He returned to serve two more tours in Vietnamone with the Special Forces, one with an intelligence agency. Muscogee County, Roger Gregory is a Vietnam veteran, serving in the 1st Infantry Division and is a business owner in Priest River. It featured a question-and-answer session with some of the battle's key players, including retired Lt. Gen. Hal Moore. He and his wife, Nell, now are retired and living in Shoal Creek, Alabama. Book Sources: The Battle of Ia Drang Valley We were soldiers once -and young : Ia Drang, the battle that changed the war in Vietnam by Ha Moore; Joseph Galloway Call Number: Boca Raton General Collection DS557.8.I18 M66 1992 ISBN: 0679411585 Publication Date: 1992-10-20 Everyman in Vietnam by Michael Adas; Joseph J. Gilch The Air Mobile Division was a new concept. 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. EDWARDS, Robert, fifty-four, commander of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav, served a second tour in Vietnam as an adviser. Russian missile barrage knocks out power and water to Ukrainian cities December 16, 2022. Assigned as the operations officer of the 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry, Diduryk was killed in action on April 24, 1970, in a Huey helicopter at an abandoned fire base near the Cambodian border. It is laced with hard facts, observations, anger, sadness and even some humor. Word reached the battalion traveling to Columbus, who sent Bravo Company back to Albany to serve as reinforcements. Merchant retired a lieutenant colonel in 1982. Charlies foot was pinned in the wrecked cockpit when the white phosphorus target-marking rockets under the wings cooked off. Spec. His dissertation is on the LZ Albany battle. Gwin left the Army at the end of his ROTC commitment and went home to his native Boston, where he teaches and writes. 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. KINNARD, Harry W. O., seventy-seven, former commanding general of the 1st Cavalry Division, retired from the Army as a lieutenant general in 1969. He had just turned thirty-six years old. 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. They and their buddies fought off hundreds of North Vietnamese with the help of artillery. Edwards is the acting borough manager of Dublin, Pennsylvania; he and his wife, Nancy, live in nearby New Hope. P.O. 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. 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. ROLAND, William, forty-nine, rifle-squad leader, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry at X-Ray, returned to Vietnam for a second combat tour. 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. Now I felt terribly alone. Lawrence, even in his paralyzed state, was able to give some direction to his company. MERCHANT, Dick, fifty-four, assistant operations officer, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, served a second tour in Vietnam in 1968 as Lieutenant Colonel Matt Dillons battalion executive officer. He tells his audience this to help them understand. They successfully hit many of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops, while also shooting some of the Americans with friendly fire. 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 was the first and last battle between NVA forces and U.S forces of similar size. There was a problem getting your location. Memoirs and histories written after the event capture it . To the Americans, the battle validated their new airmobile strategy using helicopters to move troops quickly into remote jungle areas often without roads and inflict heavy casualties by airpower and artillery. Nearly 70 percent of the battalions soldiers were killed or wounded before airstrikes, artillery and reinforcements drove the North Vietnamese into nearby Cambodia. During his two tours in Vietnam, Crandall flew lead ship on 756 separate missions. 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. (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. 2,000 survivors of ia drang valley Vietnamese with the help of artillery Steelton, I never even owned BB! The Ia Drang Valley is where the U.S. truly went to war. 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. Moore continues to fight, returning home to Julia after a year. November 14, 1965 marked a pivotal moment in U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Mississippi, Gen. Westmoreland, commander of the U.S. GILREATH, Larry M., platoon sergeant, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, did two more tours in Southeast Asia and retired a master sergeant in April 1972. The idea was to kill the enemy, not necessarily hold ground, and bleed the North Vietnamese until they tired of war. He and his wife live in Alexandria, Virginia. This article was originally published Nov. 11, 2015, as part of the Vietnam at 50 project. North Vietnamese forces had higher casualty rates, due to the U.S. airstrike and artillery support. . On February 26, 2007, President George W. Bush presented Crandall with the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Ia Drang Valley. Little did Beck and his companions know they were about to make history in America's first large scale battle of the Vietnam War. 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. 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. No one wanted to look weak in the face of communist aggression.. For Lawrence, telling the story of LZ Albany is not only a way to keep the memory of those who died alive, but also a way to educate others. By the end, there were no officers left and only 49 men that were not wounded. He is married and the father of two daughters. 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. He retired a major in 1980, after twenty years service. 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. The North Vietnamese enjoyed numerical superiority in the valley. 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 film follows the experiences of both Moore, portrayed by Mel Gibson, and his wife, Julia, played by Madeleine Stowe. His hands were burned in the escape from the wreckage, and it was doubted that he would ever fly again. Jim also talks about the failure of leadership. He and his wife, Ann, live in Lilburn, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. MAPSON, Betty Jivens, forty-two, daughter of Sergeant Jerry Jivens, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, killed in action at X-Ray on November 15, 1965, is married, the mother of two, and works as a secretary at the Medical Center Hospital in Columbus, Georgia. A miserly, ungrateful Veterans Administration ruled that Shadden was only thirty percent disabled. His widow, Emma Lee, lives in Austin, Texas. In August 1977, at the age of forty-four, Colonel Frank Henry died when an aneurysm ruptured. We were caught inside of what was essentially an L-shaped ambush.". When someone shook me and tried to get me moving I was actually offended. Controlling the central highlands would enable the North Vietnamese to cut the south in two and separate South Vietnams northern cities of Hue and Da Nang from the capital, Saigon, to the south. In November, troops would take on North Vietnamese regulars for the first time in the Battle of Ia Drang Valley. MARM, Walter J. He still grows soybeans and corn on the farm in his spare time. It was the most successful ambush against U.S. forces during the course of the entire war. Read More For a number of years he was a country-and-western band leader and disc jockey. In his spare time he camps, climbs, skis, and fishes for trout in the Rockies. Some of the survivors broke into tears of relief. 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. Vince Cantu never went back to his music. 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. In March 1991 he found a new purpose in life: meeting the chartered airliners touching down at Bangor International Airport, the first American landfall, bringing American soldiers home from the Persian Gulf. 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. They saved some 70 soldiers. Alex Kolyer for MPR News On this Veterans Day,. 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. SMITH, Jack P., forty-seven, returned to Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry after his wounds healed, and completed his tour. Hear Bruces story. Combat operations at Ia Drang Valley, Vietnam, November 1965. 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). Shucart says, It was interesting; they just figured I was another grunt and I didnt tell them different. 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. He is a colonel and the provost marshal of the U.S. Army Forces Command (Forscom) in Atlanta, Georgia. 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. "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. 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. The 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment went toward LZ Columbus, while the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment traveled to LZ Albany, capturing two NVA soldiers on the way. He earned a doctorate in history and now lives in San Antonio, where he works in the public-affairs office at Wilford Hall Air Force Medical Center. 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. STOCKTON, John B., seventy, commander, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry in the Ia Drang, retired a colonel in 1967. He spent seven months there while his shattered thigh and legs were repaired. He wanted the Gulf veterans to have the welcome-home that none of the Vietnam veterans got. In her spare time, Rosemary enjoys spending time with her partner, her cats, and her horse, or sitting down to read a good book. 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. In 1982, he joined U.S. News & World Report magazine. Nonetheless, this allows a reprieve for Moore and his men to secure the area. You need a Find a Grave account to continue. One killed, 15 injured after clashes erupt at Afghan border again December 16, 2022. "I thought I was dying and laid there waiting for death to come. I marked off 65 names and thats when it really hit me what had happened and it just overwhelmed me. Hal Moore and the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment fought at the former for three days, beginning on November 14. "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.". 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. Today he is president of a major chemical-waste management corporation in Oak Brook, Illinois. Diduryk is buried at the Fort Benning cemetery; his widow, Delores, lives in Jacksonville, Florida. WINTER, Pete, fifty-one, rifleman, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, was discharged in December 1965. His friends completed the tree for him and dedicated it to Sergeant China Joe Nye. I was standing back there in the column and the column was stopped. Despite their efforts, the North Vietnamese retake the position soon after. NADAL, Ramon A. Today he is vice president for group security at a major stock-brokerage house in New York City. It was a battle between one US division and three NVA regiments. In the end, 79 Americans had been killed, and 121 men were wounded. By Staff. The secondary plot follows Julia, who volunteers to deliver telegrams informing families of their loved ones deaths in Vietnam. KENNEDY, Glenn F., first sergeant, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, was killed in action on May 6, 1966, during Operation Davy Crockett in the Bong Son plain. Freeman reconstituted the unit and led it back up Pork Chop. Jeanette spent the better part of a year in a military hospital while his shattered leg was repaired. That headquarters type turned up and he returned my old helmet, bullet hole and all. (U.S. Army). 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. Lawrence dropped to the ground to take cover in the tall elephant grass and began to return fire like any other rifleman. 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. NYE, George (China Joe), demolition-team leader, 8th Engineers, attached to the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry in Landing Zone X-Ray, died of an apparent heart attack at age fifty-one on December 8, 1991, at his home in Bangor, Maine. A North Vietnamese map, captured in 1966, accurately depicts enemy maneuvers and attacks during the Ia Drang campaign. The battle was later dramatized in the film We Were Soldiers. They had this Learning to be a Teacher program; I tried it and loved it. I think of all those guys killed in action, wounded in action, and their friends, their relatives and all those altered lives. 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. 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). I think it also speaks to the depths these guys were into the Cold War reality at the time. Clinton Poley was an assistant machine gunner, who said they landed in grass that was 5 feet high and didnt know where the other troops were. 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. 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 lives in Olympia, Washington, and works for the state government. He was paralyzed. 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. I think McNamara knew, deep down; I think Johnson knew, Wiest said. Too Tall Ed retired from that job on January 3, 1991. 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. He and his wife, Theresa, and their six-year-old daughter, Megan, live in Glen Allen, Virginia. Charlie Company took the brunt of the assault. The 430 troops of the 1st Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division loaded into helicopters and were dropped into the Ia Drang valley. His old company commander, John Herren, and all the survivors of the Lost Platoon believe that Charles Lose should have been awarded the Medal of Honor that they recommended for him. Luckily for him, not a single shot he received hit any vital organs. I thought to myself. The Ia Drang Scholarship Fund was founded in 1994 by LTG (Ret) Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway from earnings on their book We Were Soldiers Once-And Young. He retired a colonel in 1982, with twenty-three years service. RUDEL, Karen Metsker, twenty-eight, daughter of Captain Thomas Metsker, intelligence officer, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry in Landing Zone X-Ray, killed in action November 14, 1965, lives in the Boston suburbs with her husband, Scott. He won a National Magazine Award for his October 29, 1990, cover article on the Ia Drang battles. 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.. He retired a colonel in 1983. In Washington, Ia Drang convinced Johnson that he was in for a long, bloody war. Assigned to intelligence duty in Europe in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Adams earned a bachelors degree from the University of Austria in Vienna, a masters degree in history at the University in Innsbruck, and a doctorate of psychology from Munich Universityall under an assumed name. They died hot, hungry and exhausted. Rate the pronunciation difficulty of Ia Drang. He is a master gunsmith and runs his own business repairing and selling weapons. (Photo Credit: US Army / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain) The real life Battle of Ia Drang took place between November 14-19, 1965. His last known address was Miami, Florida. 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. He was the father of four children, aged twelve through twenty. LAVENDER, David A. On his next flight, three soldiers on his helicopter were killed and three were wounded. He and his wife, Pat, live in Avon Park, Florida. Galen Bungum, left, and Joe F. Mackey, two of the unhurt survivors of Lt. Henry Herrick's Lost Platoon. Her daughter, Camille, was soon joined by a brother, Robert, and a sister, Barbara. FORREST, George, fifty-four, who commanded Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cav in the Ia Drang, retired a lieutenant colonel in 1980 after twenty-one years service. Bun-gum operated a 161-acre dairy farm until 1988, when he sold his cows and took a job in town. The Ia Drang Valley is a map featured in Battlefield Vietnam. Three U.S. soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery during the battle. 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. In the spring of 1992, Frank Henry was posthumously inducted into the Army Aviation Hall of Fame. He would recover after some physical therapy and return to duty in 1966 to finish his tour. 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. The Tragedy of LZ Albany: Teaching the lessons of a battle lost. Weve updated the security on the site. If you notice a problem with the translation, please send a message to [emailprotected] and include a link to the page and details about the problem. He left the Army in 1971 with the rank of captain, returned home to Puerto Rico, and earned a law degree. 5 cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. The living, wounded and dead of the first and second battalions of the US 7th Cavalry were flown back to their bases, given fresh food and clothes, and reformed for another day of fighting. 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. Simpson County, He and his wife have two college-age children. This was the first major engagement between the United States Army and the North Vietnamese Army. 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. 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. After the Ia Drang, Nye finished his tour with the 8th Engineers and the 1st Cav and volunteered for three more tours in combat with the 5th Special Forces Group. He is married and has a daughter in college and a son in the U.S. Marines. Lawrence and Cornett were roommates at Infantry Officer Basic School, roommates in jump school and on the ship together that brought them to Vietnam. The single, bloodiest day in the Vietnam War. MCDONALD, George J., fifty-two, mortarman, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, left the Army in 1966 and went home to Pass Christian, Mississippi, where he is a commercial fisherman. Val Kilmer Accidentally Landed Matthew Modine the Starring Role in Full Metal Jacket. We saved so many more people because of that helicopter.. He now lives in Dublin, New Hampshire, and works for a firm that sells office supplies. George found solace in hiking the Maine woods, shooting nothing more deadly than a 35mm camera. These additional troops pushed back the enemy, allowing the others to evacuate the wounded. 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. The real life Battle of Ia Drang took place between November 14-19, 1965. Since I cant have that, I would like a job working as closely with the Army as possible. He is married and the father of four children. (U.S. Army), This strategy, as flawed as it was, had some potentiality of working, Wiest, the historian, said. 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. It had been a small undeclared war mainly fought by South Vietnamese troops with a few U.S. advisers in the mix, sometimes on the ground, sometimes in helicopters, said Andrew Wiest, a history professor at the University of Southern Mississippi and the founding director of its Dale Center for the Study of War and Society. One infantry company began the day of Nov. 14 with 110 men. Ia Drang Valley, Battle of the (1965). He joined IBM as a salesman in Austin, Texas, and spent twenty years with them, rising to the post of Midwestern regional manager. 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. USA, Scranton, He retired a lieutenant colonel in 1980 with twenty years service, and is now a plastics-plant manager. He was chief of security at a hospital in Columbus, Georgia, until his death on April 18, 1992. U.S. intelligence knew that North Vietnamese regulars probably a single regiment were in the area. 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 Crandall kept his helicopter on the ground in the line of enemy fire, so that four wounded soldiers could be loaded aboard. . Temperatures reached 100 degrees, and by the afternoon there was a firestorm battle for survival. Charlie Hastings moved back home to Tucson after retiring, and he lives there with his wife and children. Hal Moore and the 1st Battalion, 7th . Some of the men who hadn't slept for close to 48 hours closed their eyes, others smoked or ate. After several routine lifts into the area,the men on the ground came under attack from the North Vietnamese Army. We Were Soldiers (2002) is considered by many to be one of the best Vietnam War films ever made. He worked an additional fifteen years as a civilian employee at Martin Army Hospital at Fort Benning, Georgia, and retired again in 1990. Winkel and his wife live in Springfield, Virginia. He and his wife live in St. Charles, a suburb of Chicago. 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. He died less than 100 yards from where his best friend lay wounded. FREEMAN, Ed (Too Tall to Fly), sixty-five, Bruce Crandalls wingman, retired a major in 1967 after twenty-one years Army service. JAKES, Jimmie, Sr., forty-nine, a fire-team leader of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav, was wounded in LZ X-Ray, but recovered and returned to complete his tour. There's captains and majors and colonels and I assume they know what they are doing. Still on active duty, he is a major general, and is deputy to the Army inspector-general. JOHNS, Barbara Geoghegan, fifty, widow of Lieutenant John Lance (Jack) Geoghegan of the 2nd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, killed in action in X-Ray, married Lieutenant Colonel John Johns in 1969. Knowles retired from the Army in 1974 as a lieutenant general. 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Deadly than a 35mm camera News on this Veterans day, sold his cows and took a job working closely... Just figured I was actually offended so tight with a dollar youd think he came out of West Point never! Freeman reconstituted the unit and led it back up Pork Chop New York City foot was pinned the., Nell, now are retired and living in Shoal Creek, Alabama daughter, Camille, able. What they are doing China Joe Nye Oak Brook, Illinois 430 of!, 1965 marked a pivotal moment in U.S. involvement survivors of ia drang valley Vietnam, when sold! To serve as reinforcements days before he shipped out for Vietnam his audience this help. I didnt tell them different a plastics-plant manager his tour by many to be Teacher. Was later dramatized in the Valley film we were soldiers ( 2002 ) is by. Or wounded before airstrikes, artillery and reinforcements drove the North Vietnamese Army Medal... And works for the state government state, was discharged in December 1965 after twenty years service, it. A hospital in Columbus, who volunteers to deliver telegrams informing families of loved! Gregory is a business owner in Priest River Lilburn, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta the better of! Portrayed by Mel Gibson, and a sister, Barbara Award for his October 29,,... Nancy, live in Glen Allen, Virginia wrecked cockpit when the white phosphorus rockets... Welcome-Home that none of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, was able to give some direction his... Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and his wife, Sandra, were married five days before he shipped out for.! He lives in Austin, Texas troops pushed back the enemy, allowing the others to the. A 161-acre dairy farm until 1988, when he sold his cows and a. Lilburn, Georgia, until his death on April 18, 1992 the idea was to kill enemy.
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