He and his wife, Kornelia, live in Columbus, Georgia, where for several years Scott taught military subjects to Junior ROTC in the high schools. Please reset your password. In Vietnam, it never got any worse than it did in the Ia Drang, a distant valley in the Central Highlands, tangled in elephant grass and simmering in heat. The 430 troops of the 1st Battalion, 1stCavalry Division loaded into helicopters and were dropped into the Ia Drang valley. He died. Box 159 EIN: 52-1149668, Copyright 2023 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Javascript must be enabled for the correct page display. He had . By the end of the first day, the 1st BN, 7th Cavalry was reduced to approximately 340 men. These men survived the fighting in the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam from Oct 23, 1965 to Nov 1965. For Lawrence, telling the story of LZ Albany is not only a way to keep the memory of those who died alive, but also a way to educate others. 5 cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. 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. Of Mrs. Mapsons five brothers, three served in the Army, one made a career in the Air Force, and one is a lawyer. It was the longest day I ever experienced in any aircraft, Crandall recalled. The former arrives in Vietnam in November 1965, and, soon after, is tasked with leading his 400 men in an effort to take out the enemy troops who attacked one of the bases in the Ia Drang Valley. For the Ia Drang Valley survivors, October 10, 2012 will be a day they will remember for the rest of their days. He retired a major in 1980, after twenty years service. The Battle of Ia Drang was the first major battle of Vietnam fought on the dates of November 14-18, 1965. 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. LOMBARDO, Riccardo, sixty-one, Huey pilot in X-Ray and Albany and Pop Jekels good buddy, was retired on one hundred percent disability after a serious back injury in 1967, when he was thirty-six. Battle of Ia Drang, first major clash between U.S. soldiers and North Vietnamese troops during the Vietnam War. He lives in Pleasant Valley, Connecticut, and works in real estate sales and development. Crandall and Freeman successfully rescued some 70 wounded men. The late Lt. Gen. Hal Moore, author of We Were Soldiers Onceand Young, is said to have closed every speech with the phrase, "Hate the war, love the American warrior." He served another Indochina tour in 1975, planning and helping run the final American air evacuation of Vietnam from a base in Thailand. A high school dropout, he went back to college, earned a B.A., and was working on an M.A. He was director of training development at Fort Benning when he retired as a colonel in 1983. 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. 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. Im not supposed to chop wood or do anything that might cause a lick on that side of my head, but it healed up pretty well so I dont worry much about it, he says. Why I wasn't killed, I couldn't say.". He and his wife, Deurice, live in Columbus, Georgia, where he is president of the 1st Cavalry Division Association local chapter and an occasional quail hunter. He completed 22 flights: Rescuing Wounded in Ia Drang Valley from 2015: https://vvmf.wordpress.com/2015/11/07/he-spent-14-hours-in-the-air-rescuing-wounded-in-the-ia-drang-valley/, Stars and Stripes Article: https://www.stripes.com/news/special-reports/vietnam-stories/1965/ia-drang-valley-where-the-us-truly-went-to-war-1.376662, Larry Gwin | VVMF: https://youtu.be/_PDBgEu4cx4, Jon Wallenius | VVMF: https://youtu.be/Qb9a1L4rc2g, Bruce Crandall | VVMF: https://youtu.be/SSNTph4QQ2g, Joe Galloway | VVMF: https://youtu.be/N6XXcDATAgE, Faces Never Forgotten with Joe Galloway: https://www.facebook.com/VietnamVeteransMemorialFund/videos/2239219906358006/, National Geographic Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLyBazkpUFQ, 1965 CBS Special News Report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx1rzDNcFmE, AARP Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKtWX9TDFYc, Military.com In Depth Look: https://www.military.com/video/operations-and-strategy/vietnam-war/the-battle-of-la-drang/2071462322001, Medal of Honor Recipient Bruce Crandall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIAEcZ29aG4, Medal of Honor Recipient Ed Freeman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdDYNI7V0co, Medal of Honor Recipient Walter Marm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7-U0FBiYUU, Docs Teach (National Archives): https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/battle-la-drang-valley, PBS Clip (Plei Me and la Drang): https://whut.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/c27a31b7-14fc-4c5f-804e-168fbb24f5ed/plei-mei-and-the-ia-drang-valley-clip-the-vietnam-war/, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund | 3033 Wilson Blvd, Suite 300 | Arlington VA 22201 | 202.393.0090 Unlike Viet Cong guerrillas, the northerners were prepared to stand and fight. He holds two masters degrees, is employed in the defense industry, and lives in Alexandria, Virginia. He and his wife live in Phoenix, Arizona. He went home to Anderson County, South Carolina, where he is a deputy sheriff. They saved some 70 soldiers. The fighting continued all day and into the night with the enemy relentlessly making assault after assault. No one wanted to look weak in the face of communist aggression.. 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. "The fear factor, when you know someone is within yards of you and is trying to kill you desperately, the fear factor can shut you down. 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. It was the first major combat action between U.S. ground forces and the North Vietnamese Army. 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. ADAMS, Warren, sixty-two, first sergeant, Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav in the Ia Drang, retired in 1968 as the best-educated command sergeant major in the Army. 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 battle was later dramatized in the film We Were Soldiers. Fighting was so intense that a battalion commander, Lt. Col. Hal Moore, reported finding a dead American with his hands at the throat of a dead North Vietnamese soldier. He co-authored the book We Were Soldiers Once And Young with Hal Moore. He died less than 100 yards from where his best friend lay wounded. Parish now runs the Bristow, Oklahoma, toll gate on the Turner Turnpike. The men, women, and children of this story are Americas neighbors, living quiet lives in every corner of the nation they served. 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. It is laced with hard facts, observations, anger, sadness and even some humor. By the third day of the battle, the Americans had gained the upper hand. 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. 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.. He did not know at the time that his friend, Don Cornett, had died. The central highlands had few roads and challenging terrain, making air mobility the only viable mode of transportation. The plane hit several tombstones and flipped over. . 'The torture stopped': 1969 brought temporary changes to infamous Hanoi Hilton, Patriotism or protest? These additional troops pushed back the enemy, allowing the others to evacuate the wounded. USA. The bulk of the fighting lasted about 6 hours and in that time 2/7 Cav lost 155 killed and 124 wounded. Each side realized it was fighting a war of attrition. He tells his audience this to help them understand. Winkel and his wife live in Springfield, Virginia. FREEMAN, Ed (Too Tall to Fly), sixty-five, Bruce Crandalls wingman, retired a major in 1967 after twenty-one years Army service. He and his wife, Martha, have four children. Charlie Company took the brunt of the assault. By the next morning, only eight were left standing . November 14, 1965 marked a pivotal moment in U.S. involvement in Vietnam. They died hot, hungry and exhausted. He left active duty in 1967, but continued in the Army Reserves until his retirement in 1990 as a colonel. The cavalry regiment returned fire, but the enemy were dug into prepared fighting positions and many of the American leaders had died or were wounded during the initial stages of the attack. He spent more than 14 hours in the air andcompleted a total of 22 flights, most under intense enemy fire. Temperatures reached 100 degrees, and by the afternoon there was a firestorm battle for survival. The survivors of Landing Zone X-Ray have always had an aura of fame about them. 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. Feb 25, 2017. The machine gunner was mowing them down. Both were present at the Battle of Ia Drang, the first large-scale engagement of the Vietnam War. After several routine lifts into the area,the men on the ground came under attack from the North Vietnamese Army. This praise is largely due to the heavy emphasis director Randall Wallace put on ensuring what he created was as accurate to the real events of the Battle of Ia Drang as possible. LAVENDER, David A. This allowed troops to be quickly brought in and out for battle. Hes in a unique position to want to believe these optimistic reports and hes getting a lot of them.. Advisory Group, Pleiku. Throughout the day, he changed helicopters after some were so badly damaged to stay in the air. Finally, after 10 months, had some makeshift buildings. He retired a lieutenant colonel in 1980 with twenty years service, and is now a plastics-plant manager. Freeman and his wife, Barbara, live in Boise, Idaho. He and his wife live in St. Charles, a suburb of Chicago. 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). The Air Mobile Division was a new concept. They have four children and five grandchildren. Its not so much what we went through as it is knowing what the other guys went through. Deleting this Virtual Cemetery cannot be undone. There was a problem getting your location. 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. 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. 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. He is partly paralyzed as a result of his terrible wound. 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. He and his wife, Julie, divide their time between homes in Auburn, Alabama, and Crested Butte, Colorado. This account has been disabled. They have two grown children and one still at home. To me that seems proper, and just, and so right.. The Tragedy of LZ Albany: Teaching the lessons of a battle lost. 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. They were interrogated by McDade, who, along with most of the commanding officers and radio operators, were called into a meeting to discuss the intel. Photo extracted from U.S. Army motion picture footage from November 1965. He still grows soybeans and corn on the farm in his spare time. The group is devoted to bringing together the families and friends of men killed in Vietnam. Becoming a Find a Grave member is fast, easy and FREE. HAZEN, Robert D., fifty, Lieutenant Bob Tafts radio operator in Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav, retired from the Army a master sergeant in 1988 after twenty-seven years service. Too Tall Ed retired from that job on January 3, 1991. BY DAVID A. MAURER. Cash retired from active duty as a colonel in September of 1992 and lives in the Washington, D.C., area. Her daughter, Camille, was soon joined by a brother, Robert, and a sister, Barbara. He retired a lieutenant colonel in 1977 and returned to Georgia, where he is an executive for a trucking firm. He is now a financial officer with the U.S. He and his wife, Louise, live in San Antonio, Texas, and Brown plays a round of golf most days. Of the 500 men, 150 were killed and only 84 were able to return to immediate duty. "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. Mississippi, Pujals recently closed his law practice. Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. Each option, he warned, had a good chance of leading to a stalemate. Please try again later. (Photo Credit: US Army / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain) The real life Battle of Ia Drang took place between November 14-19, 1965. Crandalls back was broken; he spent five months in an Army hospital recovering. Lawrence, even in his paralyzed state, was able to give some direction to his company. Joseph Galloway was a civilian reporter at the Battle of Ia Drang. He added a masters degree in Latin American studies to his M.A. PARKER, Neal G., a Naval Academy graduate who transferred to the U.S. Army and was a Huey pilot in Bravo Company 229th in the Ia Drang, retired a colonel after thirty years service. Carrara says, I dont dwell on Vietnam, but now and then I hear something or smell something and flash back to those days. The bulk of the fighting was centered around two vital helicopter landing zones: LZ X-Ray and Albany. He retired in August 1977, with thirty-two years service. STOCKTON, John B., seventy, commander, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry in the Ia Drang, retired a colonel in 1967. Survivors described savage, close-range combat, sometimes hand-to-hand, over several hours. Initially, Lawrence's thoughts and feelings after he was safe were just moments captured in his mind. Resend Activation Email, Please check the I'm not a robot checkbox, If you want to be a Photo Volunteer you must enter a ZIP Code or select your location on the map. The North Vietnamese forces had succeeded in engaging the U.S. forces in very tight quarters. FESMIRE, John A. U.S. airpower lifted the siege and drove back the North Vietnamese. Payne and his wife, Patty, live in Hinsdale, Illinois, and have three children. copyright 2023 He is president of his own management-consulting firm and lives in Oklahoma City. He and his wife, Ann, live in Lilburn, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. Today he is an orchestra leader and serves in the state militia. His personalized license plate proclaims: LZ X-Ray. He and his wife have two teenage children. 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. He now lives in Stamford, Connecticut. Although he was a civilian, Galloway was awarded the Bronze Star medal for helping to rescue wounded soldiers during the battle. Among the many survivors of the ambush was 1st Lt. Rick Rescorla, a platoon chief who died Sept. 11, 2001, rescuing individuals from the World Commerce Heart's south tower till it crashed round him. His dissertation is on the LZ Albany battle. Adams and his wife have a three-year-old daughter. (Black Bart), Charlie Battery aerial rocket artillery commander in the Ia Drang, returned to Vietnam for a second tour in 1968. I think of all those guys killed in action, wounded in action, and their friends, their relatives and all those altered lives. Found more than one record for entered Email, You need to confirm this account before you can sign in. Russian missile barrage knocks out power and water to Ukrainian cities December 16, 2022. He retired a command sergeant major and lives in Columbus, Georgia. Theres certainly politics involved in it, but I do think these guys, as mythological as it turned out to be, were true Cold War believers. 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. 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. Moore continues to fight, returning home to Julia after a year. Tully retired a colonel in 1976. I pulled the muscles in that leg so badly yanking it free that I couldnt walk for three months, he said. 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. P.O. ROBINSON, Edward Charles, fifty-five, Huey pilot at LZ X-Ray, served a second combat tour in Vietnam. He is now an attorney in San Diego, California. 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. Today, Doc Shucart of Landing Zone Albany is the chief of neurosurgery at Tufts University Medical School. Galen Bungum, left, and Joe F. Mackey, two of the unhurt survivors of Lt. Henry Herrick's Lost Platoon. Since retiring he serves on the boards of half a dozen major corporations and also works as a consultant to defense industries. 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. It wasn't until about two weeks later, as he read Stars and Stripes, that it hit him what he had survived. USA, West Point, 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. The problem was it had to be applied by a country that was much more willing for it to be applied for the long haul. "To do it you've got to get up. 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. During a 14-hour period, Major Bruce Crandall and Captain Ed Freeman, repeatedly landed their helicopter under intense enemy fire at Landing Zone X-Ray. He died . LOSE, Charles R., the medic of the Lost Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, has dropped out of sight. One of the survivors recalls how it was - the blood, the agony, and the fear. Gwin left the Army at the end of his ROTC commitment and went home to his native Boston, where he teaches and writes. JEKEL, Alex (Pop), seventy, Huey pilot in X-Ray and Albany, retired in the late 1960s as a chief warrant officer-4. He and his wife, Pat, live in Avon Park, Florida. For a number of years he was a country-and-western band leader and disc jockey. Karen works part-time as a freelance designer and helps with her husbands construction and contracting business. 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. He died less than 100 yards from where his best friend lay wounded. This is the tale of the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam in 1965. His son is a staff sergeant in the 82nd Airborne Division and a veteran of both the Panama invasion and the Persian Gulf War. The other guys went through the place as a major in the survivors of ia drang valley. 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