Moore lectures at military academies and at several colleges and universities. After Vietnam, Hazen maintained a correspondence with the mother of the young lieutenant who died in his arms. Crandall kept his helicopter on the ground in the line of enemy fire, so that four wounded soldiers could be loaded aboard. He left the Army in 1971 with the rank of captain, returned home to Puerto Rico, and earned a law degree. Hear Walters story. 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. 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. DIDURYK, Myron F., commander of Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cav in LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany, completed his tour in Vietnam with Bravo Company in 1966, and later returned to Vietnam and the 1st Air Cavalry Division as a major. He is an executive with a major defense-contracting firm and lives in Centreville, Virginia. LZ Albany is essentially two clearings with a large copse of trees in the middle. How could I forget? MCDONALD, George J., fifty-two, mortarman, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, left the Army in 1966 and went home to Pass Christian, Mississippi, where he is a commercial fisherman. He teaches physical and earth sciences at Venice High School, Los Angeles, California. 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 Pleiku Campaign took place from 20 October to 26 . One infantry company began the day of Nov. 14 with 110 men. He co-authored the book We Were Soldiers Once And Young with Hal Moore. Privacy Policy TOWLES, Robert, forty-seven, rifleman, Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, spent five months in Valley Forge General Hospital in Pennsylvania, recovering from twenty-eight shrapnel wounds he received at LZ Albany. "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 told me that if he didn't make it, I was to write her and tell her that he loved her. Georgia, This battle took place from 11-14-1965, thru 11-18-1965. One killed, 15 injured after clashes erupt at Afghan border again December 16, 2022. 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. Young went to work for the railroad in Steelville, Missouri. Next, he was shot in the chest; as he moved around, he was shot again in the leg. 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. Memoirs and histories written after the event capture it . The XO was going fast. MEYER, Edward C. (Shy), sixty-three, 3rd Brigade executive officer in the Ia Drang, retired as Army Chief of Staff, a four-star general, in 1983 after thirty-two years service. 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. His lieutenants bars were pinned on by General James Van Fleet and, at Freemans request, his first assignment was as commander of Bravo Company. FREEMAN, Ed (Too Tall to Fly), sixty-five, Bruce Crandalls wingman, retired a major in 1967 after twenty-one years Army service. New York, Another 71 Americans had been killed in earlier, smaller skirmishes that led up to the Ia Drang battles. Hal Moore and the 1st Battalion, 7th . They and their buddies fought off hundreds of North Vietnamese with the help of artillery. He and his wife live in Lake Forest, Illinois. After three days of fighting, 240 Americans had been killed and another 300 wounded (more troops were brought in in support). This allowed troops to be quickly brought in and out for battle. This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. One killed, 15 injured after clashes erupt at Afghan border again December 16, 2022. 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. Difficult. 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. The enemy was so close he could hear them talking and he could see them right in front of him. 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. Together, they flew in supplies, water, and ammunition needed for the troops. They are stories that not only serve to maintain our connection with history, but also educate us and force us to confront the good and the bad and learn from it. He and his wife, Kornelia, live in Columbus, Georgia, where for several years Scott taught military subjects to Junior ROTC in the high schools. They have a son and two daughters. After a second career as a consultant to defense industries on the West Coast, he retired again and lives in Arlington, Virginia, with his wife, Libby. 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. Its not so much what we went through as it is knowing what the other guys went through. He returned to serve two more tours in Vietnamone with the Special Forces, one with an intelligence agency. 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. Unlike Viet Cong guerrillas, the northerners were prepared to stand and fight. 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. 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. He is married and has four children. On February 26, 2007, President George W. Bush presented Crandall with the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Ia Drang Valley. But I remember thinking that I'm just a lieutenant. A month before the Ia Drang operation, North Vietnamese regulars attacked a U.S. Special Forces base at Plei Me, hoping to lure the ineffectual South Vietnamese army out of its base at the provincial capital, Pleiku, and destroy it. He would recover after some physical therapy and return to duty in 1966 to finish his tour. The Battle of the la Drang Valley would come to be remembered as one of the most iconic battles of the Vietnam War, and later would set the scene for the film We Were Soldiers based on the novel We Were Soldiers OnceAnd Young. 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. 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. Alex Kolyer for MPR News On this Veterans Day,. 5 cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. He and his wife, Elizabeth, live in Roswell, New Mexico, where they run an antiques shop. Douglas County, This article was originally published Nov. 11, 2015, as part of the Vietnam at 50 project. When he got back to Refugio, Texas, he called on Joe Galloways parents but mercifully concealed the true circumstances of their meeting on the battlefield in X-Ray. in history. "I can't even begin to explain it," he said. MARM, Walter J. As the command ship touched down, other NVA soldiers opened up; Myron Diduryk was struck in the stomach in the doorway of the chopper. On November 14, 1965, Captain Ed Freeman made repeated flights into the Ia Drang Valley under intense fire to bring in supplies and evacuate the wounded. Together, we can make sure our heroes will get the reverence they deserve and the stories and sacrifices of our heroes will never be forgotten. Contrary to popular belief, the Battle of Ia Drang started and ended after the famous landings at LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany. Why I wasn't killed, I couldn't say.". Then he somehow managed to crawl away, saying that he was going to organize the troops. George found solace in hiking the Maine woods, shooting nothing more deadly than a 35mm camera. The North Vietnamese enjoyed numerical superiority in the valley. Most of the planes touched down between midnight and six A.M., but George Nye was always there, rain or shine. The 430 troops of the 1st Battalion, 1stCavalry Division loaded into helicopters and were dropped into the Ia Drang valley. By whatever measure, the chaotic, bloody Battle of the Ia Drang Valley set the tone for the rest of war. The day before he died, George picked up a Christmas tree, which he planned to decorate with yellow ribbons and small American flags for the airport terminal; soldiers from the Gulf were still arriving and he didnt want them to think they had been forgotten. The last time he talked to Herren, Lose said, Nobody out here understands what we went through.. After he flew the men back to base, he knew the soldiers on the ground were running short of ammunition, so he decided to fly back in. (U.S. Army). The North Vietnamese regulars, young men who had been drafted into the military much as the young American men had been, had paid a much higher price to test the newcomers to an old fight: an estimated 3,561 of them had been killed, and thousands more wounded, in the 34-day Ia Drang campaign. On November 18, 1965, the US forces were able to gather their dead. His son is a staff sergeant in the 82nd Airborne Division and a veteran of both the Panama invasion and the Persian Gulf War. In Hanoi, the North Vietnamese leadership was prepared for huge losses. He asked for a volunteer to go with him and Captain Ed Freeman agreed to pursue it with him, displaying extraordinary heroism. He retired a first sergeant in June 1973, with twenty years service. The battle was part of a campaign for control of the strategic central highlands, which divided South Vietnam north to south. Thus died one of the finest officers who fought in the Ia Drang. 1965, just after the start of the U.S. campaign that led to the Ia Drang Valley. 311 memorials After leaving the Army, Braveboy worked as a roofer. 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. Today he is an orchestra leader and serves in the state militia.