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. Difficult. Photo extracted from U.S. Army motion picture footage from November 1965. Gen. Westmoreland, commander of the U.S. 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. ROLAND, William, forty-nine, rifle-squad leader, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry at X-Ray, returned to Vietnam for a second combat tour. James Lawrence, one of the men who fought at LZ Albany, later recounted his experiences. He is married and the father of two children. 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. God rest you, George. This was the first major engagement between the United States Army and the North Vietnamese Army. He and his wife, Billie, have a son in college and a daughter still at home. It was much bigger than what we had seen before against a much more tenacious enemy, Wiest said of the battle. Alex Kolyer for MPR News On this Veterans Day,. Setelin is president of the Major General George W. Casey chapter of the 1st Cavalry Division Association and a member of the national associations board of trustees. The majority of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, under the command of Lt. Col. Robert McDade, didnt enter the fight until X-Ray had already been relieved by Moore. 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 . 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 location of the battle, far into the jungle from any roads, meant troops had to be airlifted in. Now I felt terribly alone. Vince Cantu never went back to his music. 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. Absent was an effective plan for winning over the civilian population caught in the crossfire, said James Willbanks, a Vietnam veteran who is the director of the Department of Military History at U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. He and his wife live in Sag Harbor, New York, where they operate a summer season shop that deals in contemporary original art. He is a master gunsmith and runs his own business repairing and selling weapons. Lt. Col. Hal Moore, commander of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, on the radio during the fight for LZ X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley of Vietnam. This battle took place from 11-14-1965, thru 11-18-1965. 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. He owns a property-management firm in Tampa, Florida. After about a three mile march, the front of the column reached the landing zone and the 2/7 Cav commander, Lt. Col. Robert McDade, called his company commanders forward to discuss how to best array their forces in preparation for extraction. 5 cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Read More He lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and owns and operates a real estate brokerage firm. Battle of Ia Drang, first major clash between U.S. soldiers and North Vietnamese troops during the Vietnam War. . NYE, George (China Joe), demolition-team leader, 8th Engineers, attached to the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry in Landing Zone X-Ray, died of an apparent heart attack at age fifty-one on December 8, 1991, at his home in Bangor, Maine. The battalion commander had ordered his command helicopter to land and check out a North Vietnamese soldier killed by the door gunner. Each option, he warned, had a good chance of leading to a stalemate. On the second day, North Vietnamese forces launched a heavy attack including hand-to-hand combat. 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. 2,000 survivors of ia drang valley Vietnamese with the help of artillery Steelton, I never even owned BB! They have four children and three grandchildren. Hear Bruces story. I marked off 65 names and that's when it really hit me what had happened and it just overwhelmed me. He was made famous by the account of his actions during the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley in November 1965, the Americans' first major battle of the Vietnam War. Although each survivor's story is unique, . He works at Fort Benning, Georgia, evaluating Army Reserve training. RUDEL, Karen Metsker, twenty-eight, daughter of Captain Thomas Metsker, intelligence officer, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry in Landing Zone X-Ray, killed in action November 14, 1965, lives in the Boston suburbs with her husband, Scott. The bullets missed his head by fractions of an inch, but the impact knocked him backward and he couldn't move from the waist down. Rate the pronunciation difficulty of Ia Drang. He died less than 100 yards from where his best friend lay wounded. I was standing back there in the column and the column was stopped. Linda Carole Mustion has not added any memorials to this virtual cemetery. By Trevor Arendall, July 9 . Shadden lives on a seven-acre farm outside Tellico Plains, Tennessee, and works part-time at odd jobs. For the last twenty-one years he has been in the tire business. PLUMLEY, Basil, seventy-two, the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalrys sergeant major, retired from the Army as a command sergeant major on December 31, 1974, after thirty-two years, six months, and four days on active duty, and a second tour in Vietnam with the U.S. "The XO let out a low moan, and his head sank. 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. Winkel and his wife live in Springfield, Virginia. 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. He was killed in an automobile accident less than ten years later. For him, war is something that will always be a necessity as long as there is evil in the world, but it is something that is not to be glorified or desired. 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. 1st Lt. Donald Cornett at his base camp in Vietnam, shortly before the battle of Landing Zone Albany where he was killed in action, Nov. 17, 1965. This is the tale of the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam in 1965. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account. He is working on a book on Alpha Companys year in Vietnam. He personally shook the hands of at least fifty thousand returning soldiers. (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. Memoirs and histories written after the event capture it . It was the first major combat action between U.S. ground forces and the North Vietnamese Army. Yesteryears: For survivors, Battle of the Ia Drang Valley changed everything. For the last twenty-two years he has worked for the North Bergen, N.J., fire department. CRANDALL, Bruce, fifty-nine, who commanded the helicopters in the Ia Drang Valley, returned to Vietnam for a second tour in 1967. Lt. Col. Harold G. Moore, a no-nonsense West Pointer, was the commander of the . There were no further attacks overnight. At a surprise fiftieth-birthday party for Ernie, he was presented a plaque engraved with sergeants stripes and inscribed with a message from Colonel (ret.) To use this feature, use a newer browser. That all would change when the First Cavalry Air Mobile Division flew into the Ia Drang Valley in the central highlands of South Vietnam. They had this Learning to be a Teacher program; I tried it and loved it. UH-1 aircraft of the 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion carry wounded 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry soldiers away during the fight for LZ X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley of Vietnam. Joseph Galloway was a civilian reporter at the Battle of Ia Drang. 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. The conflict is divided into two engagements: the Battle at Landing Zone (LZ) X-Ray and. He now lives in Dublin, New Hampshire, and works for a firm that sells office supplies. He retired a major in 1980, after twenty years service. 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. Please enter your email and password to sign in. This is the tale of the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam in 1965. 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. Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. After the Ia Drang, Nye finished his tour with the 8th Engineers and the 1st Cav and volunteered for three more tours in combat with the 5th Special Forces Group. 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. On March 2, 1969, thirty-two-year-old Buse Tully was killed in action. For the next ten years he was a football coach at Morgan State University in Baltimore, his alma mater. He and his wife, Martha, have four children. 208-263-9534. He and his wife, Louise, live in San Antonio, Texas, and Brown plays a round of golf most days. He and his wife live in Alexandria, Virginia. It was the most successful ambush against U.S. forces during the course of the entire war. The idea was to kill the enemy, not necessarily hold ground, and bleed the North Vietnamese until they tired of war. The film follows the experiences of both Moore, portrayed by Mel Gibson, and his wife, Julia, played by Madeleine Stowe. Carrara says, I dont dwell on Vietnam, but now and then I hear something or smell something and flash back to those days. After Vietnam, Hazen maintained a correspondence with the mother of the young lieutenant who died in his arms. The men were still in an administrative maneuver, so when the word to halt came they plopped down where they were. 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. I have it here with me today. He lives with his wife and family in Steelville. He is partly paralyzed as a result of his terrible wound. "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. He earned his masters degree in public administration in 1976 and retired in 1977 as a lieutenant colonel. 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. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency: Ia Drang Valley Incident. In the prologue, Galloway wrote: "This, then, is our testament and our tribute to 234 Americans who died beside us in Landing Zone X-Ray and Landing Zone Albany in the Valley of Death, 1965." On November 18, 1965, the US forces were able to gather their dead. Enlisted men may scoff at officers back in the billets but when the fighting begins, the men automatically become dependent upon them. FREEMAN, Ed (Too Tall to Fly), sixty-five, Bruce Crandalls wingman, retired a major in 1967 after twenty-one years Army service. 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. Today he is a city bus driver in Houston, Texas. Lawrence dropped to the ground to take cover in the tall elephant grass and began to return fire like any other rifleman. Unknown to them at the time, they were surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese troops. Hear three personal perspectives from men who survived. 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. The bullet was still in there. Crandall continued to fly into and out of the landing zone throughout the day and into the evening. It featured a question-and-answer session with some of the battle's key players, including retired Lt. Gen. Hal Moore. 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. 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. 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. Moore lectures at military academies and at several colleges and universities. Spc. When someone shook me and tried to get me moving I was actually offended. He retired a colonel in 1982, with twenty-three years service. Facebook Twitter Freeman reconstituted the unit and led it back up Pork Chop. The single, bloodiest day in the Vietnam War. To the Americans, the battle validated their new airmobile strategy using helicopters to move troops quickly into remote jungle areas often without roads and inflict heavy casualties by airpower and artillery. I marked off 65 names and thats when it really hit me what had happened and it just overwhelmed me. They saved some 70 soldiers. The enemy was so close he could hear them talking and he could see them right in front of him. 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. George found solace in hiking the Maine woods, shooting nothing more deadly than a 35mm camera. After a North Vietnamese strike against the Special Forces camp at Plei Me, American forces deployed in an effort to destroy the attackers. 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. Orange County, It wasnt until Albany was back in American hands that the engagement officially drew to a close. SETELIN, John, forty-eight, squad leader, Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, left Vietnam with three Purple Hearts and left the Army a sergeant. Knowles retired from the Army in 1974 as a lieutenant general. He says he did a lot of praying during the Persian Gulf War, when his son, his brother, and his old friend Galloway were all on the battlefield. Shortly thereafter, US units began . BECK, Bill, forty-nine, assistant machine gunner, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav in the Ia Drang, left the Army in 1966 and went home to his native Steelton, Pennsylvania. For a number of years he was a country-and-western band leader and disc jockey. He is president of the Army Relief Fund and a trustee of the Association of Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy. 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. His last known address was Miami, Florida. Hal Moore and the 1st Battalion, 7th . Hal Moore and the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment fought at the former for three days, beginning on November 14. He is now a financial officer with the U.S. He retired a command sergeant major and lives in Columbus, Georgia. Bob Edwards saying that these were the stripes Paolone earned at LZ X-Ray but never got. Rosemary Giles is a history content writer with Hive Media. By Staff. GALLOWAY, Joe, fifty, war correspondent attached to the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry at X-Ray, served sixteen months in Vietnam on his first tour for United Press International, 1965-1966. Married and the father of three children, Winter works for the Long Island Railroad and lives in Howard Beach, Queens, New York. In addition, they were exhausted from the fight at X-Ray, so it was easy for hundreds of NVA troops to sneak up and launch an attack. 1965, just after the start of the U.S. campaign that led to the Ia Drang Valley. 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. It was his first real combat; first, he got a round to the side of his neck. Fought between November 14th and 18th of 1965, around the hills surrounding the valley of Ia Drang, on the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. USA, Fort Benning, The battle was later dramatized in the film We Were Soldiers. 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. Their mission was to find and kill the enemy. LADNER, Theron, fifty, machine gunner with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry in X-Ray, lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he owns a nightclub and a stable of Thoroughbred racehorses. . 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. He retired a colonel in 1981, and is vice president of human resources for a large corporation in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. They have a son and two daughters. You can customize the cemeteries you volunteer for by selecting or deselecting below. I think McNamara knew, deep down; I think Johnson knew, Wiest said. Charlie Company held their position, exemplifying extraordinary heroism and courage. His widow, Emma Lee, lives in Austin, Texas. (U.S. Army). Cash retired from active duty as a colonel in September of 1992 and lives in the Washington, D.C., area. EDWARDS, Robert, fifty-four, commander of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav, served a second tour in Vietnam as an adviser. 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 is a freelance commercial artist in Harrisburg and occasionally turns his hand to fine-art drawings of his war experiences. 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. 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. But UPI sent him back to Vietnam in 1971, in 1973, and again in 1975 for the final chapter. Still on active duty, he is a major general, and is deputy to the Army inspector-general. Becoming a Find a Grave member is fast, easy and FREE. 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. Very difficult. 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. "I thought I was dying and laid there waiting for death to come. 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. The battle was the culmination of Operation Silver Bayonet I, a combined American-South Vietnamese offensive to relieve the . The central highlands had few roads and challenging terrain, making air mobility the only viable mode of transportation. Too Tall Ed retired from that job on January 3, 1991. They successfully hit many of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops, while also shooting some of the Americans with friendly fire. He spent more than 14 hours in the air andcompleted a total of 22 flights, most under intense enemy fire. The two-hour Ia Drang Valley program kicked off the reunion's final day. Winkel retired a colonel in 1986, with over thirty-one years of Army service. 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. He returned to serve two more tours in Vietnamone with the Special Forces, one with an intelligence agency. 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. On November 27, 1965, Diduryk wrote a detailed account of Bravo Companys actions at X-Ray for the ROTC students at his alma mater, St. Peters College in Jersey City, New Jersey. About 80 U.S. soldiers were killed, 124 wounded, in the first two days of the fight. Every night I rub a towel over all my scars and see them in the mirror. Word reached the battalion traveling to Columbus, who sent Bravo Company back to Albany to serve as reinforcements. A North Vietnamese map, captured in 1966, accurately depicts enemy maneuvers and attacks during the Ia Drang campaign. The men, women, and children of this story are Americas neighbors, living quiet lives in every corner of the nation they served. I guess I was an oddball; everyone else that year was going into teaching to avoid the draft, and then there was me. Jeanette and his wife, Sandra, were married five days before he shipped out for Vietnam. He worked an additional fifteen years as a civilian employee at Martin Army Hospital at Fort Benning, Georgia, and retired again in 1990. He is a colonel and the provost marshal of the U.S. Army Forces Command (Forscom) in Atlanta, Georgia. 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). As a student, she worked in a variety of research positions, including as an archivist. He went home to Anderson County, South Carolina, where he is a deputy sheriff. 5 cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. 311 memorials 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. MARM, Walter J. The following day, both battalions were informed of an incoming bomber run on LZ X-Ray, meaning they needed to go elsewhere. The Ia Drang Valley is a map featured in Battlefield Vietnam. He assumed that like the French, the Americans would tire of seeing their young men coming home in body bags. Diduryk is buried at the Fort Benning cemetery; his widow, Delores, lives in Jacksonville, Florida. In her spare time, Rosemary enjoys spending time with her partner, her cats, and her horse, or sitting down to read a good book. The Ia Drang Valley is a valley located near Pleiku in Central Highlands of Vietnam. He retired a lieutenant colonel in 1977 and returned to Georgia, where he is an executive for a trucking firm. 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. EIN: 52-1149668, Copyright 2023 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Javascript must be enabled for the correct page display. He and his wife, Kornelia, live in Columbus, Georgia, where for several years Scott taught military subjects to Junior ROTC in the high schools. 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. He left the Army in 1971 with the rank of captain, returned home to Puerto Rico, and earned a law degree. For the next four years he was executive vice president of the company that developed the Crested Butte, Colorado, ski area. Unlike Viet Cong guerrillas, the northerners were prepared to stand and fight. Total of 22 flights, most under intense enemy fire featured a session! Word to halt came they plopped down where they were stripes Paolone earned LZ. 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