The bulk of the fighting was centered around two vital helicopter landing zones: LZ X-Ray and Albany. In the fall of 1965 the Vietnam War was an event most Americans saw as a series of smaller battles leaving little to remember. We lived in tents. Please ensure you have given Find a Grave permission to access your location in your browser settings. He single-handedly raised five young children and earned a doctorate, retiring a lieutenant colonel after twenty years service. 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. By Staff. "They (the PAVN) were everywhere on our right flank, even in the trees. 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. 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. 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. The plane hit several tombstones and flipped over. They have a son, who is in college, and a daughter, still in high school. On 27 October Westmoreland committed a brigade of the 1st Air Cavalry to search-and-destroy operations. 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. Jim also talks about the failure of leadership. He retired a command sergeant major and lives in Columbus, Georgia. The fighting continued for three hours. Freeman reconstituted the unit and led it back up Pork Chop. 311 memorials Forces, was Time magazines Man of the Year. In his spare time he camps, climbs, skis, and fishes for trout in the Rockies. 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. The column was strung out about 550 yards in the open with dense vegetation to their right. Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters. Moore continues to fight, returning home to Julia after a year. He and his wife, Pat, live in Avon Park, Florida. South Carolina, Although the fighting had ended, the Battle of Ia Drang didnt officially conclude until the next day, as it took two days to collect the bodies. 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. Our town is only ten thousand people and we lost eleven young men from here killed in Vietnam, says Purp. 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 and his wife live in Alexandria, Virginia. 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. Im not supposed to chop wood or do anything that might cause a lick on that side of my head, but it healed up pretty well so I dont worry much about it, he says. For information, the 1st Air Cavalry arrived in the fall of 1965, about the same time I did as a member of the 1stInfantry Division. They have two sons, one an oil-industry consultant, the other an Air Force sergeant who served in the Persian Gulf War. VIERA, Arthur, Jr., forty-eight, an M-79 grenadier with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, survived the terrible wounds he suffered in X-Ray. Many did a second tour and others left the service and returned home to their families. He was killed in an automobile accident less than ten years later. Freeman won a battlefield commission in the Korean War. 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. He and his wife and young son live in Lawndale, California. Photo extracted from U.S. Army motion picture footage from November 1965. 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. He works at Fort Benning, Georgia, evaluating Army Reserve training. He retired a major in 1980, after twenty years service. Ia Drang Valley, Battle of the (1965). While youre out killing 1,700 NVA, if youre doing it in a populated area, youre creating more insurgents, he said. He is president of his own management-consulting firm and lives in Oklahoma City. 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 lives in Olympia, Washington, and works for the state government. On November 27, 1968, Lieutenant Colonel Bartholomew was killed in action. TIFFT, Richard P., Pathfinder team leader in LZ X-Ray, later served as commander of the Golden Knights, the Armys parachute team. 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. The battlefield area covered 1,500 square miles of what appeared to be flat rolling terrain dominated by the Chu Pong . Shortly after landing, a U.S. patrol captured an unarmed North Vietnamese deserter who told them that three regiments, roughly an entire division, were hiding in the nearby mountain. Setelin is president of the Major General George W. Casey chapter of the 1st Cavalry Division Association and a member of the national associations board of trustees. For the next ten years he was a football coach at Morgan State University in Baltimore, his alma mater. 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. . Vince Cantu never went back to his music. The two-part battle took place between November 14 and November 18, 1965 west of Plei Me, in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. New York, Payne and his wife, Patty, live in Hinsdale, Illinois, and have three children. By Trevor Arendall, July 9 . By the end of the first day, the 1st BN, 7th Cavalry was reduced to approximately 340 men. He died less than 100 yards from where his best friend lay wounded. Roger Gregory is a Vietnam veteran, serving in the 1st Infantry Division and is a business owner in Priest River. Fesmire is a colonel assigned as the Army attache to the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. That all would change when the First Cavalry Air Mobile Division flew into the Ia Drang Valley in the central highlands of South Vietnam. JEKEL, Alex (Pop), seventy, Huey pilot in X-Ray and Albany, retired in the late 1960s as a chief warrant officer-4. Initially, Lawrence's thoughts and feelings after he was safe were just moments captured in his mind. "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. By the third day of the battle, the Americans had gained the upper hand. He joined IBM as a salesman in Austin, Texas, and spent twenty years with them, rising to the post of Midwestern regional manager. I pulled the muscles in that leg so badly yanking it free that I couldnt walk for three months, he said. (Photo Credit: US Army / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain) The real life Battle of Ia Drang took place between November 14-19, 1965. During his two tours in Vietnam, Crandall flew lead ship on 756 separate missions. You can always change this later in your Account settings. Their mission was to find and kill the enemy. Temperatures reached 100 degrees, and by the afternoon there was a firestorm battle for survival. His personalized license plate proclaims: LZ X-Ray. 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. MARM, Walter J. He is working on a book on Alpha Companys year in Vietnam. In his spare time Wal-lenius draws, paints, and does etchings and prints, sometimes of Vietnam War scenes. 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. He was the father of four children, aged twelve through twenty. "I can't even begin to explain it," he said. Combat operations at Ia Drang Valley, Vietnam, November 1965. I attended every one of those funerals., LEFEBVRE, L. R. (Ray), fifty-nine, commander of Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, spent eighteen months at Martin Army Hospital, Fort Benning, recovering from the wounds he suffered at X-Ray. 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. Knowles retired from the Army in 1974 as a lieutenant general. The . A young United Press International reporter, Joseph Galloway, became the only civilian decorated for gallantry during the war, awarded a Bronze Star with V device for valor for carrying a wounded soldier off the battlefield under intense fire. He was judged seventy percent disabled due to wounds suffered in LZ X-Ray. 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). He would recover after some physical therapy and return to duty in 1966 to finish his tour. Spec. In Hanoi, the North Vietnamese leadership was prepared for huge losses. Crandall and Freeman successfully rescued some 70 wounded men. Diduryk is buried at the Fort Benning cemetery; his widow, Delores, lives in Jacksonville, Florida. Together, they flew in supplies, water, and ammunition needed for the troops. He was forty-five. It was his first real combat; first, he got a round to the side of his neck. 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. 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. 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. The conflict is divided into two engagements: the Battle at Landing Zone (LZ) X-Ray and. A miserly, ungrateful Veterans Administration ruled that Shadden was only thirty percent disabled. They have four children and three grandchildren. The following day, both battalions were informed of an incoming bomber run on LZ X-Ray, meaning they needed to go elsewhere. 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. He lives in Falls, Pennsylvania. The men were still in an administrative maneuver, so when the word to halt came they plopped down where they were. The service members killed in the Battle of la Drang are remembered on Panel 3E of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. 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. 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. 5 memorials LTC Roger Jay Bartholomew 2 Nov 1932 - 27 Nov 1968 Westlawn-Hillcrest Memorial Park 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. 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. 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. 5 cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. When I was down, men were running past me, swishing the elephant grass and speaking Vietnamese and executing the wounded. He won a National Magazine Award for his October 29, 1990, cover article on the Ia Drang battles. I think it also speaks to the depths these guys were into the Cold War reality at the time. But Charlie was back in the air, flying F-4 Phantoms, less than a year later. He and his wife, Theresa, live on a farm in northern Virginia with their sons Lee, fifteen, and Joshua, twelve. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. He was chief of security at a hospital in Columbus, Georgia, until his death on April 18, 1992. 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. 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. Terms of Use | LARSEN, Stanley R. (Swede), seventy-seven, commanding general, II Field Force Vietnam, retired a lieutenant general in 1972 and for seven years was president of a large company in San Francisco. 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. FREEMAN, Ed (Too Tall to Fly), sixty-five, Bruce Crandalls wingman, retired a major in 1967 after twenty-one years Army service. Pronunciation of Ia Drang with 6 audio pronunciations. In 2016, he joined a panel of Ia Drang survivors at the Maneuver Center of Excellence, Fort Benning, Ga., to share their experiences with both young and seasoned officers and noncommissioned officers. They resupplied ammunition, water, and supplies, while evacuating the wounded. It was the most successful ambush against U.S. forces during the course of the entire war. A high school dropout, he went back to college, earned a B.A., and was working on an M.A. When I go to the wall, I see Don Cornett's name 58,000 times.'. Becoming a Find a Grave member is fast, easy and FREE. 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. KELLING, George, fifty-four, who ran Charlie Med, the rear-area casualty receiving station during LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany, retired a lieutenant colonel in 1978. After three days of fighting, 240 Americans had been killed and another 300 wounded (more troops were brought in in support). , 1990, cover article on the Ia Drang Valley in the 1st,! From November 1965 all would change when the first Cavalry survivors of ia drang valley Mobile Division flew into the Cold reality. People and we lost eleven young men from here killed in Vietnam, Crandall flew lead ship 756. Diduryk is buried at the time from here killed in action think also... 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