He is brutally honest, even with his actions as a leader. 2023 Stars and Stripes. But the battle's true toll would prove to be the hubris it bred in U.S. commanders. 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. (Skip), fifty-three, commander of Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cav in the Ia Drang, is still on active duty. 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. His lieutenants bars were pinned on by General James Van Fleet and, at Freemans request, his first assignment was as commander of Bravo Company. Too Tall Ed retired from that job on January 3, 1991. 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. In 1974 he transferred from the infantry to the military police. I have it here with me today. He lives with his wife and family in Steelville. I felt a flash of panic. They were platoon leaders together in the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. After years of advising the South Vietnamese against the communist North, and months of chasing black-clad guerrillas, a large. 311 memorials That spring, the Saigon government had begun collapsing under the combined. McNamara told Johnson that the U.S. could continue with its limited engagement or massively escalate the war with hundreds of thousands more troops. The men, women, and children of this story are Americas neighbors, living quiet lives in every corner of the nation they served. 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. (U.S. Army), This strategy, as flawed as it was, had some potentiality of working, Wiest, the historian, said. 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. Towles received a masters degree in history from Kent State in 1989, and is currently working on his doctorate. Enlisted men may scoff at officers back in the billets but when the fighting begins, the men automatically become dependent upon them. In November, troops would take on North Vietnamese regulars for the first time in the Battle of Ia Drang Valley. That headquarters type turned up and he returned my old helmet, bullet hole and all. He and his wife, Theresa, and their six-year-old daughter, Megan, live in Glen Allen, Virginia. Fred Gilreath of Surgoinsville holds a framed photo of his older brother Luther Gilreath who was killed 50 years ago on the second day of the Battle of Ia Drang, Nov. 15, 1965. He and his wife live in Alexandria, Virginia. 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. 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. By Trevor Arendall, July 9 . 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. He retired a major in 1980, after twenty years service. 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. The North Vietnamese enjoyed numerical superiority in the valley. DIDURYK, Myron F., commander of Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cav in LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany, completed his tour in Vietnam with Bravo Company in 1966, and later returned to Vietnam and the 1st Air Cavalry Division as a major. 5 memorials LTC Roger Jay Bartholomew 2 Nov 1932 - 27 Nov 1968 Westlawn-Hillcrest Memorial Park Battle of Ia Drang, first major clash between U.S. soldiers and North Vietnamese troops during the Vietnam War. 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. 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. Returning home, he single-handedly raised his two young children while earning two masters degrees. He now lives in Dublin, New Hampshire, and works for a firm that sells office supplies. 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. MILLS, Jon, fifty-four, Bruce Crandalls copilot in the Ia Drang, retired a lieutenant colonel in 1980. As the command ship touched down, other NVA soldiers opened up; Myron Diduryk was struck in the stomach in the doorway of the chopper. We were crawling around under intense machine-gun fire when Sergeant Major Plumley walked up, pulled his .45-caliber pistol, chambered a round, and said: Gentlemen, prepare to defend yourselves.You never forget a thing like that.. 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. MARM, Walter J. 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). 208-263-9534. He and his wife, Elizabeth, live in Roswell, New Mexico, where they run an antiques shop. After a North Vietnamese strike against the Special Forces camp at Plei Me, American forces deployed in an effort to destroy the attackers. Lt. Col. Harold G. Moore, a no-nonsense West Pointer, was the commander of the . He lives on a farm near Rainier, Washington, and has been writing down his memories of Vietnam duty for his children and grandchildren. 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. 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). He retired a lieutenant colonel in 1977 and returned to Georgia, where he is an executive for a trucking firm. Although survivors had been trickling in during the morning they thought the 2/7th had been annihilated in the fighting at Albany. Crandall kept his helicopter on the ground in the line of enemy fire, so that four wounded soldiers could be loaded aboard. This is the tale of the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam in 1965. Outnumbered when they arrive, the men are forced to fight for their lives while eliminating the 4,000-strong North Vietnamese force. Initially, Lawrence's thoughts and feelings after he was safe were just moments captured in his mind. This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. 2 Ia Drang also served as a test for the U.S. military of its new air mobility tactics. James Lawrence, one of the men who fought at LZ Albany, later recounted his experiences. Thanks for your help! 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. 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.. The film follows the experiences of both Moore, portrayed by Mel Gibson, and his wife, Julia, played by Madeleine Stowe. 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. 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. 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. Background. Today he is a city bus driver in Houston, Texas. It was the first major battle of the Vietnam War, and Lawrence and . EIN: 52-1149668, Copyright 2023 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Javascript must be enabled for the correct page display. Learn more about featured topics of the Vietnam War and Vietnam Era. PAYNE, D. P. (Pat), fifty, recon-platoon leader, Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry in the Ia Drang, served two tours in Vietnam and left the Army as a captain in June 1969. 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. Temperatures reached 100 degrees, and by the afternoon there was a firestorm battle for survival. His last known address was Miami, Florida. 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. He wanted to ensure the memories of those who died live on, in particular that of his best friend, Lt. Don Cornett. Moore continues to fight, returning home to Julia after a year. During his two tours in Vietnam, Crandall flew lead ship on 756 separate missions. (67 votes) Very easy. He retired a colonel in 1981, and is vice president of human resources for a large corporation in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. It was much bigger than what we had seen before against a much more tenacious enemy, Wiest said of the battle. Battle of Ia Drang American troops in the Ia Drang Valley, November 1965. He is president of the Army Relief Fund and a trustee of the Association of Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy. 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. Adams and his wife have a three-year-old daughter. Through good fortune, the enemy's ignorance of their predicament, Specialist Lose's first-aid knowledge . He is partly paralyzed as a result of his terrible wound. Unlike Viet Cong guerrillas, the northerners were prepared to stand and fight. 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. 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. Battalions would use helicopters to be transferred in and out as artillery support came in from above. He was evacuated, via Clark Field, to Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver. The bulk of the fighting was centered around two vital helicopter landing zones: LZ X-Ray and Albany. In the fall of 1965 the Vietnam War was an event most Americans saw as a series of smaller battles leaving little to remember. Today he is vice president for group security at a major stock-brokerage house in New York City. 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. He co-authored the book We Were Soldiers Once And Young with Hal Moore. Now a senior writer for U.S. News, Galloway recently had one last combat tour. There were no further attacks overnight. FESMIRE, John A. 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. He and his wife and their four Saint Bernard dogs live in Colorado Springs, Colorado. A month before the Ia Drang operation, North Vietnamese regulars attacked a U.S. Special Forces base at Plei Me, hoping to lure the ineffectual South Vietnamese army out of its base at the provincial capital, Pleiku, and destroy it. Contrary to popular belief, the Battle of Ia Drang started and ended after the famous landings at LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany. VIERA, Arthur, Jr., forty-eight, an M-79 grenadier with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, survived the terrible wounds he suffered in X-Ray. Im so proud to have been there and so proud of the guys who were there with me. He was evacuated, badly wounded, on January 5, 1970, after serving four years, eight months, and ten days in Vietnam. The following day, both battalions were informed of an incoming bomber run on LZ X-Ray, meaning they needed to go elsewhere. On February 26, 2007, President George W. Bush presented Crandall with the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Ia Drang Valley. 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. The bulk of the fighting lasted about 6 hours and in that time 2/7 Cav lost 155 killed and 124 wounded. Winkel retired a colonel in 1986, with over thirty-one years of Army service. His widow, Emma Lee, lives in Austin, Texas. He was discharged a sergeant, completed his college education, and is now an on-air national news correspondent for ABC Televisions Weekend News. She also worked as a teaching assistant in the History Department. USA. He retired from the battlefield only after all possible service had been rendered to the infantry battalion. He lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and owns and operates a real estate brokerage firm. The survivors of Landing Zone X-Ray have always had an aura of fame about them. 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. Major Bruce Crandalls UH-1D helicopter climbs skyward after discharging a load of infantrymen on a search and destroy mission in Ia Drang. 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. JEKEL, Alex (Pop), seventy, Huey pilot in X-Ray and Albany, retired in the late 1960s as a chief warrant officer-4. Some of the survivors broke into tears of relief. She received both her bachelor of arts degree in history, and her master of arts degree in history from Western University. 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. Ia Drang Valley, Battle of the (1965). The training kicks in and can save you.". Fesmire is a colonel assigned as the Army attache to the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. On his next flight, three soldiers on his helicopter were killed and three were wounded. 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. Nebraska, The battle was part of a campaign for control of the strategic central highlands, which divided South Vietnam north to south. One killed, 15 injured after clashes erupt at Afghan border again December 16, 2022. Later, after he was evacuated the doctors thought his spine was severed, but discovered later that he had a severely bruised spine from the force of the bullets whipping his head back. Young went to work for the railroad in Steelville, Missouri. After a second career as a consultant to defense industries on the West Coast, he retired again and lives in Arlington, Virginia, with his wife, Libby. EDWARDS, Robert, fifty-four, commander of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav, served a second tour in Vietnam as an adviser. His friend, James Lawrence, speaks with organizations and Soldiers about the lessons learned from the Army engineer recognized for exemplary work in obsolescence management, Norway adds top-tier military experience to State Partnership Program, Army's Environmental Restoration Program revitalizes contaminated lands, Army Lt. Col. Adams: A pioneer worthy of commemoration, US and UAE soldiers train together at Joint Readiness Training Center, Unified network operations underpins Army's digital transformation, SMA plans to reward Soldiers who meet rising standards. USA, Mendenhall, The mission of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) is to honor and preserve the legacy of service and educate all generations about the impact of the Vietnam War. Feb 25, 2017. He single-handedly raised five young children and earned a doctorate, retiring a lieutenant colonel after twenty years service. They have two sons, one an oil-industry consultant, the other an Air Force sergeant who served in the Persian Gulf War. Scott and Basil Plumley meet most Fridays over breakfast at a local cafe for spirited discussions of the relative merits of their service, their two 7th Cavalry battalions, and other weighty issues. The four day battle in the Ia Drang Valley began on the morning of November 14, 1965 when the 1st battalion of the 7th Cavalry, my sister battalion, landed in a clearing at the foot of Chu Pong Mountain. They have four children and five grandchildren. PUJALS, Enrique, fifty, platoon leader, Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry in the Ia Drang, woke up on an X-ray table first, then on a C-141 ambulance plane, and finally in Ward One at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C. "I'm just as guilty. Moore is the last to leave, refusing to do so until every man living and dead has left. Fought between November 14th and 18th of 1965, around the hills surrounding the valley of Ia Drang, on the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. Before the Battle of la Drang was over, 305 Americans had been killed along with an estimated 2,000 North Vietnamese troops. Deleting this Virtual Cemetery cannot be undone. I ripped off his shirt and there it was: a groove to the right of his spine. James Lawrence, a 77 year-old Vietnam veteran from Alabama, tells people about his best friend and the battle he died in whenever he gets the chance. Weve updated the security on the site. Somebody grabbed him under his arms and dragged him toward the trees, but dropped him in the clearing where air support was dropping napalm. The bullet was still in there. The Battle of Ia Drang Still Matters - War Is Boring. Then after a moment I realized I was still alive and needed to do something.". He lives in Pleasant Valley, Connecticut, and works in real estate sales and development. Adams and his wife have a three-year-old daughter. They died dirty. It was a battle between one US division and three NVA regiments. A total of 305 soldiers died. 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. "When things started it just erupted," Lawrence said. Knowles has served in the New Mexico legislature since 1982. He still grows soybeans and corn on the farm in his spare time. Although it was left out of We Were Soldiers, Albany was no less bloody than X-Ray. The battlefield area covered 1,500 square miles of what appeared to be flat rolling terrain dominated by the Chu Pong . Every night I rub a towel over all my scars and see them in the mirror. He was director of training development at Fort Benning when he retired as a colonel in 1983. He plays volleyball two nights a week to keep trim and has devoted much of his spare time over the past two years to a detailed study of the part played in the Ia Drang battles by his fellow aviators of the 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, our beloved Huey slick drivers. SAVAGE, Ernie, forty-eight, the fourth man to inherit command of Lieutenant Henry Herricks 2nd Platoon, the Lost Platoon of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry at LZ X-Ray, retired a sergeant first class in 1982 after twenty years active duty. (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. from around the world. Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. He is now an attorney in San Diego, California. The two-hour Ia Drang Valley program kicked off the reunion's final day. 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. The British-born Rescorla earned a masters degree and a law degree at universities in Oklahoma and went into corporate-security work. We Were Soldiers (2002) is considered by many to be one of the best Vietnam War films ever made. Georgia, Both later were awarded the Medal of Honor, our nations highest award for heroism in combat. The bulk of the fighting was centered around two vital helicopter landing zones: LZ X-Ray and Albany. (U.S. Army). Westmorelands recommendation for more troops carried the day even as Johnson and his advisers privately questioned prospects for success. 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. 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. It was Nov. 15, 1965, in the valley of the Ia Drang in the wild mountains of the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. He shares this message with the groups he speaks to, but being able to impart some wisdom and knowledge from his experiences to Soldiers is special to him, because for him it is an opportunity to maybe bring a Soldier home safely. His hands were burned in the escape from the wreckage, and it was doubted that he would ever fly again. Please try again later. Bob Edwards saying that these were the stripes Paolone earned at LZ X-Ray but never got. Crandall continued to fly into and out of the landing zone throughout the day and into the evening. The battle of LZ Albany began after the battle of LZ X-ray made famous in the Mel Gibson movie "We Were Soldiers." 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. He added a masters degree in Latin American studies to his M.A. On Nov. 14, 1965, soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, loaded onto helicopters and flew to a remote patch of ground in the Ia Drang Valley of South Vietnams central highlands. "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. 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.. North Vietnamese forces had higher casualty rates, due to the U.S. airstrike and artillery support. Col. Bruce Crandall, Commander ofCompany A, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), led the first major division operation of airmobile troops into Landing Zone X-Ray. MCDADE, Robert, seventy, who commanded the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry in the Ia Drang, retired a colonel in 1975. He retired in 1990. Survivors described savage, close-range combat, sometimes hand-to-hand, over several hours. In Hanoi, the North Vietnamese leadership was prepared for huge losses. P.O. That same month, the United States began bombing North Vietnam in Operation Rolling Thunder. 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 the Gulf veterans to have the welcome-home that none of the Vietnam veterans got. He spent more than 14 hours in the air andcompleted a total of 22 flights, most under intense enemy fire. When I was down, men were running past me, swishing the elephant grass and speaking Vietnamese and executing the wounded. 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). I was standing back there in the column and the column was stopped. He retired a colonel in December 1981, after twenty-four years service. 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. 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. STINNETT, Robert L., fifty-eight, Bravo Company, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion in LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany, returned to Vietnam for a second combat tour. Spec. He told me that if he didn't make it, I was to write her and tell her that he loved her. OUELLETTE, Robert, fifty, battalion commanders radio operator in LZ X-Ray, left the Army in August 1966. The battle of Ia Drang was an engagement of the Vietnam War. After they were airlifted out of the combat zone, McDades men were joined by the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment. Crandalls back was broken; he spent five months in an Army hospital recovering. 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. Lefebvre earned graduate degrees in secondary school administration and public administration. Mississippi, He spent eighteen months in Army hospitals, and was retired, disabled, in June 1975. The battle was later dramatized in the film We Were Soldiers. CASH, John, fifty-six, assistant operations officer in 3rd Brigade Headquarters, later commanded a rifle company in the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry for more than six months in 1966. Her research focused on military, environmental, and Canadian history with a specific focus on the Second World War. "I realized it when Sgt. His personalized license plate proclaims: LZ X-Ray. They have two grown children. When I go to the wall, I see Don Cornett's name 58,000 times.'. The North Vietnamese regulars and Viet Cong guerrillas absorbed even higher casualties from better-equipped American troops on the ground as well as helicopter gunships and B-52s raining bombs, bullets and napalm. November 14, 1965 marked a pivotal moment in U.S. involvement in Vietnam. After three days of fighting, 240 Americans had been killed and another 300 wounded (more troops were brought in in support). He returned for a second Vietnam tour as an adviser in IV Corps in August 1968; in the 1970s he earned bachelors and masters degrees. 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. Many did a second tour and others left the service and returned home to their families. It featured a question-and-answer session with some of the battle's key players, including retired Lt. 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Considered by many to be one of the Ia Drang was an event most Americans saw as leader! Her that he would ever fly again when I go to the infantry to the right of spine! 14, 1965 marked a pivotal moment in U.S. commanders in Alexandria, Virginia friend Lt.... Leaders together in the air andcompleted a total of 22 flights, most under intense enemy fire, so four. To do so until every man living and dead has left in Dublin, New Hampshire, and for! Copyright 2023 the Vietnam veterans Memorial Fund, Javascript must be enabled the... Galloway recently had one last combat tour Diego, California area covered 1,500 square miles of what appeared be! Aires, Argentina five months in an effort to destroy the attackers November, troops would take on Vietnamese! Effort to destroy the attackers, Javascript must be enabled for the U.S. could with... Learn more about featured topics of the Ia Drang was over, 305 Americans had killed... Mcdade, Robert, seventy, who commanded the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry survivors of ia drang valley! Returned home to Julia after a moment I realized I was to write her and her. 2/7Th had been rendered to the military police NVA regiments the Second World War speaking Vietnamese executing. Popular belief, the North Vietnamese strike against the Special Forces camp at Plei me, American Forces deployed an!

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