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. Mrs. Mapson is a member of the Columbus chapter of the 1st Cavalry Division Association. 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. "To do it you've got to get up. I ask that question every day. One infantry company began the day of Nov. 14 with 110 men. He earned a doctorate in history and now lives in San Antonio, where he works in the public-affairs office at Wilford Hall Air Force Medical Center. A miserly, ungrateful Veterans Administration ruled that Shadden was only thirty percent disabled. MOORE, H. G. (Hal), now seventy, commanded the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry in the Ia Drang and served six more months in Vietnam, commanding the 3rd Brigade. The largely [North Vietnamese Army] units we ran into, they were interested in staying and fighting.. The "Lost Platoon," led by Lt. Henry T. Herrick, became separated from the rest of Lt. Col. Harold G. "Hal" Moore's battalion at the start of the battle of Ia Drang on Nov. 14, 1965. Gen. Westmoreland, commander of the U.S. To replenish his battered forces, the North Vietnamese commander ordered the 2,000 soldiers of his reserve regiment, the 66th, forward from its staging area in Cambodia into the Ia Drang valley. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. 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. South Carolina, He was paralyzed. Although each survivor's story is unique, they all carry the same lessons. Ernie had gone back to his native Chicago and drove a truck for the city. Survivors described savage, close-range combat, sometimes hand-to-hand, over several hours. Adams and his wife have a three-year-old daughter. (67 votes) Very easy. During his two tours in Vietnam, Crandall flew lead ship on 756 separate missions. His last known address was Miami, Florida. A Chicago native, Doc Carrara returned home, changed his specialty to pathology. The Ia Drang Valley is a map featured in Battlefield Vietnam. 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. HENRY, Frank, executive officer of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry in LZ Albany, served a second tour in Vietnam as a battalion commander in the 1st Cavalry Division, later commanded a brigade of the 101st Airborne Division, and was promoted to chief of staff of the 101st Airborne in the summer of 1977. 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. 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. To me that seems proper, and just, and so right.. In the spring of 1992, Frank Henry was posthumously inducted into the Army Aviation Hall of Fame. By the next morning, only eight were left standing . In four days and nights of fighting. MORENO, Frank, copilot in Ed Too Tall Freemans Huey in X-Ray, retired a chief warrant officer-4 after more than twenty years service. Five years ago he attended a reunion of Alpha Company veterans of LZ Albany. After years of advising the South Vietnamese against the communist North, and months of chasing black-clad guerrillas, a large. Meyer and his wife, Carol, live in Arlington, Virginia. Moderate. Since I cant have that, I would like a job working as closely with the Army as possible. He is married and the father of four children. I didn't do as I should have.". Crandalls back was broken; he spent five months in an Army hospital recovering. It would remain the U.S. militarys single bloodiest day in Vietnam through the entire war. Moore and his battalion were evacuated the next day, Nov. 17. Jemison works part-time as a security guard in Columbus, Georgia, and he says: Each night I go back to Vietnam to fight that same battle, over and over.. Both later were awarded the Medal of Honor, our nations highest award for heroism in combat. He and his wife, Billie, have a son in college and a daughter still at home. We were caught inside of what was essentially an L-shaped ambush.". The column was strung out about 550 yards in the open with dense vegetation to their right. He retired in August 1977, with thirty-two years service. 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. On his next flight, three soldiers on his helicopter were killed and three were wounded. 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. 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. 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. Alley is general manager of a box factory in Dayton, Tennessee. More than anything else in the world I would like to be back in the Green Machine, he says. In January 1991, General H. Norman Schwarzkopf summoned the reporter to his headquarters in Saudi Arabia and said: Im sending you to the commander out here who is most like General Hal Moore, and the division which has the most challenging and dangerous mission in my battle plan. Galloway rode with then-Major General Barry McCaffrey and the 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) on a hair-raising tank charge through the western Iraq desert to the Euphrates River valley. It wasnt until Albany was back in American hands that the engagement officially drew to a close. THORPE, Henry, fifty-eight, commander, Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry in the Ia Drang, left the Army as a captain in September 1967, after eight years service, and went home to his native North Carolina. He now lives in Dublin, New Hampshire, and works for a firm that sells office supplies. 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. U.S. intelligence knew that North Vietnamese regulars probably a single regiment were in the area. It is laced with hard facts, observations, anger, sadness and even some humor. 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. After several routine lifts into the area,the men on the ground came under attack from the North Vietnamese Army. Learn more about featured topics of the Vietnam War and Vietnam Era. (Photo Credit: US Army / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain) The real life Battle of Ia Drang took place between November 14-19, 1965. Box 159 His personalized license plate proclaims: LZ X-Ray. If you yield to it, it will absolutely paralyze you. 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. Hear Bruces story. 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 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. Returning home, he single-handedly raised his two young children while earning two masters degrees. "The emotions are so high, the noise is tremendous, the confusion is everywhere; they had overrun us by now. You can always change this later in your Account settings. The only question was which side could outlast the other. For the Ia Drang Valley survivors, October 10, 2012 will be a day they will remember for the rest of their days. He left the Army in 1971 with the rank of captain, returned home to Puerto Rico, and earned a law degree. He teaches physical and earth sciences at Venice High School, Los Angeles, California. He then formed a computer-software company. They have a son, who is in college, and a daughter, still in high school. 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. The XO was going fast. When someone shook me and tried to get me moving I was actually offended. Jeanette spent the better part of a year in a military hospital while his shattered leg was repaired. He lives in Olympia, Washington, and works for the state government. This operation responded to the NVA attack on an American . He and his wife, Arlene, have three sonsa banker in Sao Paulo, Brazil; a lawyer in Connecticut; and a divinity student in college. George found solace in hiking the Maine woods, shooting nothing more deadly than a 35mm camera. Purp is married, the father of three daughters, and cuts hair at Gibbs Barber Shop, where he has worked for the last nineteen years. Memoirs and histories written after the event capture it . From the lack of training and understanding of the situation to the haphazard way they conducted their movement and their halt. His twelve-year-old granddaughter recently interviewed Ray about his experiences in Vietnam and wrote a school essay she titled: My Grandfather: An American Hero.. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency: Ia Drang Valley Incident. He worked an additional fifteen years as a civilian employee at Martin Army Hospital at Fort Benning, Georgia, and retired again in 1990. He told Moore to execute an airmobile assault into the Ia Drang valley north of the Chu Pong peak early the next morning and to conduct search and destroy operations through 15 November. Our town is only ten thousand people and we lost eleven young men from here killed in Vietnam, says Purp. A North Vietnamese map, captured in 1966, accurately depicts enemy maneuvers and attacks during the Ia Drang campaign. 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. 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. Enlisted men may scoff at officers back in the billets but when the fighting begins, the men automatically become dependent upon them. Jim also talks about the failure of leadership. 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. 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 is a master gunsmith and runs his own business repairing and selling weapons. 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 is the theme of Lawrence's book and of his talks. 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. 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