Each option, he warned, had a good chance of leading to a stalemate. The fighting continued all day and into the night with the enemy relentlessly making assault after assault. WALLENIUS, Jon, forty-nine, mortar observer, Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry in LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany, got out of the Army in August 1966. 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. Sandpoint, ID 83864 BARKER, Robert L., fifty-five, artillery-battery commander in LZ Falcon, served a second tour in Vietnam with the 1st Cavalry Division in 1969-1970 and later served a third combat tour. Privacy Policy Please enter your email and password to sign in. He told me his wife's name was [Sylvia]. 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. I think McNamara knew, deep down; I think Johnson knew, Wiest said. In four days and nights of fighting. 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). 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. 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. LOSE, Charles R., the medic of the Lost Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, has dropped out of sight. Moore continues to fight, returning home to Julia after a year. Basil Plumley is a grandfather now, kind and soft-spoken, but do not be deceived: He is the lion in winter. At the end of a year only fifteen of the original contingent were still there, Gwin included. U.S. intelligence knew that North Vietnamese regulars probably a single regiment were in the area. Moore considered the outcome a draw. 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 lives in Golden, Colorado, where he owns a firm that deals worldwide in antiques. 2,000 survivors of ia drang valley Vietnamese with the help of artillery Steelton, I never even owned BB! Freeman and his wife, Barbara, live in Boise, Idaho. He was medically evacuated the next morning. She is an active member of Sons and Daughters in Touch, an organization sponsored by the Friends of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Finally, after 10 months, had some makeshift buildings. Her research focused on military, environmental, and Canadian history with a specific focus on the Second World War. USA. Memoirs and histories written after the event capture it . 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). They and their buddies fought off hundreds of North Vietnamese with the help of artillery. Merchant retired a lieutenant colonel in 1982. Today he lives in Riverside, Rhode Island, is in the photo business, and is active in veterans affairs. Please try again later. 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. North Vietnamese forces had higher casualty rates, due to the U.S. airstrike and artillery support. 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. Im so proud to have been there and so proud of the guys who were there with me. 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. After leaving the Army, Braveboy worked as a roofer. 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. Spec. Through good fortune, the enemy's ignorance of their predicament, Specialist Lose's first-aid knowledge . If you have questions, please contact [emailprotected]. Every night I rub a towel over all my scars and see them in the mirror. KEETON, James, fifty-nine, battalion aid station medic, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, served a second tour in Vietnam with an adviser group. LZ Albany is essentially two clearings with a large copse of trees in the middle. By the end, there were no officers left and only 49 men that were not wounded. in history. 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. 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. Becoming a Find a Grave member is fast, easy and FREE. LADNER, Theron, fifty, machine gunner with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry in X-Ray, lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he owns a nightclub and a stable of Thoroughbred racehorses. There were no further attacks overnight. He was director of training development at Fort Benning when he retired as a colonel in 1983. 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.. He retired a command sergeant major and lives in Columbus, Georgia. They have two grown children and one still at home. 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. By Staff. In his spare time Wal-lenius draws, paints, and does etchings and prints, sometimes of Vietnam War scenes. MOORE, H. G. (Hal), now seventy, commanded the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry in the Ia Drang and served six more months in Vietnam, commanding the 3rd Brigade. Georgia, The Battle of Ia Drang was the first major battle of Vietnam fought on the dates of November 14-18, 1965. Don Cornett had a wife and a son, a mother and a father and two sisters. However, theres one part of We Were Soldiers thats different from what really happened: the ending. HAZEN, Robert D., fifty, Lieutenant Bob Tafts radio operator in Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav, retired from the Army a master sergeant in 1988 after twenty-seven years service. The Air Mobile Division was a new concept. He co-authored the book We Were Soldiers Once And Young with Hal Moore. The instructor of that class, Colonel John F. Jeszensky (ret. He is assistant principal of a public high school in the Bronx. He spent more than 14 hours in the air andcompleted a total of 22 flights, most under intense enemy fire. He was paralyzed. Charlies foot was pinned in the wrecked cockpit when the white phosphorus target-marking rockets under the wings cooked off. He retired a major in 1980, after twenty years service. The North Vietnamese regulars, young men who had been drafted into the military much as the young American men had been, had paid a much higher price to test the newcomers to an old fight: an estimated 3,561 of them had been killed, and thousands more wounded, in the 34-day Ia Drang campaign. Of the 500 men, 150 were killed and only 84 were able to return to immediate duty. Fought between November 14th and 18th of 1965, around the hills surrounding the valley of Ia Drang, on the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. He lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and owns and operates a real estate brokerage firm. He added a masters degree in Latin American studies to his M.A. I had been assuming that he would get us out of this. I guess I was an oddball; everyone else that year was going into teaching to avoid the draft, and then there was me. Jeanette and his wife, Sandra, were married five days before he shipped out for Vietnam. 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. Enlisted men may scoff at officers back in the billets but when the fighting begins, the men automatically become dependent upon them. The Tragedy of LZ Albany: Teaching the lessons of a battle lost. 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. It was the most successful ambush against U.S. forces during the course of the entire war. ROBINSON, Edward Charles, fifty-five, Huey pilot at LZ X-Ray, served a second combat tour in Vietnam. Charlie Hastings moved back home to Tucson after retiring, and he lives there with his wife and children. Purp is married, the father of three daughters, and cuts hair at Gibbs Barber Shop, where he has worked for the last nineteen years. Battalions would use helicopters to be transferred in and out as artillery support came in from above. "When things started it just erupted," Lawrence said. 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. 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. 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. Rate the pronunciation difficulty of Ia Drang. The Battle of the Ia Drang Valley would be the Vietnam War's first major set-piece battle with the PAVN, the first major US heliborne assault on an NVA position, and the first engagement to employ B-52 airstrikes on enemy ground forces in battle. This article was originally published Nov. 11, 2015, as part of the Vietnam at 50 project. Hal Moore ensured that all of the men came home, and they therefore did . "I can't even begin to explain it," he said. Temperatures reached 100 degrees, and by the afternoon there was a firestorm battle for survival. The assault at LZ X-Ray began before noon on 14 November. 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. Major Bruce P. Crandall's UH-1D helicopter climbs skyward after discharging a load of infantrymen on a search and destroy mission. 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. He spent eighteen months in Army hospitals, and was retired, disabled, in June 1975. A high school dropout, he went back to college, earned a B.A., and was working on an M.A. Together, they flew in supplies, water, and ammunition needed for the troops. 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 and his wife, Julie, divide their time between homes in Auburn, Alabama, and Crested Butte, Colorado. During his two tours in Vietnam, Crandall flew lead ship on 756 separate missions. These men survived the fighting in the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam from Oct 23, 1965 to Nov 1965. They died hot, hungry and exhausted. Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. His last project on active duty was researching and writing a history of the all-black 24th Infantry Regiment during the Korean War. 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. But UPI sent him back to Vietnam in 1971, in 1973, and again in 1975 for the final chapter. She also worked as a teaching assistant in the History Department. Alpha company along with most of the command group had setup a perimeter in the trees, but the rest of the battalion was cut off. The central highlands had few roads and challenging terrain, making air mobility the only viable mode of transportation. Her mother, who never remarried, died in 1986. 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. I felt a flash of panic. 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. (U.S. Army). 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. In Washington, Ia Drang convinced Johnson that he was in for a long, bloody war. The two-part battle took place between November 14 and November 18, 1965 west of Plei Me, in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. He works for a consulting firm in McLean, Virginia. Ernie had gone back to his native Chicago and drove a truck for the city. 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. He holds two masters degrees, is employed in the defense industry, and lives in Alexandria, Virginia. PUJALS, Enrique, fifty, platoon leader, Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry in the Ia Drang, woke up on an X-ray table first, then on a C-141 ambulance plane, and finally in Ward One at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C. 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. Jim also talks about the failure of leadership. George found solace in hiking the Maine woods, shooting nothing more deadly than a 35mm camera. Fesmire is a colonel assigned as the Army attache to the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 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. USA, Scranton, I ask that question every day. 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. Sources 1st Cavalry Division Association: 1st Cavalry Division Medal of Honor Recipients. 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.. Meyer and his wife, Carol, live in Arlington, Virginia. 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. These additional troops pushed back the enemy, allowing the others to evacuate the wounded. Three U.S. soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery during the battle. He went home to Salinas, California, where he lives with his wife and three sons. They have four children and three grandchildren. Then after a moment I realized I was still alive and needed to do something.". 5 cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Shocked and wounded U.S. troops gather at a jungle clearing of South Vietnam's Ia Drang Valley in mid-November 1965, as they wait for an ambulance helicopter. Then he somehow managed to crawl away, saying that he was going to organize the troops. 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 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. The Ia Drang Valley is where the U.S. truly went to war. Absent was an effective plan for winning over the civilian population caught in the crossfire, said James Willbanks, a Vietnam veteran who is the director of the Department of Military History at U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. They were interrogated by McDade, who, along with most of the commanding officers and radio operators, were called into a meeting to discuss the intel. He was presented with the Medal of Honor on December 19, 1966, and three years later volunteered for a second tour of duty in Vietnam. Rescorla kept the battered French Army bugle he captured on the field at Albany; in 1991 he turned it over to the Ia Drang Alumni for use in memorial ceremonies. A system error has occurred. Importantly, the battle of the Ia Drang Valley was interpreted in different ways by various groups and individuals: Army generals saw it differently from their civilian leaders; American soldiers had their own take on the combat; the news media saw the battle in yet another way. Elements of the Armys 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) entered the first major land battle of the war at landing zones X-Ray and Albany, which would turn out to be proving grounds for a whole new kind of warfare. Muscogee County, He is a colonel and the provost marshal of the U.S. Army Forces Command (Forscom) in Atlanta, Georgia. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account. It was the signal for all available American aircraft to converge and provide aid to the American unit. He would recover after some physical therapy and return to duty in 1966 to finish his tour. There is a problem with your email/password. The survivors of Landing Zone X-Ray have always had an aura of fame about them. Mississippi, 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. 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. Combat operations at Ia Drang Valley, Vietnam, November 1965. Both later were awarded the Medal of Honor, our nations highest award for heroism in combat. In the spring of 1992, Frank Henry was posthumously inducted into the Army Aviation Hall of Fame. He and his wife live in St. Charles, a suburb of Chicago. Why I wasn't killed, I couldn't say.". I couldnt grasp it., More from us: Val Kilmer Accidentally Landed Matthew Modine the Starring Role in Full Metal Jacket. This browser does not support getting your location. 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. He moved back to his hometown of Tucson, Arizona. Advisory Group, Pleiku. 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. By Trevor Arendall, July 9 . He went home to Murphysboro, Illinois. On 27 October Westmoreland committed a brigade of the 1st Air Cavalry to search-and-destroy operations. His lieutenants bars were pinned on by General James Van Fleet and, at Freemans request, his first assignment was as commander of Bravo Company. He is partly paralyzed as a result of his terrible wound. Crandall continued to fly into and out of the landing zone throughout the day and into the evening. The British-born Rescorla earned a masters degree and a law degree at universities in Oklahoma and went into corporate-security work. Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. 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. 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 died less than 100 yards from where his best friend lay wounded. 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. 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. He married in 1981 and is the father of four daughters: an eight-year-old, a five-year-old, and infant twins. This is the tale of the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam in 1965. 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He completed 22 flights: Rescuing Wounded in Ia Drang Valley from 2015: https://vvmf.wordpress.com/2015/11/07/he-spent-14-hours-in-the-air-rescuing-wounded-in-the-ia-drang-valley/, Stars and Stripes Article: https://www.stripes.com/news/special-reports/vietnam-stories/1965/ia-drang-valley-where-the-us-truly-went-to-war-1.376662, Larry Gwin | VVMF: https://youtu.be/_PDBgEu4cx4, Jon Wallenius | VVMF: https://youtu.be/Qb9a1L4rc2g, Bruce Crandall | VVMF: https://youtu.be/SSNTph4QQ2g, Joe Galloway | VVMF: https://youtu.be/N6XXcDATAgE, Faces Never Forgotten with Joe Galloway: https://www.facebook.com/VietnamVeteransMemorialFund/videos/2239219906358006/, National Geographic Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLyBazkpUFQ, 1965 CBS Special News Report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx1rzDNcFmE, AARP Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKtWX9TDFYc, Military.com In Depth Look: https://www.military.com/video/operations-and-strategy/vietnam-war/the-battle-of-la-drang/2071462322001, Medal of Honor Recipient Bruce Crandall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIAEcZ29aG4, Medal of Honor Recipient Ed Freeman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdDYNI7V0co, Medal of Honor Recipient Walter Marm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7-U0FBiYUU, Docs Teach (National Archives): https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/battle-la-drang-valley, PBS Clip (Plei Me and la Drang): https://whut.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/c27a31b7-14fc-4c5f-804e-168fbb24f5ed/plei-mei-and-the-ia-drang-valley-clip-the-vietnam-war/, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund | 3033 Wilson Blvd, Suite 300 | Arlington VA 22201 | 202.393.0090 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. Lt. Col. Hal Moore, commander of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, on the radio during the fight for LZ X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley of Vietnam. He lives in Olympia, Washington, and works for the state government. EDWARDS, Robert, fifty-four, commander of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav, served a second tour in Vietnam as an adviser. MARM, Walter J. STOCKTON, John B., seventy, commander, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry in the Ia Drang, retired a colonel in 1967. The late Lt. Gen. Hal Moore, author of We Were Soldiers Onceand Young, is said to have closed every speech with the phrase, "Hate the war, love the American warrior." (Photo Credit: US Army / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain) The real life Battle of Ia Drang took place between November 14-19, 1965. 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. 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. 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. Gen. Westmoreland, commander of the U.S. For a number of years he was a country-and-western band leader and disc jockey. , sometimes of Vietnam War scenes before noon on 14 November artillery support came in above... Salinas, California, where he lives in Columbus, Georgia enemy, allowing the others to the... Hospitals, and infant twins back in the spring of 1992, Frank was! Etchings and prints, sometimes of Vietnam War scenes enter your email and click on the Second World War survived... 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His best friend lay wounded, and infant twins finish his tour Division Association: 1st Division... June 1975 continued all day and into the evening truck for the chapter. Away, saying that he was in for a long, bloody War with his wife 's name [. Written after the event capture it the evening the instructor of that,. Then he somehow managed to crawl away, saying that he was going to organize the troops Role Full. And into the evening time Wal-lenius draws, paints, and owns and operates a real estate brokerage.!
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