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. Another 71 Americans had been killed in earlier, smaller skirmishes that led up to the Ia Drang battles. They saved some 70 soldiers. I didn't do as I should have.". There is a problem with your email/password. His son is a staff sergeant in the 82nd Airborne Division and a veteran of both the Panama invasion and the Persian Gulf War. He was director of training development at Fort Benning when he retired as a colonel in 1983. They are representative of the more than three million Americans who served the United States of America in its long and bitter war in Vietnam, representative of those who loved one of the more than 58,000 Americans who died in that war. 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. Charlie Hastings moved back home to Tucson after retiring, and he lives there with his wife and children. On February 26, 2007, President George W. Bush presented Crandall with the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Ia Drang Valley. He retired from the battlefield only after all possible service had been rendered to the infantry battalion. 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). 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. Three U.S. soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery during the battle. 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. 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One killed, 15 injured after clashes erupt at Afghan border again December 16, 2022. 1/7 Cavalry lands at LZ X-Ray. He added a masters degree in Latin American studies to his M.A. The machine gunner was mowing them down. Knowles has served in the New Mexico legislature since 1982. Crandall continued to fly into and out of the landing zone throughout the day and into the evening. They successfully hit many of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops, while also shooting some of the Americans with friendly fire. Postal Service in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Companies C and D took the brunt of the Communist attack, and most of the men were quickly hit. The survivors of Landing Zone X-Ray have always had an aura of fame about them. Things were quiet, but in the morning, the North Vietnamese attacked. After retiring from the Army, Freeman became the northwest area director of aircraft services for the U.S. Department of the Interior. He assumed that like the French, the Americans would tire of seeing their young men coming home in body bags. Lessons in leadership, in the importance of training, in courage, in sacrifice and in loss. 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. Too Tall Ed retired from that job on January 3, 1991. They have four children and three grandchildren. Surprisingly, Adams, Beck's buddy who was shot in the head, was among the. Memoirs and histories written after the event capture it . 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 single-handedly raised five young children and earned a doctorate, retiring a lieutenant colonel after twenty years service. 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. He is president of his own management-consulting firm and lives in Oklahoma City. Read More Landing Zone Xray Lead elements of the under strength 450 man 1st Bn, 7th Cavalry air assault into a small clearing in scrub jungle below the 2300 foot Chu Pong Massif. 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. Douglas County, Freeman won a battlefield commission in the Korean War. The British-born Rescorla earned a masters degree and a law degree at universities in Oklahoma and went into corporate-security work. 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. This was the first and last battle between NVA forces and U.S forces of similar size. He retired a lieutenant colonel in 1977, and lives with his wife in Arlington, Texas. TULLY, Walter Busill (Buse) Jr., commander, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry in the Ia Drang, returned to Vietnam on a second tour as a major in the Americal Division. However, theres one part of We Were Soldiers thats different from what really happened: the ending. 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." That all would change when the First Cavalry Air Mobile Division flew into the Ia Drang Valley in the central highlands of South Vietnam. Feb 25, 2017. "It looked as if our best bet was to make for the copse of trees in the clearing, so I pointed my men in that direction and said, 'we need to get over there.'". The single, bloodiest day in the Vietnam War. 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. (U.S. Army). It was the longest day I ever experienced in any aircraft, Crandall recalled. He and his wife, Arlene, have three sonsa banker in Sao Paulo, Brazil; a lawyer in Connecticut; and a divinity student in college. Lacking confidence in the South Vietnamese, Gen. William C. Westmoreland ordered the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division, which had been in country about a month, to pursue the enemy, using newly minted airmobile tactics. 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. Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. 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. ADAMS, Russell, fifty-one, machine gunner, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav in the Ia Drang, helps run the family dairy farm on five hundred acres outside Shoemakersville, Pennsylvania. If you yield to it, it will absolutely paralyze you. Hal Moore and the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment fought at the former for three days, beginning on November 14. The bulk of the fighting lasted about 6 hours and in that time 2/7 Cav lost 155 killed and 124 wounded. He is married and the father of two children. By Trevor Arendall, July 9 . The 430 troops of the 1st Battalion, 1stCavalry Division loaded into helicopters and were dropped into the Ia Drang valley. 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. Now a senior writer for U.S. News, Galloway recently had one last combat tour. LZ Albany is essentially two clearings with a large copse of trees in the middle. Together, they flew in supplies, water, and ammunition needed for the troops. After two days of intense North Vietnamese attacks and mounting casualties, Moore radioed the code word Broken Arrow, calling for all available aircraft to rescue an American unit about to be overrun. PARISH, Willard, fifty-one, mortarman in Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, who won the Silver Star for his work as a machine gunner in LZ X-Ray, was among the draftees who rotated home in December 1965 for discharge. That headquarters type turned up and he returned my old helmet, bullet hole and all. 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. 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. Galloway served a total of fifteen years overseas with UPI, assigned to Tokyo, Saigon, Jakarta, New Delhi, Singapore, and Moscow. I marked off 65 names and thats when it really hit me what had happened and it just overwhelmed me. The outcome convinced the North Vietnamese that they could reduce the threat of U.S. firepower by engaging the Americans at close quarters where U.S. airstrikes would prove risky and then melt away into the jungle or across the border into sanctuaries in Cambodia. If you have questions, please contact [emailprotected]. They had this Learning to be a Teacher program; I tried it and loved it. 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. Luckily for him, not a single shot he received hit any vital organs. He was judged seventy percent disabled due to wounds suffered in LZ X-Ray. Carrara says, I dont dwell on Vietnam, but now and then I hear something or smell something and flash back to those days. Successful in their mission, the Americans travel back to their landing zone to be taken back to base. We were taking an administrative break, guys were taking off their packs and lighting cigarettes and the enemy was less than 100 yards on our right flank and deploying and we couldn't see 'em or hear 'em," he said. I think of all those guys killed in action, wounded in action, and their friends, their relatives and all those altered lives. He lives in Falls, Pennsylvania. On the second day, North Vietnamese forces launched a heavy attack including hand-to-hand combat. He is now a financial officer with the U.S. USA, Mendenhall, Orange County, Fesmire is a colonel assigned as the Army attache to the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 3 /5. The central highlands had few roads and challenging terrain, making air mobility the only viable mode of transportation. 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. Background. In 1974 he transferred from the infantry to the military police. 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. WHITESIDE, Jerry E., fifty-five, fire-support coordinator in LZ X-Ray, served a second tour in Vietnam as an adviser. He lives in Columbus, Georgia, and is a serious collector of firearms and active in a local shooting club. WASHBURN, Richard B., fifty-seven, platoon leader, 2/20th Aerial Rocket Artillery in the Ia Drang, returned to Vietnam for a second combat tour. 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. 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. Why I wasn't killed, I couldn't say.". He retired in August 1990, and now lives in Peekskill, New York. Moore lectures at military academies and at several colleges and universities. It was the first major battle of the Vietnam War, and Lawrence and . Each side realized it was fighting a war of attrition. I thought to myself. Still on active duty, he is a major general, and is deputy to the Army inspector-general. In January 1968, over the Bong Son plain, Crandalls Huey was blown out of the sky by an air strike while flying a nap-of-the-earth search for a downed helicopter. But the battle's true toll would prove to be the hubris it bred in U.S. commanders. AINSWORTH, Hank, fifty-four, who flew the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cav command helicopter in the Ia Drang, retired a chief warrant officer 4 on May 30, 1977, after twenty-two years service. Scott says: On the boat going to Vietnam I bet Plumley a case of beer I would be wounded first, and that I would be home for Christmas. All Rights Reserved. Sandpoint, ID 83864 Death in the Ia Drang Valley, November 13-18, 1965 By Private 1st Class Jack P. Smith The 1st Battalion had been fighting continuously for three or four days, and I had never seen such filthy troops. They resupplied ammunition, water, and supplies, while evacuating the wounded. 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. It occurred in the Ia Drang valley, near Vietnam's border with Cambodia, on November 14-18, 1965. Between the Army and the Interior Department, Freeman logged a total of seventeen thousand hours flying time in helicopters and eight thousand hours in fixed wing. Charlie Company took the brunt of the assault. 5 cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Moore and his battalion were evacuated the next day, Nov. 17. Crandalls back was broken; he spent five months in an Army hospital recovering. George Nye was a sparkplug of Operation Welcome Home, which brought veterans groups, brass bands, and Bangor townsfolk to the airport by the hundreds to hug and shake hands with the Desert Storm veterans. KNOWLES, Richard, seventy-five, assistant division commander of the 1st Cavalry Division, served a second consecutive tour in Vietnam, commanded the 196th Light Infantry Brigade, and then was commanding general of Task Force Oregon (precursor to the American Division). Terms of Use | He and his wife, Kathie, live on a seventy-acre ranch near Aspen, Colorado, where he owns and operates an outfitting company for fishing and boating trips. Shortly thereafter, US units began . The XO had been hit in the small of the back. There were no further attacks overnight. Search above to list available cemeteries. STOCKTON, John B., seventy, commander, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry in the Ia Drang, retired a colonel in 1967. Many did a second tour and others left the service and returned home to their families. The . New York, She also worked as a teaching assistant in the History Department. 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. At approximately noon,the North Vietnamese 33rd Regiment attacked. U.S. airpower lifted the siege and drove back the North Vietnamese. Bob Edwards saying that these were the stripes Paolone earned at LZ X-Ray but never got. Freeman and his wife, Barbara, live in Boise, Idaho. He and his wife live in Anniston, Alabama, where Martin is employed at the Army Depot. Difficult. in history. HOWARD, John, fifty-four, medical-services officer, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cav in the Ia Drang, retired a lieutenant colonel in 1983, after twenty-five years service. He served as city manager of Dunsmuir, California, from 1977 to 1980, when he moved to Mesa, Arizona, where he is the citys manager of public works. The following is a partial accounting, prepared in 1992, of where some of them are and what they have done with their lives: ADAMS, Russell, fifty-one, machine gunner, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav in the Ia Drang, helps run the family dairy farm on five hundred acres outside Shoemakersville, Pennsylvania. North Vietnamese forces had higher casualty rates, due to the U.S. airstrike and artillery support. But I remember thinking that I'm just a lieutenant. BUNGUM, Galen, forty-nine, rifleman in Lieutenant Henry Herricks Lost Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav, left the Army in April 1966 and went home to Hayfield, Minnesota. They have a son, who is in college, and a daughter, still in high school. He retired a first sergeant in June 1973, with twenty years service. He worked an additional fifteen years as a civilian employee at Martin Army Hospital at Fort Benning, Georgia, and retired again in 1990. 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. For the last twenty-two years he has worked for the North Bergen, N.J., fire department. Today he is a city bus driver in Houston, Texas. BY DAVID A. MAURER. The losses at Ia Drang prompted the North Vietnamese to rethink their plan to confront U.S. forces with large, conventional formations, reverting to hit-and-run attacks where U.S. air and artillery power was less effective. He now manages the quartermaster laundry at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and lives in Clarksville, Tennessee. He lives in Washington, D.C. SPIRES, James W., operations officer, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry in the Ia Drang, retired a lieutenant colonel in 1976 and owns and operates his own industrial representational firm. I ask that question every day. He joined IBM as a salesman in Austin, Texas, and spent twenty years with them, rising to the post of Midwestern regional manager. The Battle of Ia Drang Valley was a series of engagements between the U.S 1st Cavalry Division and the B-3 front, North Vietnamese Army. The fighting continued all day and into the night. The real life Battle of Ia Drang took place between November 14-19, 1965. The training kicks in and can save you.". 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. Becoming a Find a Grave member is fast, easy and FREE. Freeman reconstituted the unit and led it back up Pork Chop. We have set your language to It was a battle between one US division and three NVA regiments. The Ia Drang Valley is a valley located near Pleiku in Central Highlands of Vietnam. About 40 minutes later, North Vietnamese launched their attack, hiding in the tall elephant grass and in stands of trees. Westmorelands recommendation for more troops carried the day even as Johnson and his advisers privately questioned prospects for success. The Battle of Ia Drang was fought November 14-18, 1965, during the Vietnam War (1955-1975) and was the first major engagement between the US Army and the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN). His last known address was Miami, Florida. Merchant retired a lieutenant colonel in 1982. He and his wife, Ann, live in Lilburn, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. He went home to Anderson County, South Carolina, where he is a deputy sheriff. That same month, the United States began bombing North Vietnam in Operation Rolling Thunder. South Carolina, Lt. Col. Hal Moores 1stBattalion, 7thCalvary wasordered to take on an air assaultin the Ia Drang Valley. The conflict is divided into two engagements: the Battle at Landing Zone (LZ) X-Ray and. Winkel and his wife live in Springfield, Virginia. (67 votes) Very easy. Pronunciation of Ia Drang with 6 audio pronunciations. The bulk of the fighting was centered around two vital helicopter landing zones: LZ X-Ray and Albany. Fifty years ago today, one of the Vietnam war's most ferocious battles broke out in the Ia Drang Valley. George found solace in hiking the Maine woods, shooting nothing more deadly than a 35mm camera. Nearly 70 percent of the battalions soldiers were killed or wounded before airstrikes, artillery and reinforcements drove the North Vietnamese into nearby Cambodia. I fought for this country and now I own and farm 120 acres of my country. Diduryk is buried at the Fort Benning cemetery; his widow, Delores, lives in Jacksonville, Florida. JEANETTE, Robert J., fifty, Ghost 4-6, weapons-platoon leader, Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cav in the Ia Drang, lives in Monsey, New York, a suburb of New York City. Pujals recently closed his law practice. Contrary to popular belief, the Battle of Ia Drang started and ended after the famous landings at LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany. He still grows soybeans and corn on the farm in his spare time. But Charlie was back in the air, flying F-4 Phantoms, less than a year later. LAVENDER, David A. I've also included soldiers who survived and died later and the wife of the commander of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, Julia Moore for her role in supporting the grieving widows of the men slain. from around the world. The instructor of that class, Colonel John F. Jeszensky (ret. His last project on active duty was researching and writing a history of the all-black 24th Infantry Regiment during the Korean War. Read More 4 Oscar E . On January 31, 1966, The New York Times profiled Moore as The Man Who Can Find the Viet Cong. He pressed for another assignment to troop command in Vietnam, only to be told that he had already had his turn. 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. In the fall of 1965 the Vietnam War was an event most Americans saw as a series of smaller battles leaving little to remember. I have one very vivid memory of the second morning in X-Ray. POLEY, Clinton, forty-eight, assistant machine gunner, 2nd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry in the Ia Drang, was discharged from Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver, Colorado, early in 1966, and went home to Iowa and the family farm. 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. 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 WINTER, Pete, fifty-one, rifleman, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, was discharged in December 1965. "The fear factor, when you know someone is within yards of you and is trying to kill you desperately, the fear factor can shut you down. After several routine lifts into the area,the men on the ground came under attack from the North Vietnamese Army. He and his wife and young son live in Lawndale, California. By whatever measure, the chaotic, bloody Battle of the Ia Drang Valley set the tone for the rest of war. 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. It would remain the U.S. militarys single bloodiest day in Vietnam through the entire war. BARTHOLOMEW, Roger J. He is a freelance commercial artist in Harrisburg and occasionally turns his hand to fine-art drawings of his war experiences. Where the difference between We Were Soldiers and reality lies is that the battle didnt end with Moore and his men evacuating, nor was there a final heroic charge. 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 . 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And D took the brunt of the Vietnam War, and Lawrence and in earlier, skirmishes... And lives with his wife, Ann, live in Boise, Idaho the second day North... The real life battle of Ia Drang Valley set the tone for the troops during Korean... With twenty years service from that job on January 3, 1991 written after the famous landings LZ.