Word reached the battalion traveling to Columbus, who sent Bravo Company back to Albany to serve as reinforcements. Westmorelands recommendation for more troops carried the day even as Johnson and his advisers privately questioned prospects for success. 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. (Skip), fifty-three, commander of Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cav in the Ia Drang, is still on active duty. copyright 2023 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. In the last operation, his shattered left knee joint was removed and the leg bones fused, leaving his left leg frozen straight and two inches shorter than his right leg. We were caught inside of what was essentially an L-shaped ambush.". 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. Although each survivor's story is unique, they all carry the same lessons. They have two sons, one an oil-industry consultant, the other an Air Force sergeant who served in the Persian Gulf War. They have a son, who is in college, and a daughter, still in high school. Before the Battle of la Drang was over, 305 Americans had been killed along with an estimated 2,000 North Vietnamese troops. 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. A wounded soldier of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, is attended to by fellow comrades during the fight for LZ X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley of Vietnam. MORENO, Frank, copilot in Ed Too Tall Freemans Huey in X-Ray, retired a chief warrant officer-4 after more than twenty years service. He was first sergeant of Bravo Company, 36th Engineer Battalion and one of 14 men in his 257-man company who survived the opening stages of the fight for Pork Chop Hill. The single, bloodiest day in the Vietnam War. He retired a colonel in December 1981, after twenty-four years service. He and Russell Adams are still best friends. Luckily for him, not a single shot he received hit any vital organs. 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. "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 and his wife have two college-age children. I had been assuming that he would get us out of this. This account has been disabled. Hal Moore and the 1st Battalion, 7th . 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. McNamara told Johnson that the U.S. could continue with its limited engagement or massively escalate the war with hundreds of thousands more troops. His friends completed the tree for him and dedicated it to Sergeant China Joe Nye. 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. Surprisingly, Adams, Beck's buddy who was shot in the head, was among the. Winkel and his wife live in Springfield, Virginia. He would recover after some physical therapy and return to duty in 1966 to finish his tour. As the command ship touched down, other NVA soldiers opened up; Myron Diduryk was struck in the stomach in the doorway of the chopper. Postal Service in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He retired a command sergeant major and lives in Columbus, Georgia. She also worked as a teaching assistant in the History Department. (U.S. Army). Major Bruce P. Crandall's UH-1D helicopter climbs skyward after discharging a load of infantrymen on a search and destroy mission. Im so proud to have been there and so proud of the guys who were there with me. This battle took place from 11-14-1965, thru 11-18-1965. I still have my leg, and I can walk on it. The battle of Ia Drang was an engagement of the Vietnam War. On the second day, North Vietnamese forces launched a heavy attack including hand-to-hand combat. A North Vietnamese map, captured in 1966, accurately depicts enemy maneuvers and attacks during the Ia Drang campaign. In January 1991, General H. Norman Schwarzkopf summoned the reporter to his headquarters in Saudi Arabia and said: Im sending you to the commander out here who is most like General Hal Moore, and the division which has the most challenging and dangerous mission in my battle plan. Galloway rode with then-Major General Barry McCaffrey and the 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) on a hair-raising tank charge through the western Iraq desert to the Euphrates River valley. Edwards is the acting borough manager of Dublin, Pennsylvania; he and his wife, Nancy, live in nearby New Hope. He joined IBM as a salesman in Austin, Texas, and spent twenty years with them, rising to the post of Midwestern regional manager. I think it also speaks to the depths these guys were into the Cold War reality at the time. Thanks for your help! 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. Westmorelands biggest problem with the strategy was that he thought it would work in two or three years when it would have taken 10 or 12.. It is based on the Battle for Landing Zone X-Ray, part of the Battle of Ia Drang, the first major battle of the Vietnam War. Due to a statute of limitations being lifted, Freeman was awarded the Medal of Honor on July 16, 2001. In the same way, the story of his experiences at LZ Albany is a story that could be told by the nearly 400 Troopers of 2/7 Cav who fought and died at LZ Albany, or the 1/7 Cav Troopers at LZ X-ray or the more than 2.6 million US personnel who served in Vietnam. 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. "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. The bulk of the fighting was centered around two vital helicopter landing zones: LZ X-Ray and Albany. The former arrives in Vietnam in November 1965, and, soon after, is tasked with leading his 400 men in an effort to take out the enemy troops who attacked one of the bases in the Ia Drang Valley. The battle of LZ Albany began after the battle of LZ X-ray made famous in the Mel Gibson movie "We Were Soldiers." Some of them had blood on their faces from scratches and from other guys' wounds. 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. MCDADE, Robert, seventy, who commanded the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry in the Ia Drang, retired a colonel in 1975. The fighting continued all day and into the night with the enemy relentlessly making assault after assault. (Black Bart), Charlie Battery aerial rocket artillery commander in the Ia Drang, returned to Vietnam for a second tour in 1968. 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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. Bob Edwards saying that these were the stripes Paolone earned at LZ X-Ray but never got. Although each survivor's story is unique, . After a North Vietnamese strike against the Special Forces camp at Plei Me, American forces deployed in an effort to destroy the attackers. 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. 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. Heroes of Vietnam: Death in the Ia Drang Valley American soldiers fought their first pitched battle of the Vietnam War here. The problem was it had to be applied by a country that was much more willing for it to be applied for the long haul. He and his wife, Arlene, have three sonsa banker in Sao Paulo, Brazil; a lawyer in Connecticut; and a divinity student in college. 5 cemeteries found in will be saved to your photo volunteer list. The battalion commander had ordered his command helicopter to land and check out a North Vietnamese soldier killed by the door gunner. It was the first major battle of the Vietnam War, and Lawrence and . Spec. The real life Battle of Ia Drang took place between November 14-19, 1965. The Battle of Ia Drang was the first major battle of Vietnam fought on the dates of November 14-18, 1965. Unknown to them at the time, they were surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese troops. He co-authored the book We Were Soldiers Once And Young with Hal Moore. That spring, the Saigon government had begun collapsing under the combined. On 27 October Westmoreland committed a brigade of the 1st Air Cavalry to search-and-destroy operations. The first major American direct fire conflict took place in November of 1965 in the Ia Drang Valley. He was evacuated, badly wounded, on January 5, 1970, after serving four years, eight months, and ten days in Vietnam. WHITESIDE, Jerry E., fifty-five, fire-support coordinator in LZ X-Ray, served a second tour in Vietnam as an adviser. They are all Don Cornett to him, his best friend. 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. He and his wife live in Lake Forest, Illinois. 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. 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. The men, women, and children of this story are Americas neighbors, living quiet lives in every corner of the nation they served. 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.. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. I think of all those guys killed in action, wounded in action, and their friends, their relatives and all those altered lives. 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. WASHBURN, Richard B., fifty-seven, platoon leader, 2/20th Aerial Rocket Artillery in the Ia Drang, returned to Vietnam for a second combat tour. Today he is an orchestra leader and serves in the state militia. 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. Florence County, 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. Freeman and his wife, Barbara, live in Boise, Idaho. The bulk of the fighting was centered around two vital helicopter landing zones: LZ X-Ray and Albany. The location of the battle, far into the jungle from any roads, meant troops had to be airlifted in. Shortly thereafter, US units began . I fought for this country and now I own and farm 120 acres of my country. His widow, Emma Lee, lives in Austin, Texas. By the end of the first day, the 1st BN, 7th Cavalry was reduced to approximately 340 men. 1/7 Cavalry lands at LZ X-Ray. Mrs. Mapson is a member of the Columbus chapter of the 1st Cavalry Division Association. Carrara says, I dont dwell on Vietnam, but now and then I hear something or smell something and flash back to those days. Moore is the last to leave, refusing to do so until every man living and dead has left. He retired from the Army as a staff sergeant in 1976, and now serves in the Alabama National Guard. In Washington, Ia Drang convinced Johnson that he was in for a long, bloody war. 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. 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. Found more than one record for entered Email, You need to confirm this account before you can sign in. He is married and has four children. We have set your language to 311 memorials He and his wife, Elizabeth, live in Roswell, New Mexico, where they run an antiques shop. He had . 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. GWIN, S. Lawrence (Larry), fifty-one, executive officer, Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cav in the Ia Drang, stayed with his company through July 4, 1966. DILLON, Gregory (Matt), fifty-nine, operations officer of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cav in the Ia Drang, served a second tour in Vietnam as a battalion commander in the 9th Infantry Division and was a brigade commander at Fort Carson, Colorado. The British-born Rescorla earned a masters degree and a law degree at universities in Oklahoma and went into corporate-security work. Rozanski returned to the Ia Drang five times on various intelligence missions and described the place as a cemetery. He was retired, disabled, as a major in the mid-1970s. 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. Omaha, He married in 1981 and is the father of four daughters: an eight-year-old, a five-year-old, and infant twins. Becoming a Find a Grave member is fast, easy and FREE. 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. He lives in Columbus, Georgia, and is a serious collector of firearms and active in a local shooting club. 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. In November, troops would take on North Vietnamese regulars for the first time in the Battle of Ia Drang Valley. Search above to list available cemeteries. 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 He was medically evacuated the next morning. I believe it is so I can share our story.". Many did a second tour and others left the service and returned home to their families. This browser does not support getting your location. I ask that question every day. He assumed that like the French, the Americans would tire of seeing their young men coming home in body bags. 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.. These men survived the fighting in the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam from Oct 23, 1965 to Nov 1965. His helicopter came under intense enemy fire, but they continued to carry out the wounded, even though that wasnt their mission. He went home to Anderson County, South Carolina, where he is a deputy sheriff. 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. 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. (Joe), fifty, platoon leader, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry and the only man to receive the Medal of Honor, Americas highest decoration for valor, in the Ia Drang campaign, is a colonel and still on active duty after twenty-eight years. God rest you, George. The . One killed, 15 injured after clashes erupt at Afghan border again December 16, 2022. These additional troops pushed back the enemy, allowing the others to evacuate the wounded. The "Lost Platoon," led by Lt. Henry T. Herrick, became separated from the rest of Lt. Col. Harold G. "Hal" Moore's battalion at the start of the battle of Ia Drang on Nov. 14, 1965. Bun-gum operated a 161-acre dairy farm until 1988, when he sold his cows and took a job in town. He now manages the quartermaster laundry at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and lives in Clarksville, Tennessee. WINTER, Pete, fifty-one, rifleman, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, was discharged in December 1965. Battalions would use helicopters to be transferred in and out as artillery support came in from above. We . You've got to be in command and as I was on the way up, with my helmet strapped on, a North Vietnamese soldier in a tree put two bullet holes right through my helmet.". There is a problem with your email/password. The Ia Drang Valley is the place the U.S. really went to warfare. I marked off 65 names and thats when it really hit me what had happened and it just overwhelmed me. from around the world. Facebook Twitter Combat operations at Ia Drang Valley, Vietnam, November 1965. By the third day of the battle, the Americans had gained the upper hand. 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. Ia Drang Valley, Battle of the (1965). When I was down, men were running past me, swishing the elephant grass and speaking Vietnamese and executing the wounded. The Ia Drang Valley is a valley located near Pleiku in Central Highlands of Vietnam. Charlie Hastings moved back home to Tucson after retiring, and he lives there with his wife and children. 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. Army Specialist Four (SP4) Bill Beck was an assistant machine gunner assigned to the 1 st Battalion, 7 th Cavalry Regiment (1/7 Cav), 1 st Cavalry Division on November 14, 1965, when the unit airlifted into Landing Zone (LZ) X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam. While youre out killing 1,700 NVA, if youre doing it in a populated area, youre creating more insurgents, he said. He is senior Army adviser to the 79th Army Reserve Command in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. 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. We lived in tents. 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. Shortly after the battalion set out, the North Vietnamese sprang a massive ambush. 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. His son is a staff sergeant in the 82nd Airborne Division and a veteran of both the Panama invasion and the Persian Gulf War. The two-hour Ia Drang Valley program kicked off the reunion's final day. Moore continues to fight, returning home to Julia after a year. 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. Hal Moore and the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment fought at the former for three days, beginning on November 14. Photo extracted from U.S. Army motion picture footage from November 1965. 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. I didn't do as I should have.". As one writer concluded, "The Ia Drang Valley is where the U.S. truly went to war," and it "set the tone for the" many years of relentless fighting that would follow. He and his wife, Theresa, live on a farm in northern Virginia with their sons Lee, fifteen, and Joshua, twelve. Yesteryears: For survivors, Battle of the Ia Drang Valley changed everything. LZ Albany is essentially two clearings with a large copse of trees in the middle. Learn more about featured topics of the Vietnam War and Vietnam Era. "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. 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. In August 1977, at the age of forty-four, Colonel Frank Henry died when an aneurysm ruptured. Crandalls back was broken; he spent five months in an Army hospital recovering. 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. Crandall and Freeman successfully rescued some 70 wounded men. 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. With only 700 effective soldiers left of the original 2,200, the 33d Regiment needed help. Lawrence's story is one that he has told so often to so many people that it is fluid and impactful without being rehearsed. 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. She received both her bachelor of arts degree in history, and her master of arts degree in history from Western University. He was evacuated, via Clark Field, to Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver. Scott and Basil Plumley meet most Fridays over breakfast at a local cafe for spirited discussions of the relative merits of their service, their two 7th Cavalry battalions, and other weighty issues. He is a consultant to industries seeking defense business. 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. Contrary to popular belief, the Battle of Ia Drang started and ended after the famous landings at LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany. He personally shook the hands of at least fifty thousand returning soldiers. It was the most successful ambush against U.S. forces during the course of the entire war. After he flew the men back to base, he knew the soldiers on the ground were running short of ammunition, so he decided to fly back in. based on information from your browser. Hal Moore ensured that all of the men came home, and they therefore did . 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. 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. This was the first major engagement between the United States Army and the North Vietnamese Army. Crandall kept his helicopter on the ground in the line of enemy fire, so that four wounded soldiers could be loaded aboard. Now I felt terribly alone. 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. Please try again later. TOWLES, Robert, forty-seven, rifleman, Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, spent five months in Valley Forge General Hospital in Pennsylvania, recovering from twenty-eight shrapnel wounds he received at LZ Albany. That all would change when the First Cavalry Air Mobile Division flew into the Ia Drang Valley in the central highlands of South Vietnam. About 40 minutes later, North Vietnamese launched their attack, hiding in the tall elephant grass and in stands of trees. P.O. When he got back to Refugio, Texas, he called on Joe Galloways parents but mercifully concealed the true circumstances of their meeting on the battlefield in X-Ray. 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. Nonetheless, this allows a reprieve for Moore and his men to secure the area. Memoirs and histories written after the event capture it . On February 26, 2007, President George W. Bush presented Crandall with the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Ia Drang Valley. 4/C Jack P. Smith (Illustration by Noel Sickles, SEPS) Weekly Newsletter SUPPORT THE POST I marked off 65 names and that's when it really hit me what had happened and it just overwhelmed me. Please enter your email and password to sign in. 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. Terms of Use | BY DAVID A. MAURER. 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. He then formed a computer-software company. (Tony), fifty-six, commander of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, later earned a masters degree in psychology and taught at West Point and at the Army War College. He still grows soybeans and corn on the farm in his spare time. 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