James T. Lawrence, a first lieutenant in the Battle of Ia Drang Valley, learned a lesson in leadership the hard way 50 years ago. 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. I pulled the muscles in that leg so badly yanking it free that I couldnt walk for three months, he said. They were unaware that two battalions of fresh PAVN soldiers had been camped out along the Ia Drang River on the other side of the landing zone. He and his wife, Louise, live in San Antonio, Texas, and Brown plays a round of golf most days. It was a battle between one US division and three NVA regiments. GEOGHEGAN, Camille, twenty-seven, daughter of Lieutenant John Lance (Jack) Geoghegan, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav, killed in action November 15, 1965, is a human resources specialist at a company in McLean, Virginia. He was the father of four children, aged twelve through twenty. 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. (Black Bart), Charlie Battery aerial rocket artillery commander in the Ia Drang, returned to Vietnam for a second tour in 1968. 4 Oscar E . He was forty-five. He is working on a book on Alpha Companys year in Vietnam. Now I felt terribly alone. However, theres one part of We Were Soldiers thats different from what really happened: the ending. Parish now runs the Bristow, Oklahoma, toll gate on the Turner Turnpike. We . Moore considered the outcome a draw. I felt a flash of panic. Please enter your email and password to sign in. 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. Basil Plumley is a grandfather now, kind and soft-spoken, but do not be deceived: He is the lion in winter. I marked off 65 names and thats when it really hit me what had happened and it just overwhelmed me. McNamara told Johnson that the U.S. could continue with its limited engagement or massively escalate the war with hundreds of thousands more troops. EDWARDS, Robert, fifty-four, commander of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav, served a second tour in Vietnam as an adviser. WALLENIUS, Jon, forty-nine, mortar observer, Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry in LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany, got out of the Army in August 1966. He spent thirty-two months in the hospital recovering from the wounds he suffered in LZ X-Ray. "The emotions are so high, the noise is tremendous, the confusion is everywhere; they had overrun us by now. He retired a colonel in 1981, and is vice president of human resources for a large corporation in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. 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. This browser does not support getting your location. In his spare time Wal-lenius draws, paints, and does etchings and prints, sometimes of Vietnam War scenes. Somebody grabbed him under his arms and dragged him toward the trees, but dropped him in the clearing where air support was dropping napalm. I have one very vivid memory of the second morning in X-Ray. 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. Too Tall Ed retired from that job on January 3, 1991. He retired a colonel in 1982, with twenty-three years service. He and his wife, Elizabeth, live in Roswell, New Mexico, where they run an antiques shop. "To do it you've got to get up. 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. 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. After a North Vietnamese strike against the Special Forces camp at Plei Me, American forces deployed in an effort to destroy the attackers. Freeman and his wife, Barbara, live in Boise, Idaho. Becoming a Find a Grave member is fast, easy and FREE. He retired a command sergeant major and lives in Columbus, Georgia. That all would change when the First Cavalry Air Mobile Division flew into the Ia Drang Valley in the central highlands of South Vietnam. He studied to be a tool-and-die machinist and worked at that job for several years until the strain of long hours standing on his bad leg severely affected his hip and back. Nonetheless, this allows a reprieve for Moore and his men to secure the area. George found solace in hiking the Maine woods, shooting nothing more deadly than a 35mm camera. They died thinking that their loved ones would never know how they died. KEETON, James, fifty-nine, battalion aid station medic, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, served a second tour in Vietnam with an adviser group. I think it also speaks to the depths these guys were into the Cold War reality at the time. Roger Gregory is a Vietnam veteran, serving in the 1st Infantry Division and is a business owner in Priest River. He and his wife live in Alexandria, Virginia. 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 then formed a computer-software company. James Lawrence, one of the men who fought at LZ Albany, later recounted his experiences. 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 Rescorla kept the battered French Army bugle he captured on the field at Albany; in 1991 he turned it over to the Ia Drang Alumni for use in memorial ceremonies. 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. Alley is general manager of a box factory in Dayton, Tennessee. The battle of Ia Drang was an engagement of the Vietnam War. He was evacuated, badly wounded, on January 5, 1970, after serving four years, eight months, and ten days in Vietnam. 1/7 Cavalry lands at LZ X-Ray. TIFFT, Richard P., Pathfinder team leader in LZ X-Ray, later served as commander of the Golden Knights, the Armys parachute team. Some of the survivors broke into tears of relief. 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.. One of the most significant battles of the Vietnam War, the 14-16 November 1965 battle in the Ia Drang Valley in South Vietnam's central highlands between the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) and the 33rd and 66th Regiments of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) marked a watershed change in the military strategies of both sides. This resulted in the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley, a forested area just east of the Chu Pong massif, from 23 October to 20 November. 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. This is the tale of the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam in 1965. 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. 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. No one wanted to look weak in the face of communist aggression.. 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. No one pulled security. U.S. airpower lifted the siege and drove back the North Vietnamese. He and his wife and their four Saint Bernard dogs live in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He moved back to his hometown of Tucson, Arizona. He is married and has a daughter in college and a son in the U.S. Marines. Major Bruce Crandalls UH-1D helicopter climbs skyward after discharging a load of infantrymen on a search and destroy mission in Ia Drang. The ending of We Were Soldiers comes once Hal Moore makes the decision to call in Broken Arrow, a request for all available combat aircraft to attack enemy positions. NADAL, Ramon A. The Battle of the la Drang Valley would come to be remembered as one of the most iconic battles of the Vietnam War, and later would set the scene for the film We Were Soldiers based on the novel We Were Soldiers OnceAnd Young. Their mission was to find and kill the enemy. His dissertation is on the LZ Albany battle. 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. It was much bigger than what we had seen before against a much more tenacious enemy, Wiest said of the battle. The bullet was still in there. 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. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. Knowles has served in the New Mexico legislature since 1982. 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. Advisory Group, Pleiku. 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. WINTER, Pete, fifty-one, rifleman, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, was discharged in December 1965. On November 18, 1965, the US forces were able to gather their dead. He had . Since completing her degrees, she has decided to take a step back from academia to focus her career on writing and sharing history in a more accessible way. P.O. Hal Moore and the 1st Battalion, 7th . Nearly 70 percent of the battalions soldiers were killed or wounded before airstrikes, artillery and reinforcements drove the North Vietnamese into nearby Cambodia. The machine gunner was mowing them down. He works for a consulting firm in McLean, Virginia. "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.'". 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. If you have questions, please contact [emailprotected]. On November 27, 1968, Lieutenant Colonel Bartholomew was killed in action. They have a son and two daughters. Lawrence and Cornett were roommates at Infantry Officer Basic School, roommates in jump school and on the ship together that brought them to Vietnam. Lt. Don Cornett, along with 154 troopers from 2/7 Cav, were killed in the Ia Drang Valley at a small clearing known as Landing Zone Albany. Forces, was Time magazines Man of the Year. KINNARD, Harry W. O., seventy-seven, former commanding general of the 1st Cavalry Division, retired from the Army as a lieutenant general in 1969. After retiring from the Army, Freeman became the northwest area director of aircraft services for the U.S. Department of the Interior. He went home to Salinas, California, where he lives with his wife and three sons. Today he is vice president for group security at a major stock-brokerage house in New York City. I believe it is so I can share our story.". 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. 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 wanted to ensure the memories of those who died live on, in particular that of his best friend, Lt. Don Cornett. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. Most of the planes touched down between midnight and six A.M., but George Nye was always there, rain or shine. He is brutally honest, even with his actions as a leader. Moderate. Search above to list available cemeteries. 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. 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. 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. He worked an additional fifteen years as a civilian employee at Martin Army Hospital at Fort Benning, Georgia, and retired again in 1990. She also worked as a teaching assistant in the History Department. The North Vietnamese regulars, young men who had been drafted into the military much as the young American men had been, had paid a much higher price to test the newcomers to an old fight: an estimated 3,561 of them had been killed, and thousands more wounded, in the 34-day Ia Drang campaign. 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). 'The torture stopped': 1969 brought temporary changes to infamous Hanoi Hilton, Patriotism or protest? MORENO, Frank, copilot in Ed Too Tall Freemans Huey in X-Ray, retired a chief warrant officer-4 after more than twenty years service. 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. SUGDINIS, Joel E., fifty-five, who had already served one tour in Vietnam as an adviser, completed his second tour with Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry. He is now a financial officer with the U.S. 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. Companies C and D took the brunt of the Communist attack, and most of the men were quickly hit. Baker, who was less than a foot away from me, was screaming that I was in charge and that I had to do something," he said. With only 700 effective soldiers left of the original 2,200, the 33d Regiment needed help. They never did. He single-handedly raised five young children and earned a doctorate, retiring a lieutenant colonel after twenty years service. 'Can't you see I'm dying?' 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. 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. Omaha, Hes in a unique position to want to believe these optimistic reports and hes getting a lot of them.. Towles received a masters degree in history from Kent State in 1989, and is currently working on his doctorate. 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. 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. I marked off 65 names and that's when it really hit me what had happened and it just overwhelmed me. 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. Today, Doc Shucart of Landing Zone Albany is the chief of neurosurgery at Tufts University Medical School. 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. The enemy was so close he could hear them talking and he could see them right in front of him. Westmoreland, a veteran of World War II in Europe, declared Ia Drang a victory because the North Vietnamese were driven from the field after suffering major casualties. It would remain the U.S. militarys single bloodiest day in Vietnam through the entire war. The men were still in an administrative maneuver, so when the word to halt came they plopped down where they were. He retired in 1990. Vince Cantu never went back to his music. His injured right hip deteriorated, and on the Thursday before Thanksgiving, 1986, he found himself back on an operating tablethe same place he had been on the Thursday before Thanksgiving, 1965. He is married and has four children. And it all began early one fall day. when I said to hell with it. He and his wife own and manage a trailer park, and Kluges night job is corrections officer for the Arizona State Department of Corrections. The vision of VVMF is to ensure a society in which all who have served and sacrificed in our nation's Armed Forces are properly honored and receive the recognition they justly deserve. We Were Soldiers (2002) is considered by many to be one of the best Vietnam War films ever made. It was the longest day I ever experienced in any aircraft, Crandall recalled. LZ Albany is essentially two clearings with a large copse of trees in the middle. When someone shook me and tried to get me moving I was actually offended. As a student, she worked in a variety of research positions, including as an archivist. Jeanette spent the better part of a year in a military hospital while his shattered leg was repaired. 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. Her research focused on military, environmental, and Canadian history with a specific focus on the Second World War. The majority of the battle was fought in the valley of Ia Drang, Vietnam by 3rd Battalion, 7th Calvary and was the first major test of air . Difficult. BARKER, Robert L., fifty-five, artillery-battery commander in LZ Falcon, served a second tour in Vietnam with the 1st Cavalry Division in 1969-1970 and later served a third combat tour. His friends completed the tree for him and dedicated it to Sergeant China Joe Nye. Muscogee County, 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. His primary job is helping communities located near Army chemical-weapons depots write their emergency-response plans. Through good fortune, the enemy's ignorance of their predicament, Specialist Lose's first-aid knowledge . Each side realized it was fighting a war of attrition. That spring, the Saigon government had begun collapsing under the combined. 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. They had this Learning to be a Teacher program; I tried it and loved it. The battle was later dramatized in the film We Were Soldiers. (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. Battalions would use helicopters to be transferred in and out as artillery support came in from above. Since retiring he serves on the boards of half a dozen major corporations and also works as a consultant to defense industries. Galen Bungum, 72, was a soldier in the Vietnam War and fought in the first major battle of the war, the battle of Ia Drang, on November 14, 1965. It was the first major battle of the Vietnam War, and Lawrence and . Crandall kept his helicopter on the ground in the line of enemy fire, so that four wounded soldiers could be loaded aboard. SHUCART, William, M.D., surgeon, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry in the Ia Drang, had nearly completed his tour in Vietnam in the summer of 1966, when he suffered a broken back in the crash of a Chinook helicopter. ROZANSKI, Gordon P. (Rosie), fifty-four, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry S-4 in the Ia Drang, was wounded in both arms, both legs, and the stomach in the Bong Son campaign in early 1966. He is a civilian specialist on NATO affairs for the Defense Department; he and his wife, Sally, live in Bethesda, Maryland. LAVENDER, David A. Linda Carole Mustion has not added any memorials to this virtual cemetery. WINKEL, Paul Patton, Jr., sixty, Orange 1 flight leader, Bravo Company, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion in the Ia Drang, served a second combat tour in Vietnam. Cash served a second tour in Vietnam as an adviser to the Royal Thai Army forces. JEKEL, Alex (Pop), seventy, Huey pilot in X-Ray and Albany, retired in the late 1960s as a chief warrant officer-4. 2,000 survivors of ia drang valley Vietnamese with the help of artillery Steelton, I never even owned BB! 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. He lives in Pleasant Valley, Connecticut, and works in real estate sales and development. President Johnson Jeanie Hunter in Oskaloosa, Ia on November 24, 1984 and she survives bikinis. Two men - Sgt. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Word reached the battalion traveling to Columbus, who sent Bravo Company back to Albany to serve as reinforcements. "The XO let out a low moan, and his head sank. The Ia Drang Valley is the place the U.S. really went to warfare. Deleting this Virtual Cemetery cannot be undone. 2023 Stars and Stripes. They and their buddies fought off hundreds of North Vietnamese with the help of artillery. They have four children and three grandchildren. It is laced with hard facts, observations, anger, sadness and even some humor. The North Vietnamese attempt one final attack, but are soon overrun and ordered to evacuate the headquarters they took only a few days prior. The service members killed in the Battle of la Drang are remembered on Panel 3E of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Im so proud to have been there and so proud of the guys who were there with me. Gwin left the Army at the end of his ROTC commitment and went home to his native Boston, where he teaches and writes. He remained with the medical platoon in Vietnam until July 1966. Although he was a civilian, Galloway was awarded the Bronze Star medal for helping to rescue wounded soldiers during the battle. Thus died one of the finest officers who fought in the Ia Drang. BARTHOLOMEW, Roger J. 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. I didn't do as I should have.". 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. He became a legend in the unit for his behavior in combat, and his face became an American icon when a young reporter named Peter Arnett snapped his photo. She and her husband live in Annandale, Virginia. The XO was going fast. Although each survivor's story is unique, . 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. "The next morning we were told the B-52s out of Guam were going to bomb the mountains and that we were to move to LZ Albany," Jim said. By Trevor Arendall, July 9 . 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