All Rights Reserved. He is a civilian specialist on NATO affairs for the Defense Department; he and his wife, Sally, live in Bethesda, Maryland. Moore and his battalion were evacuated the next day, Nov. 17. The fighting continued all day and into the night. Moore is the last to leave, refusing to do so until every man living and dead has left. He served in both Brazil and El Salvador, was a history instructor at West Point, and served in the Center of Military History for a number of years. After the Ia Drang campaign, Hastings was badly burned when the O-1E Bird Dog spotter plane he was piloting was shot down over the Mang Yang Pass and crash-landed in the old French Group Mobile 100 cemetery beside Route 19 on Christmas Eve 1965. USA, Fort Benning, Lawrence's story is one that he has told so often to so many people that it is fluid and impactful without being rehearsed. Early Ia Drang Valley 1965 KIA group - 2/8 Calavary - LZ Cavalair Early Ia Drang Valley 1965 KIA group - 2/8 Calavary - LZ Cavalair. He and his wife, Elizabeth, live in Roswell, New Mexico, where they run an antiques shop. He retired in August 1977, with thirty-two years service. 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. HOWARD, John, fifty-four, medical-services officer, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cav in the Ia Drang, retired a lieutenant colonel in 1983, after twenty-five years service. He was presented with the Medal of Honor on December 19, 1966, and three years later volunteered for a second tour of duty in Vietnam. 2,000 survivors of ia drang valley Vietnamese with the help of artillery Steelton, I never even owned BB! Karen works part-time as a freelance designer and helps with her husbands construction and contracting business. The North Vietnamese attempt one final attack, but are soon overrun and ordered to evacuate the headquarters they took only a few days prior. The men, women, and children of this story are Americas neighbors, living quiet lives in every corner of the nation they served. That same month, the United States began bombing North Vietnam in Operation Rolling Thunder. Westmorelands recommendation for more troops carried the day even as Johnson and his advisers privately questioned prospects for success. 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.) With only 700 effective soldiers left of the original 2,200, the 33d Regiment needed help. The survivors of Landing Zone X-Ray have always had an aura of fame about them. On the morning of November 14th, the 1st Cavalry landed at Landing Zone X-Ray at the base of the Chu Pong mountain and by noon they were already under attack from the North Vietnamese. Initially, Lawrence's thoughts and feelings after he was safe were just moments captured in his mind. 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. He wanted to ensure the memories of those who died live on, in particular that of his best friend, Lt. Don Cornett. He went home to Anderson County, South Carolina, where he is a deputy sheriff. Moore, who says he graduated from West Point by the skin of my teeth, was the first Army officer of his class (1945) to achieve one-, two-, and three-star rank. In his spare time he camps, climbs, skis, and fishes for trout in the Rockies. Among the survivors of the ambush was 1st Lt. Rick Rescorla, a platoon leader who died Sept. 11, 2001, rescuing people from the World Trade Centers south tower until it crashed around him. On November 18, 1965, the US forces were able to gather their dead. He is partly paralyzed as a result of his terrible wound. But Westmoreland believed the battle validated the airmobile tactic of quick strikes to catch the enemy off guard, kill as many as possible and withdraw back to base. 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. I believe it is so I can share our story.". 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. 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. Both later were awarded the Medal of Honor, our nations highest award for heroism in combat. No one wanted to look weak in the face of communist aggression.. 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. I marked off 65 names and thats when it really hit me what had happened and it just overwhelmed me. He left the Army in 1971 with the rank of captain, returned home to Puerto Rico, and earned a law degree. MICELI, Carmen, forty-eight, rifleman, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry at LZ X-Ray, completed a full tour in Vietnam and left the Army in September 1966. For the last twenty-one years he has been in the tire business. He was forty-five. 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. MARM, Walter J. Adams and his wife have a three-year-old daughter. Some of them had blood on their faces from scratches and from other guys' wounds. The Troopers of 2/7 Cav relieved their sister unit, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, on Nov. 16, following 1/7 Cav's three day battle with the People's Army of Vietnam near the base of the Chu Pong Massif. We were caught inside of what was essentially an L-shaped ambush.". Please reset your password. The last time he talked to Herren, Lose said, Nobody out here understands what we went through.. 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. 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. I've also included soldiers who survived and died later and the wife of the commander of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, Julia Moore for her role in supporting the grieving widows of the men slain. They have five grown children: sons Steve, Dave, and Greg; and daughters Cecile and Julie. In his spare time Wal-lenius draws, paints, and does etchings and prints, sometimes of Vietnam War scenes. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Photo extracted from U.S. Army motion picture footage from November 1965. They have two grown children. BECK, Bill, forty-nine, assistant machine gunner, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav in the Ia Drang, left the Army in 1966 and went home to his native Steelton, Pennsylvania. 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. The remainder of the 2nd was left waiting in a communication blackout. He tells his audience this to help them understand. 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. from around the world. CANTU, Vincent, fifty-one, mortarman, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav, left the Ia Drang battlefield and immediately rotated home for discharge, two weeks late, in December 1965. 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. Contrary to popular belief, the Battle of Ia Drang started and ended after the famous landings at LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany. 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. Advisory Group, Pleiku. In the fall of 1965 the Vietnam War was an event most Americans saw as a series of smaller battles leaving little to remember. Many did a second tour and others left the service and returned home to their families. Jeanette spent the better part of a year in a military hospital while his shattered leg was repaired. "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.". OUELLETTE, Robert, fifty, battalion commanders radio operator in LZ X-Ray, left the Army in August 1966. Moore continues to fight, returning home to Julia after a year. He moved back to his hometown of Tucson, Arizona. WALLENIUS, Jon, forty-nine, mortar observer, Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry in LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany, got out of the Army in August 1966. U.S. intelligence knew that North Vietnamese regulars probably a single regiment were in the area. 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. He is married and has a daughter in college and a son in the U.S. Marines. We Were Soldiers (2002) is considered by many to be one of the best Vietnam War films ever made. That is the theme of Lawrence's book and of his talks. 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