"When things started it just erupted," Lawrence said. Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. He is a master gunsmith and runs his own business repairing and selling weapons. He retired from the Army as a staff sergeant in 1976, and now serves in the Alabama National Guard. 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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. The first major American direct fire conflict took place in November of 1965 in the Ia Drang Valley. On his next flight, three soldiers on his helicopter were killed and three were wounded. 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. Successful in their mission, the Americans travel back to their landing zone to be taken back to base. 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. The XO had been hit in the small of the back. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. The North Vietnamese attempt one final attack, but are soon overrun and ordered to evacuate the headquarters they took only a few days prior. Of the 500 men present as part of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 155 lost their lives, and just 84 were immediately able to return to active duty. Resend Activation Email. 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. It was Nov. 15, 1965, in the valley of the Ia Drang in the wild mountains of the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. At the end of a year only fifteen of the original contingent were still there, Gwin included. 1965 was the year America took the gloves off in Vietnam, moving from advising and assisting the South Vietnamese military to an active combat role. He and his wife live in Phoenix, Arizona. 'Can't you see I'm dying?' The men, women, and children of this story are Americas neighbors, living quiet lives in every corner of the nation they served. He and his wife live in Alexandria, Virginia. Her mother, who never remarried, died in 1986. Advisory Group, Pleiku. 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. 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.. He is now an attorney in San Diego, California. (Black Bart), Charlie Battery aerial rocket artillery commander in the Ia Drang, returned to Vietnam for a second tour in 1968. JEKEL, Alex (Pop), seventy, Huey pilot in X-Ray and Albany, retired in the late 1960s as a chief warrant officer-4. 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. He and his wife, Elizabeth, live in Roswell, New Mexico, where they run an antiques shop. Hear Walters story. He left the Army in October 1966, and went home to his native Ohio, where he works as a carpenter. 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. 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. (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. 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. She also worked as a teaching assistant in the History Department. Jim also talks about the failure of leadership. FREEMAN, Ed (Too Tall to Fly), sixty-five, Bruce Crandalls wingman, retired a major in 1967 after twenty-one years Army service. The bulk of the fighting was centered around two vital helicopter landing zones: LZ X-Ray and Albany. She is an active member of Sons and Daughters in Touch, an organization sponsored by the Friends of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. LOSE, Charles R., the medic of the Lost Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, has dropped out of sight. RIDDLE, Bill, fifty-two, artillery forward observer with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, completed his Army service in the summer of 1966. 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. As the fighting around Landing Zone X-Ray subsided, McDades 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, was ordered to move cross-country to Landing Zone Albany, where it was to be picked up by helicopter and moved to a new location. 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. He was paralyzed. PLUMLEY, Basil, seventy-two, the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalrys sergeant major, retired from the Army as a command sergeant major on December 31, 1974, after thirty-two years, six months, and four days on active duty, and a second tour in Vietnam with the U.S. Battalion Commander Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore and his men continued on, receiving support from artillery units and air strikes, helping the American troops hold themselves against the enemy. 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. Easy. In 1982, he joined U.S. News & World Report magazine. Why I wasn't killed, I couldn't say.". 5 cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. WALLACE, Bruce M. Jr., sixty-one, Air Force A-IE Skyraider pilot over the Ia Drang, served two more tours in Vietnam and retired a colonel in 1976. The U.S. unit was moving through the jungle in a long column when the 8th battalion of the North Vietnamese 66th Regiment sprang in to a massive ambush. The only question was which side could outlast the other. 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 most significant battles of the Vietnam War, the 14-16 November 1965 battle in the Ia Drang Valley in South Vietnam's central highlands between the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) and the 33rd and 66th Regiments of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) marked a watershed change in the military strategies of both sides. 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. Major Bruce Crandalls UH-1D helicopter climbs skyward after discharging a load of infantrymen on a search and destroy mission in Ia Drang. Becoming a Find a Grave member is fast, easy and FREE. Don Cornett had a wife and a son, a mother and a father and two sisters. 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. "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.". He left the Army in 1971 with the rank of captain, returned home to Puerto Rico, and earned a law degree. He single-handedly raised five young children and earned a doctorate, retiring a lieutenant colonel after twenty years service. Hal Moore and the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment fought at the former for three days, beginning on November 14. The 430 troops of the 1st Battalion, 1stCavalry Division loaded into helicopters and were dropped into the Ia Drang valley. 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. "The next morning we were told the B-52s out of Guam were going to bomb the mountains and that we were to move to LZ Albany," Jim said. I ask that question every day. George found solace in hiking the Maine woods, shooting nothing more deadly than a 35mm camera. 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. There was a problem getting your location. He moved back to his hometown of Tucson, Arizona. I think McNamara knew, deep down; I think Johnson knew, Wiest said. He was discharged a sergeant, completed his college education, and is now an on-air national news correspondent for ABC Televisions Weekend News. BEAN, Roger, fifty-two, Huey pilot who was wounded in LZ X-Ray, was wounded again in early 1966 in the Bong Son campaign. Johns retired a brigadier general and is now dean of faculty at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in Washington, D.C. Mrs. Johns, whose two youngest children are in college, does volunteer work and writes for her own pleasure in her spare time. Read More He wanted to ensure the memories of those who died live on, in particular that of his best friend, Lt. Don Cornett. After they were airlifted out of the combat zone, McDades men were joined by the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment. Since August 1990, he has been the dean of students and basketball coach at St. Mary Rynken Catholic High School in Leonardtown, Maryland, his hometown. He still grows soybeans and corn on the farm in his spare time. Dillon is a scratch golfer who does his best to get in eighteen holes every day, even if it means a drive downslope to find a course that isnt closed on account of snow in the Colorado winter. Moore considered the outcome a draw. "Why did I deserve to live? 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. After years of advising the South Vietnamese against the communist North, and months of chasing black-clad guerrillas, a large. 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. He retired in 1990. These are survivors of an ambush against U.S. 1st Cavalry Battalion three miles north of the Ia Drang Valley the previous day, with intense firefights throughout the day and night. Lt. Col. Harold G. Moore, a no-nonsense West Pointer, was the commander of the . On February 26, 2007, President George W. Bush presented Crandall with the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Ia Drang Valley. 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. Hal Moore and the 1st Battalion, 7th . 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. 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. 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. President Johnson Jeanie Hunter in Oskaloosa, Ia on November 24, 1984 and she survives bikinis. 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 now lives in Stamford, Connecticut. His dissertation is on the LZ Albany battle. 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.. He and his wife live in Anniston, Alabama, where Martin is employed at the Army Depot. Through good fortune, the enemy's ignorance of their predicament, Specialist Lose's first-aid knowledge . 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.. Combat operations at Ia Drang Valley, Vietnam, November 1965. You can customize the cemeteries you volunteer for by selecting or deselecting below. Carrara says, I dont dwell on Vietnam, but now and then I hear something or smell something and flash back to those days. The battle was the culmination of Operation Silver Bayonet I, a combined American-South Vietnamese offensive to relieve the . He now lives in Dublin, New Hampshire, and works for a firm that sells office supplies. Yesteryears: For survivors, Battle of the Ia Drang Valley changed everything. 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. The last time he talked to Herren, Lose said, Nobody out here understands what we went through.. They have three children, daughters Abigail and Alison and a son, Thomas Alexander. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account. JEMISON, Robert, Jr., sixty-one, platoon sergeant, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, retired as a sergeant first class in 1976, after twenty-four years service. USA, West Point, And it all began early one fall day. 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. I believe it is so I can share our story.". The following day, both battalions were informed of an incoming bomber run on LZ X-Ray, meaning they needed to go elsewhere. It featured a question-and-answer session with some of the battle's key players, including retired Lt. Gen. Hal Moore. The Ia Drang Valley is a map featured in Battlefield Vietnam. 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. Moderate. This allowed troops to be quickly brought in and out for battle. In the fall of 1965 the Vietnam War was an event most Americans saw as a series of smaller battles leaving little to remember. BARTHOLOMEW, Roger J. He lives in Pleasant Valley, Connecticut, and works in real estate sales and development. For him, war is something that will always be a necessity as long as there is evil in the world, but it is something that is not to be glorified or desired. 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. 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. He married in 1981 and is the father of four daughters: an eight-year-old, a five-year-old, and infant twins. Battle of Ia Drang American troops in the Ia Drang Valley, November 1965. Payne and his wife, Patty, live in Hinsdale, Illinois, and have three children. Charlies foot was pinned in the wrecked cockpit when the white phosphorus target-marking rockets under the wings cooked off. 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. He lives in Vicksburg, Mississippi. He and his wife, Nell, now are retired and living in Shoal Creek, Alabama. He went home to Anderson County, South Carolina, where he is a deputy sheriff. It was the first major battle between PAVN and US Army units and one of the war's bloodiest encounters. When he retired, Howard moved to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he works as a consultant in emergency-management planning. He was forty-five. Joseph Galloway was a civilian reporter at the Battle of Ia Drang. 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. This operation responded to the NVA attack on an American . USA, Scranton, I think of all those guys killed in action, wounded in action, and their friends, their relatives and all those altered lives. Contrary to popular belief, the Battle of Ia Drang started and ended after the famous landings at LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany. 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. We saved so many more people because of that helicopter.. Now I felt terribly alone. (U.S. Army). 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. Together, we can make sure our heroes will get the reverence they deserve and the stories and sacrifices of our heroes will never be forgotten. Facebook Twitter I marked off 65 names and thats when it really hit me what had happened and it just overwhelmed me. It would remain the U.S. militarys single bloodiest day in Vietnam through the entire war. Jeanette spent the better part of a year in a military hospital while his shattered leg was repaired. He studied to be a tool-and-die machinist and worked at that job for several years until the strain of long hours standing on his bad leg severely affected his hip and back. We were caught inside of what was essentially an L-shaped ambush.". Fighting was so intense that a battalion commander, Lt. Col. Hal Moore, reported finding a dead American with his hands at the throat of a dead North Vietnamese soldier. Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. Hal Moore ensured that all of the men came home, and they therefore did . It is laced with hard facts, observations, anger, sadness and even some humor. The battle was later dramatized in the film We Were Soldiers. New York, He works at Fort Benning, Georgia, evaluating Army Reserve training. Since then he has taught industrial arts, electronics, and mathematics, has flown for the U.S. Forest Service, and for a time was a crop duster pilot. He worked as a sales executive in the corrugated-box industry and went to school nights to earn his MBA. Lefebvre earned graduate degrees in secondary school administration and public administration. 5 cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. He lives on a farm near Rainier, Washington, and has been writing down his memories of Vietnam duty for his children and grandchildren. A Broken Arrow was declared over the radio by the Battalion Forward Air Controller, which meant that an American unit was in imminent danger of being overrun. He went home to Murphysboro, Illinois. PAOLONE, Ernest E., Bob Edwardss radio operator, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, died of a massive heart attack on March 30, 1992, at the age of fifty. 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. He earned a doctorate in education and is personnel director for the Cooperative Extension Service at the University of Georgia in Athens. The secondary plot follows Julia, who volunteers to deliver telegrams informing families of their loved ones deaths in Vietnam. 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. He is president of the Army Relief Fund and a trustee of the Association of Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy. This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. Mississippi, One of the survivors recalls how it was - the blood, the agony, and the fear. Freeman and his wife, Barbara, live in Boise, Idaho. One killed, 15 injured after clashes erupt at Afghan border again December 16, 2022. EDWARDS, Robert, fifty-four, commander of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav, served a second tour in Vietnam as an adviser. He joined IBM as a salesman in Austin, Texas, and spent twenty years with them, rising to the post of Midwestern regional manager. Spc. Shucart says, It was interesting; they just figured I was another grunt and I didnt tell them different. He retired a colonel in 1982, with twenty-three years service. 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. This account has been disabled. SHUCART, William, M.D., surgeon, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry in the Ia Drang, had nearly completed his tour in Vietnam in the summer of 1966, when he suffered a broken back in the crash of a Chinook helicopter. But Westmoreland believed the battle validated the airmobile tactic of quick strikes to catch the enemy off guard, kill as many as possible and withdraw back to base. Each side realized it was fighting a war of attrition. DUNCAN, Ken, fifty-three, executive officer of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav, left the Army in August 1966, and returned to his hometown of Thomaston, Georgia, where he works with a textile-manufacturing company. Ambush. `` injured after clashes erupt at Afghan border again December 16, 2022 the better part a... New Hampshire, and went to school nights to earn his MBA within kilometers of your will! Daughters Abigail and Alison and a son, Thomas Alexander: an eight-year-old, a five-year-old and! 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