"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. On November 14, 1965, 450 American soldiers of the 1st Air Cavalry Division were airlifted by helicopter to this valley with the intention of locating and eliminating North Vietnamese forces. . It is based on the Battle for Landing Zone X-Ray, part of the Battle of Ia Drang, the first major battle of the Vietnam War. The battle of Ia Drang was an engagement of the Vietnam War. He and his wife live in Alexandria, Virginia. No one wanted to look weak in the face of communist aggression.. The training kicks in and can save you.". American officials declared the Battle of the la Drang Valley a victory. Moore is the last to leave, refusing to do so until every man living and dead has left. Photo extracted from U.S. Army motion picture footage from November 1965. Being the firstbig units there, we had to make our own camp, no showers for months, World War II C rations to eat, no toilets, just a hole dug in the ground, etc. It wasn't until about two weeks later, as he read Stars and Stripes, that it hit him what he had survived. Some of the men who hadn't slept for close to 48 hours closed their eyes, others smoked or ate. 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 is president of the Army Relief Fund and a trustee of the Association of Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy. He and his wife, Theresa, live on a farm in northern Virginia with their sons Lee, fifteen, and Joshua, twelve. BARTHOLOMEW, Roger J. They resupplied ammunition, water, and supplies, while evacuating the wounded. 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. Things were quiet, but in the morning, the North Vietnamese attacked. Nebraska, Lawrence, even in his paralyzed state, was able to give some direction to his company. He now lives in Stamford, Connecticut. Three U.S. soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery during the battle. He retired a command sergeant major and lives in Columbus, Georgia. MARTIN, John C., fifty-one, rifleman in Lieutenant Sissons platoon detached from Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry for duty in X-Ray, served a second combat tour in Vietnam. 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 battalion commander had ordered his command helicopter to land and check out a North Vietnamese soldier killed by the door gunner. I have one very vivid memory of the second morning in X-Ray. U.S. intelligence knew that North Vietnamese regulars probably a single regiment were in the area. He and his wife, Kornelia, live in Columbus, Georgia, where for several years Scott taught military subjects to Junior ROTC in the high schools. 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. 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. Cash retired from active duty as a colonel in September of 1992 and lives in the Washington, D.C., area. Poley, a bachelor, lives alone on his farm outside Ackley, Iowa, and in a 1990 letter explained himself far better than we could: Some might ask why havent I forgotten about Vietnam after all these years. The remainder of the 2nd was left waiting in a communication blackout. He and his wife live in Anniston, Alabama, where Martin is employed at the Army Depot. Galloway served a total of fifteen years overseas with UPI, assigned to Tokyo, Saigon, Jakarta, New Delhi, Singapore, and Moscow. TIFFT, Richard P., Pathfinder team leader in LZ X-Ray, later served as commander of the Golden Knights, the Armys parachute team. After several routine lifts into the area,the men on the ground came under attack from the North Vietnamese Army. They have five grown children: sons Steve, Dave, and Greg; and daughters Cecile and Julie. 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. On 27 October Westmoreland committed a brigade of the 1st Air Cavalry to search-and-destroy operations. "It looked as if our best bet was to make for the copse of trees in the clearing, so I pointed my men in that direction and said, 'we need to get over there.'". He lives on a farm near Rainier, Washington, and has been writing down his memories of Vietnam duty for his children and grandchildren. Karen works part-time as a freelance designer and helps with her husbands construction and contracting business. By Staff. I was standing back there in the column and the column was stopped. On the second day, North Vietnamese forces launched a heavy attack including hand-to-hand combat. 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. He and his wife and their four Saint Bernard dogs live in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He lives in Golden, Colorado, where he owns a firm that deals worldwide in antiques. He went home to Salinas, California, where he lives with his wife and three sons. They are representative of the more than three million Americans who served the United States of America in its long and bitter war in Vietnam, representative of those who loved one of the more than 58,000 Americans who died in that war. In the end, 79 Americans had been killed, and 121 men were wounded. Why I wasn't killed, I couldn't say.". God rest you, George. Many did a second tour and others left the service and returned home to their families. Nearly 70 percent of the battalions soldiers were killed or wounded before airstrikes, artillery and reinforcements drove the North Vietnamese into nearby Cambodia. He retired a colonel in 1982, with twenty-three years service. Rosemary Giles is a history content writer with Hive Media. Terms of Use | He assumed that like the French, the Americans would tire of seeing their young men coming home in body bags. It had been a small undeclared war mainly fought by South Vietnamese troops with a few U.S. advisers in the mix, sometimes on the ground, sometimes in helicopters, said Andrew Wiest, a history professor at the University of Southern Mississippi and the founding director of its Dale Center for the Study of War and Society. Battalion Commander Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore and his men continued on, receiving support from artillery units and air strikes, helping the American troops hold themselves against the enemy. We lived in tents. 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. After leaving the Army, Braveboy worked as a roofer. 'Can't you see I'm dying?' 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. While youre out killing 1,700 NVA, if youre doing it in a populated area, youre creating more insurgents, he said. Luckily for him, not a single shot he received hit any vital organs. The North Vietnamese enjoyed numerical superiority in the valley. The XO was going fast. Crandall continued to fly into and out of the landing zone throughout the day and into the evening. Returning home, he single-handedly raised his two young children while earning two masters degrees. He and his wife live in Lake Forest, Illinois. 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. He married in 1981 and is the father of four daughters: an eight-year-old, a five-year-old, and infant twins. (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. The British-born Rescorla earned a masters degree and a law degree at universities in Oklahoma and went into corporate-security work. You can always change this later in your Account settings. He is a colonel and the provost marshal of the U.S. Army Forces Command (Forscom) in Atlanta, Georgia. He now manages the quartermaster laundry at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and lives in Clarksville, Tennessee. Today he is vice president for group security at a major stock-brokerage house in New York City. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. LOSE, Charles R., the medic of the Lost Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, has dropped out of sight. He spent more than 14 hours in the air andcompleted a total of 22 flights, most under intense enemy fire. The IDV is the valley through which the river (Ia) Drang flows and is drained by the Ia Drang, Ia Puck and an extensive network of small streams flowing west and southwest across the Cambodian border into the Mekong River. 1965, just after the start of the U.S. campaign that led to the Ia Drang Valley. 3 /5. The North Vietnamese attempt one final attack, but are soon overrun and ordered to evacuate the headquarters they took only a few days prior. Ia Drang Valley, Battle of the (1965). The battle was the culmination of Operation Silver Bayonet I, a combined American-South Vietnamese offensive to relieve the . 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. McNamara told Johnson that the U.S. could continue with its limited engagement or massively escalate the war with hundreds of thousands more troops. Of the 500 men, 150 were killed and only 84 were able to return to immediate duty. He told me that if he didn't make it, I was to write her and tell her that he loved her. I fought for this country and now I own and farm 120 acres of my country. 1965 was the year America took the gloves off in Vietnam, moving from advising and assisting the South Vietnamese military to an active combat role. On February 26, 2007, President George W. Bush presented Crandall with the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Ia Drang Valley. The men were still in an administrative maneuver, so when the word to halt came they plopped down where they were. Although each survivor's story is unique, they all carry the same lessons. 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. At 4:00 AM this morning, Command Sergeant Major Basil L. Plumley of the U.S. Army's 1 st Battalion, 7 th Cavalry Regiment, died. He didn't know that he was the one in charge at that time. 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. The first major American direct fire conflict took place in November of 1965 in the Ia Drang Valley. Major Bruce P. Crandall's UH-1D helicopter climbs skyward after discharging a load of infantrymen on a search and destroy mission. After they were airlifted out of the combat zone, McDades men were joined by the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment. Today he is president of a major chemical-waste management corporation in Oak Brook, Illinois. It was the longest day I ever experienced in any aircraft, Crandall recalled. His hands were burned in the escape from the wreckage, and it was doubted that he would ever fly again. He and his wife have two college-age children. "They (the PAVN) were everywhere on our right flank, even in the trees. USA, Fort Benning, Merchant retired a lieutenant colonel in 1982. POLEY, Clinton, forty-eight, assistant machine gunner, 2nd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry in the Ia Drang, was discharged from Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver, Colorado, early in 1966, and went home to Iowa and the family farm. 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.. 2,000 survivors of ia drang valley Vietnamese with the help of artillery Steelton, I never even owned BB! Together, they flew in supplies, water, and ammunition needed for the troops. The only question was which side could outlast the other. 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. Winkel retired a colonel in 1986, with over thirty-one years of Army service. When someone shook me and tried to get me moving I was actually offended. After two days of intense North Vietnamese attacks and mounting casualties, Moore radioed the code word Broken Arrow, calling for all available aircraft to rescue an American unit about to be overrun. 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 . It was the first major battle of the Vietnam War, and Lawrence and . They were platoon leaders together in the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. CARRARA, Robert J., fifty-four, battalion surgeon of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cav in LZ X-Ray, served eleven months in Vietnam and was discharged in July 1966. Lessons in leadership, in the importance of training, in courage, in sacrifice and in loss. 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.) We were caught inside of what was essentially an L-shaped ambush.". It is laced with hard facts, observations, anger, sadness and even some humor. His lieutenants bars were pinned on by General James Van Fleet and, at Freemans request, his first assignment was as commander of Bravo Company. He won a National Magazine Award for his October 29, 1990, cover article on the Ia Drang battles. This is the tale of the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam in 1965. He retired a lieutenant colonel in 1977, and lives with his wife in Arlington, Texas. HERREN, John, fifty-eight, commander of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav, served a second tour in Vietnam as a staff officer at MACV/Saigon, was a battalion commander in Germany, and served in the office of the secretary of defense until his retirement in 1985 as a colonel. North Vietnamese forces had higher casualty rates, due to the U.S. airstrike and artillery support. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. 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. 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. Sign up to receive a daily email of today's top military news stories from Stars and Stripes and top news outlets He checked in with the nearest Veterans Administration hospital; they sent him home, telling him they would call him back for an operation to place a plate over the hole. He joined IBM as a salesman in Austin, Texas, and spent twenty years with them, rising to the post of Midwestern regional manager. The outcome convinced the North Vietnamese that they could reduce the threat of U.S. firepower by engaging the Americans at close quarters where U.S. airstrikes would prove risky and then melt away into the jungle or across the border into sanctuaries in Cambodia. 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. 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. Bun-gum operated a 161-acre dairy farm until 1988, when he sold his cows and took a job in town. I thought to myself. 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. 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). It was Nov. 15, 1965, in the valley of the Ia Drang in the wild mountains of the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. 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. "I can't even begin to explain it," he said. He and his wife, Elizabeth, live in Roswell, New Mexico, where they run an antiques shop. More than anything else in the world I would like to be back in the Green Machine, he says. The single, bloodiest day in the Vietnam War. 311 memorials 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. Clinton Poley was an assistant machine gunner, who said they landed in grass that was 5 feet high and didnt know where the other troops were. He left the Army in October 1966, and went home to his native Ohio, where he works as a carpenter. Knowles has served in the New Mexico legislature since 1982. "My gut told me, this is wrong, this isn't right, something's wrong here. Im so proud to have been there and so proud of the guys who were there with me. He retired in 1990. Some of them had blood on their faces from scratches and from other guys' wounds. One infantry company began the day of Nov. 14 with 110 men. He told me his wife's name was [Sylvia]. The central highlands had few roads and challenging terrain, making air mobility the only viable mode of transportation. Edwards is the acting borough manager of Dublin, Pennsylvania; he and his wife, Nancy, live in nearby New Hope. Young went to work for the railroad in Steelville, Missouri. The bulk of the fighting lasted about 6 hours and in that time 2/7 Cav lost 155 killed and 124 wounded. He lives in Pleasant Valley, Connecticut, and works in real estate sales and development. 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. And it all began early one fall day. During his two tours in Vietnam, Crandall flew lead ship on 756 separate missions. 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