A fresh unit, the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, was ordered to march from LZ X-Ray to LZ Albany a few miles away. 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. They died thinking that their loved ones would never know how they died. James T. Lawrence, a first lieutenant in the Battle of Ia Drang Valley, learned a lesson in leadership the hard way 50 years ago. He and his wife have two college-age children. Today, Doc Shucart of Landing Zone Albany is the chief of neurosurgery at Tufts University Medical School. 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. After retiring from the Army, Freeman became the northwest area director of aircraft services for the U.S. Department of the Interior. He retired a colonel in 1983. 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. Major Bruce Crandalls UH-1D helicopter climbs skyward after discharging a load of infantrymen on a search and destroy mission in Ia Drang. More than anything else in the world I would like to be back in the Green Machine, he says. Her mother, who never remarried, died in 1986. Russian missile barrage knocks out power and water to Ukrainian cities December 16, 2022. The battle was part of a campaign for control of the strategic central highlands, which divided South Vietnam north to south. After they were airlifted out of the combat zone, McDades men were joined by the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment. He served another Indochina tour in 1975, planning and helping run the final American air evacuation of Vietnam from a base in Thailand. 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. Shortly after the battalion set out, the North Vietnamese sprang a massive ambush. 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. He spent eighteen months in Army hospitals, and was retired, disabled, in June 1975. 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. Learn more about featured topics of the Vietnam War and Vietnam Era. He is brutally honest, even with his actions as a leader. Please ensure you have given Find a Grave permission to access your location in your browser settings. 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. He spent seven months there while his shattered thigh and legs were repaired. He was director of training development at Fort Benning when he retired as a colonel in 1983. 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. Payne and his wife, Patty, live in Hinsdale, Illinois, and have three children. (Purp), fifty, rifleman, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry, was evacuated to Japan. Lawrence, even in his paralyzed state, was able to give some direction to his company. American officials declared the Battle of the la Drang Valley a victory. MILLS, Jon, fifty-four, Bruce Crandalls copilot in the Ia Drang, retired a lieutenant colonel in 1980. Purp is married, the father of three daughters, and cuts hair at Gibbs Barber Shop, where he has worked for the last nineteen years. The American death toll was a shock to President Lyndon Johnson, who immediately dispatched Defense Secretary Robert McNamara to Saigon to find out what was going on. Lefebvre earned graduate degrees in secondary school administration and public administration. North Vietnamese forces had higher casualty rates, due to the U.S. airstrike and artillery support. 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. 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. 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. The idea was to kill the enemy, not necessarily hold ground, and bleed the North Vietnamese until they tired of war. 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. Knowles retired from the Army in 1974 as a lieutenant general. 311 memorials 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 . Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency: Ia Drang Valley Incident. 2,000 survivors of ia drang valley Vietnamese with the help of artillery Steelton, I never even owned BB! By the third day of the battle, the Americans had gained the upper hand. He left the Army in 1971 with the rank of captain, returned home to Puerto Rico, and earned a law degree. Today he is president of a major chemical-waste management corporation in Oak Brook, Illinois. Moore and his battalion were evacuated the next day, Nov. 17. It is laced with hard facts, observations, anger, sadness and even some humor. Charlie Hastings moved back home to Tucson after retiring, and he lives there with his wife and children. 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. 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. They saved some 70 soldiers. This operation responded to the NVA attack on an American . With only 700 effective soldiers left of the original 2,200, the 33d Regiment needed help. 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. 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. President Johnson Jeanie Hunter in Oskaloosa, Ia on November 24, 1984 and she survives bikinis. He tried to crawl away and was shot again in the hip. ), provided the authors with a copy of Diduryks journal and maps for this book. Initially, Lawrence's thoughts and feelings after he was safe were just moments captured in his mind. Moore commanded the 7th Infantry Division in Korea, was commanding general at Fort Ord, California, and then was the Armys deputy Chief of Staff for personnel. The last time he talked to Herren, Lose said, Nobody out here understands what we went through.. He has written a book about his experiences and has spoken more than 20 times to veterans organizations, junior high and high school students, and civic groups. The idea was that whole battalions could be dropped and complete their mission on the ground, calling in artillery barrages, helicopter support, and bombing sorties (including . A Chicago native, Doc Carrara returned home, changed his specialty to pathology. The 430 troops of the 1st Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division loaded into helicopters and were dropped into the Ia Drang valley. Five years ago he attended a reunion of Alpha Company veterans of LZ Albany. 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. 5 memorials LTC Roger Jay Bartholomew 2 Nov 1932 - 27 Nov 1968 Westlawn-Hillcrest Memorial Park His friends completed the tree for him and dedicated it to Sergeant China Joe Nye. After years of advising the South Vietnamese against the communist North, and months of chasing black-clad guerrillas, a large. The Ia Drang Valley is where the U.S. truly went to war. They have two grown children. After a North Vietnamese strike against the Special Forces camp at Plei Me, American forces deployed in an effort to destroy the attackers. He is partly paralyzed as a result of his terrible wound. If you have questions, please contact [emailprotected]. Please reset your password. He lives in Pleasant Valley, Connecticut, and works in real estate sales and development. He is a master gunsmith and runs his own business repairing and selling weapons. Difficult. It wasn't until about two weeks later, as he read Stars and Stripes, that it hit him what he had survived. WASHBURN, Richard B., fifty-seven, platoon leader, 2/20th Aerial Rocket Artillery in the Ia Drang, returned to Vietnam for a second combat tour. With the arrival on foot of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry commanded by Lt. Col. Robert McDade, on the morning of November 16, there were now three Cavalry battalions crammed into the clearing, including Lt. Col. Walter Tullys 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry. Muscogee County, Rosemary Giles is a history content writer with Hive Media. "I thought I was dying and laid there waiting for death to come. Crandall won the first Helicopter Heroism Award of the Aviation/Space Writers Association, for two daring nighttime landings under fire to rescue twelve badly wounded troopers from Captain Tony Nadals Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav in Operation Masher-White Wing in January 1966. ROBINSON, Edward Charles, fifty-five, Huey pilot at LZ X-Ray, served a second combat tour in Vietnam. Although it was left out of We Were Soldiers, Albany was no less bloody than X-Ray. His hands were burned in the escape from the wreckage, and it was doubted that he would ever fly again. 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. 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. Their mission was to find and kill the enemy. Nebraska, 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 was in a great deal of pain, so a rifleman named Wilson and I removed his gear as best we could, and I bandaged his wound. 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. 5 cemeteries found in will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Carrara says, I dont dwell on Vietnam, but now and then I hear something or smell something and flash back to those days. The survivors of the Ia Drang on November 14, 1965 to Nov 1965 on Nov. 14 with men. 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. 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 battalion commander had ordered his command helicopter to land and check out a North Vietnamese soldier killed by the door gunner. Hal Moore ensured that all of the men came home, and they therefore did . Freeman and his wife, Barbara, live in Boise, Idaho. 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. 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. Most of the planes touched down between midnight and six A.M., but George Nye was always there, rain or shine. When someone shook me and tried to get me moving I was actually offended. The British-born Rescorla earned a masters degree and a law degree at universities in Oklahoma and went into corporate-security work. The battle was later dramatized in the film We Were Soldiers. I think McNamara knew, deep down; I think Johnson knew, Wiest said. Jim also talks about the failure of leadership. The following is a partial accounting, prepared in 1992, of where some of them are and what they have done with their lives: 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. Rate the pronunciation difficulty of Ia Drang. They are all Don Cornett to him, his best friend. Today he is an orchestra leader and serves in the state militia. The real life Battle of Ia Drang took place between November 14-19, 1965. The Tragedy of LZ Albany: Teaching the lessons of a battle lost. 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