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. It was the longest day I ever experienced in any aircraft, Crandall recalled. The group is devoted to bringing together the families and friends of men killed in Vietnam. (U.S. Army). 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. After Vietnam, Hazen maintained a correspondence with the mother of the young lieutenant who died in his arms. Contrary to popular belief, the Battle of Ia Drang started and ended after the famous landings at LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany. On 27 October Westmoreland committed a brigade of the 1st Air Cavalry to search-and-destroy operations. EDWARDS, Robert, fifty-four, commander of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav, served a second tour in Vietnam as an adviser. A battalion of the U.S. 1st Air Cavalry Division was ambushed while marching from the jungle clearing where the Ia Drang Valley fighting started on November 14, 1965. ), provided the authors with a copy of Diduryks journal and maps for this book. Alpha Company arrived in Vietnam with 146 officers and men. It occurred in the Ia Drang valley, near Vietnam's border with Cambodia, on November 14-18, 1965. In the fall of 1965 the Vietnam War was an event most Americans saw as a series of smaller battles leaving little to remember. On his chest he wore the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and five Purple Hearts. 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. 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. USA, Scranton, Survivors described savage, close-range combat, sometimes hand-to-hand, over several hours. But Charlie was back in the air, flying F-4 Phantoms, less than a year later. Shucart says, It was interesting; they just figured I was another grunt and I didnt tell them different. It was Nov. 15, 1965, in the valley of the Ia Drang in the wild mountains of the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. 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. Married and the father of three children, Winter works for the Long Island Railroad and lives in Howard Beach, Queens, New York. In 1982, he joined U.S. News & World Report magazine. 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. For the Ia Drang Valley survivors, October 10, 2012 will be a day they will remember for the rest of their days. Memoirs and histories written after the event capture it . He had . They have three children, daughters Abigail and Alison and a son, Thomas Alexander. Finally, after 10 months, had some makeshift buildings. The only question was which side could outlast the other. It was the most successful ambush against U.S. forces during the course of the entire war. 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. RACKSTRAW, Jim, forty-nine, recon-platoon leader, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry at X-Ray, served a second tour in Vietnam as a rifle-company commander in the 25th Infantry Division. The survivors of Landing Zone X-Ray have always had an aura of fame about them. He and his wife, Martha, have four children. The other 58,000 names on that wall are men and women who also had a spouse, or children, they had mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters. 3 /5. Some of the survivors broke into tears of relief. 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. 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. That spring, the Saigon government had begun collapsing under the combined. I thought to myself. He had just turned thirty-six years old. The bulk of the fighting was centered around two vital helicopter landing zones: LZ X-Ray and Albany. Shocked and wounded U.S. troops gather at a jungle clearing of South Vietnam's Ia Drang Valley in mid-November 1965, as they wait for an ambulance helicopter. His dissertation is on the LZ Albany battle. 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. He returned to active duty in July 1966, and served a second tour in Vietnam as an adviser in Long Binh district. She is an active member of Sons and Daughters in Touch, an organization sponsored by the Friends of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. 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. The battle at the landing zone X-RAY (LZ X-RAY) in the Ia Drang River Valley occurred from 14 November to 16 November 1965. 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. He was chief of security at a hospital in Columbus, Georgia, until his death on April 18, 1992. Cash served a second tour in Vietnam as an adviser to the Royal Thai Army forces. Basil Plumley is a grandfather now, kind and soft-spoken, but do not be deceived: He is the lion in winter. I fought for this country and now I own and farm 120 acres of my country. 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 . But the battle's true toll would prove to be the hubris it bred in U.S. commanders. LOSE, Charles R., the medic of the Lost Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, has dropped out of sight. TADEMY, Dudley, 3rd Brigade fire-support coordinator in the Ia Drang, served a second tour in Vietnam with the 1st Cavalry and retired a colonel in January 1987, after thirty years service. Three U.S. soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery during the battle. Of Mrs. Mapsons five brothers, three served in the Army, one made a career in the Air Force, and one is a lawyer. Jim also talks about the failure of leadership. He and his wife, Ann, live in Lilburn, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. Unknown to them at the time, they were surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese troops. Jeanette spent the better part of a year in a military hospital while his shattered leg was repaired. As the fighting around Landing Zone X-Ray subsided, McDades 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, was ordered to move cross-country to Landing Zone Albany, where it was to be picked up by helicopter and moved to a new location. Fesmire is a colonel assigned as the Army attache to the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. One infantry company began the day of Nov. 14 with 110 men. "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. 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.. The Battle of Ia Drang was the first major engagement during the Vietnam War, between members of the U.S. Army and the Peoples Army of North Vietnam. 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. I think this battle pushes Johnson further into Westmorelands corner. "The XO let out a low moan, and his head sank. This is the tale of the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam in 1965. For the last twenty-one years he has been in the tire business. I couldnt grasp it., More from us: Val Kilmer Accidentally Landed Matthew Modine the Starring Role in Full Metal Jacket. Many did a second tour and others left the service and returned home to their families. If you notice a problem with the translation, please send a message to [emailprotected] and include a link to the page and details about the problem. The Ia Drang Valley is a map featured in Battlefield Vietnam. About 40 minutes later, North Vietnamese launched their attack, hiding in the tall elephant grass and in stands of trees. He lives in Pleasant Valley, Connecticut, and works in real estate sales and development. Payne and his wife, Patty, live in Hinsdale, Illinois, and have three children. The men were still in an administrative maneuver, so when the word to halt came they plopped down where they were. Some of them had blood on their faces from scratches and from other guys' wounds. 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. Fought between November 14th and 18th of 1965, around the hills surrounding the valley of Ia Drang, on the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. 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. Please try again later. Today he is vice president for group security at a major stock-brokerage house in New York City. They were promoted to first lieutenants at the same time and both became executive officers on the same day, Lawrence with Delta Company and Cornett with Charlie. Carrara says, I dont dwell on Vietnam, but now and then I hear something or smell something and flash back to those days. The film follows the experiences of both Moore, portrayed by Mel Gibson, and his wife, Julia, played by Madeleine Stowe. in history. His helicopter came under intense enemy fire, but they continued to carry out the wounded, even though that wasnt their mission. On February 26, 2007, President George W. Bush presented Crandall with the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Ia Drang Valley. The communist threat to the central highlands subsided. When I was down, men were running past me, swishing the elephant grass and speaking Vietnamese and executing the wounded. That headquarters type turned up and he returned my old helmet, bullet hole and all. I still have my leg, and I can walk on it. After three days of fighting, 240 Americans had been killed and another 300 wounded (more troops were brought in in support). Outnumbered when they arrive, the men are forced to fight for their lives while eliminating the 4,000-strong North Vietnamese force. 4/C Jack P. Smith (Illustration by Noel Sickles, SEPS) Weekly Newsletter SUPPORT THE POST He was first sergeant of Bravo Company, 36th Engineer Battalion and one of 14 men in his 257-man company who survived the opening stages of the fight for Pork Chop Hill. He died. 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. 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. For information, the 1st Air Cavalry arrived in the fall of 1965, about the same time I did as a member of the 1stInfantry Division. "The way it was presented, at least from my perspective, was we were making an administrative move to be airlifted out so we wouldn't be in the way of the bombers.". He moved back to his hometown of Tucson, Arizona. His awards include the Combat Infantrymans Badge with two stars; two Silver Stars; two Bronze Stars; four Purple Hearts; a Master Parachutist Badge with five combat-jump stars; a European Theater Service ribbon with eight campaign stars and four invasion arrows; a Korean Service ribbon with three campaign stars and one invasion arrow; a Vietnam Service ribbon with one silver and three bronze campaign stars; and the Presidential Unit Citation badge. The battlefield area covered 1,500 square miles of what appeared to be flat rolling terrain dominated by the Chu Pong . Johns retired a brigadier general and is now dean of faculty at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in Washington, D.C. Mrs. Johns, whose two youngest children are in college, does volunteer work and writes for her own pleasure in her spare time. In the end, 79 Americans had been killed, and 121 men were wounded. I ripped off his shirt and there it was: a groove to the right of his spine. I couldn't grasp it.". Mississippi, Moore is the last to leave, refusing to do so until every man living and dead has left. Today he is a city bus driver in Houston, Texas. 5 cemeteries found in will be saved to your photo volunteer list. New York, TULLY, Walter Busill (Buse) Jr., commander, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry in the Ia Drang, returned to Vietnam on a second tour as a major in the Americal Division. After several routine lifts into the area, https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/857/ELIAS-ALVAREZ-BUZO/, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLK63b6Cn53unPuhknan6Y4fJwl-F5v14o, https://www.vvmf.org/The-Wall-That-Heals/, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLK63b6Cn53unMMj-yZYEch0RuYy1YN1zl, https://vvmf.wordpress.com/2015/11/07/he-spent-14-hours-in-the-air-rescuing-wounded-in-the-ia-drang-valley/, https://www.stripes.com/news/special-reports/vietnam-stories/1965/ia-drang-valley-where-the-us-truly-went-to-war-1.376662, https://www.facebook.com/VietnamVeteransMemorialFund/videos/2239219906358006/, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLyBazkpUFQ, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx1rzDNcFmE, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKtWX9TDFYc, https://www.military.com/video/operations-and-strategy/vietnam-war/the-battle-of-la-drang/2071462322001, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIAEcZ29aG4, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdDYNI7V0co, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7-U0FBiYUU, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/battle-la-drang-valley, https://whut.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/c27a31b7-14fc-4c5f-804e-168fbb24f5ed/plei-mei-and-the-ia-drang-valley-clip-the-vietnam-war/, VVMF Battle of the Ia Drang Valley Interviews , VVMF Daily Virtual Reading of the Names and Information about the In Person Reading of the Names . It wasnt until Albany was back in American hands that the engagement officially drew to a close. At the end of a year only fifteen of the original contingent were still there, Gwin included. They have five grown children: sons Steve, Dave, and Greg; and daughters Cecile and Julie. Throughout the day, he changed helicopters after some were so badly damaged to stay in the air. The XO had been hit in the small of the back. RIDDLE, Bill, fifty-two, artillery forward observer with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, completed his Army service in the summer of 1966. Although survivors had been trickling in during the morning they thought the 2/7th had been annihilated in the fighting at Albany. There were no further attacks overnight. (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. That same month, the United States began bombing North Vietnam in Operation Rolling Thunder. 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. Although each survivor's story is unique, they all carry the same lessons. There was a problem getting your location. Moore lectures at military academies and at several colleges and universities. Joseph Galloway was a civilian reporter at the Battle of Ia Drang. Many did a second tour and others left the service and returned home to their families. He was killed in an automobile accident less than ten years later. He earned his masters degree in public administration in 1976 and retired in 1977 as a lieutenant colonel. Simpson County, 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. He remained with the medical platoon in Vietnam until July 1966. He is the perennial master of ceremonies at the Ia Drang dinners; he claims he is the only one of the brothers who can get through an entire sentence without using the f-word. 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. He retired from the Army as a master sergeant and, in 1988, became the pastor of a church in Fort Mitchell, Alabama. 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. In the same way, the story of his experiences at LZ Albany is a story that could be told by the nearly 400 Troopers of 2/7 Cav who fought and died at LZ Albany, or the 1/7 Cav Troopers at LZ X-ray or the more than 2.6 million US personnel who served in Vietnam. He retired a lieutenant colonel in 1977 and returned to Georgia, where he is an executive for a trucking firm. He retired a lieutenant colonel in 1977, and lives with his wife in Arlington, Texas. He left the Army in October 1966, and went home to his native Ohio, where he works as a carpenter. Crandall continued to fly into and out of the landing zone throughout the day and into the evening. 2 Ia Drang also served as a test for the U.S. military of its new air mobility tactics. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. Adams and his wife have a three-year-old daughter. 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. 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. November 14, 1965 marked a pivotal moment in U.S. involvement in Vietnam. This allowed troops to be quickly brought in and out for battle. The enemy was so close he could hear them talking and he could see them right in front of him. 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. Charlie Company took the brunt of the assault. Mindful of the effects of propaganda, each side declared victory. EIN: 52-1149668, Copyright 2023 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Javascript must be enabled for the correct page display. JEMISON, Robert, Jr., sixty-one, platoon sergeant, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, retired as a sergeant first class in 1976, after twenty-four years service. Why I wasn't killed, I couldn't say.". (Skip), fifty-three, commander of Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cav in the Ia Drang, is still on active duty. 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. Every night I rub a towel over all my scars and see them in the mirror. The first U.S. ground combat troops arrived there in March. Towles received a masters degree in history from Kent State in 1989, and is currently working on his doctorate. 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. 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. BROWN, Thomas W. (Tim), seventy-three, the 3rd Brigade commander in the Ia Drang, retired a brigadier general in 1973, after thirty-plus years of service and a second tour in Vietnam, with two Silver Stars and two Bronze Stars from his three wars. He told me his wife's name was [Sylvia]. In November, troops would take on North Vietnamese regulars for the first time in the Battle of Ia Drang Valley. He spent that night among the dead and wounded. When he retired, Howard moved to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he works as a consultant in emergency-management planning. They died hot, hungry and exhausted. For the next ten years he was a football coach at Morgan State University in Baltimore, his alma mater. Although he was a civilian, Galloway was awarded the Bronze Star medal for helping to rescue wounded soldiers during the battle. 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. He personally shook the hands of at least fifty thousand returning soldiers. 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. In 1946, Ho Chi Minh had warned the French, who were trying to restore control over their former protectorate, that you can kill 10 of my men for every one I kill of yours, yet even at those odds, you will lose and I will win.. Resend Activation Email. 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. Moore continues to fight, returning home to Julia after a year. Photo extracted from U.S. Army motion picture footage from November 1965. JEKEL, Alex (Pop), seventy, Huey pilot in X-Ray and Albany, retired in the late 1960s as a chief warrant officer-4. It was the first major battle of the Vietnam War, and Lawrence and . 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. The machine gunner was mowing them down. The training kicks in and can save you.". Hal Moore ensured that all of the men came home, and they therefore did . He wanted to ensure the memories of those who died live on, in particular that of his best friend, Lt. Don Cornett. 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. 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. A U.S. platoon was lured into a trap and surrounded, holding off repeated North Vietnamese attacks despite the death of the platoon leader and several noncommissioned officers. "The emotions are so high, the noise is tremendous, the confusion is everywhere; they had overrun us by now. 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. 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. Muscogee County, (Black Bart), Charlie Battery aerial rocket artillery commander in the Ia Drang, returned to Vietnam for a second tour in 1968. He left active duty in 1967, but continued in the Army Reserves until his retirement in 1990 as a colonel. In a 1967 article for the Saturday Evening Post, former ABC reporter Jack Smith, who was a private first class in Charlie Company during the battle, wrote about Cornett's last moments. He was 92 years old. 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 lives in Columbus, Georgia, and is a serious collector of firearms and active in a local shooting club. 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. 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