies and evacuate the wounded. He now lives in Stamford, Connecticut. Simpson County, Terms of Use | 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 lives in Pleasant Valley, Connecticut, and works in real estate sales and development. 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.. Moore considered the outcome a draw. As the command ship touched down, other NVA soldiers opened up; Myron Diduryk was struck in the stomach in the doorway of the chopper. 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. Although survivors had been trickling in during the morning they thought the 2/7th had been annihilated in the fighting at Albany. Still on active duty, he is a major general, and is deputy to the Army inspector-general. 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. In the first major engagement of the war between regular U.S. and North Vietnamese forces, elements of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) fight a pitched battle with Communist main . 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). 4 Oscar E . Later, after he was evacuated the doctors thought his spine was severed, but discovered later that he had a severely bruised spine from the force of the bullets whipping his head back. Don Cornett had a wife and a son, a mother and a father and two sisters. He and his wife live in Phoenix, Arizona. He retired a colonel in 1983. 'The torture stopped': 1969 brought temporary changes to infamous Hanoi Hilton, Patriotism or protest? The bulk of the fighting lasted about 6 hours and in that time 2/7 Cav lost 155 killed and 124 wounded. The cavalry regiment returned fire, but the enemy were dug into prepared fighting positions and many of the American leaders had died or were wounded during the initial stages of the attack. (U.S. Army). Where the difference between We Were Soldiers and reality lies is that the battle didnt end with Moore and his men evacuating, nor was there a final heroic charge. They died hot, hungry and exhausted. 5 cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. The IDV is the valley through which the river (Ia) Drang flows and is drained by the Ia Drang, Ia Puck and an extensive network of small streams flowing west and southwest across the Cambodian border into the Mekong River. I fought for this country and now I own and farm 120 acres of my country. Now I felt terribly alone. 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. ROZANSKI, Gordon P. (Rosie), fifty-four, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry S-4 in the Ia Drang, was wounded in both arms, both legs, and the stomach in the Bong Son campaign in early 1966. Ia Drang set the blueprint for the Vietnam War with the Americans relying on air mobility, artillery fire and close air support, while the PAVN neutralized that firepower by quickly engaging American forces at very close range. One of the survivors recalls how it was - the blood, the agony, and the fear. . They had this Learning to be a Teacher program; I tried it and loved it. The secondary plot follows Julia, who volunteers to deliver telegrams informing families of their loved ones deaths in Vietnam. A North Vietnamese map, captured in 1966, accurately depicts enemy maneuvers and attacks during the Ia Drang campaign. 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