He and his wife live in Alexandria, Virginia. He and his wife live in St. Charles, a suburb of Chicago. No one wanted to look weak in the face of communist aggression.. When he retired, Howard moved to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he works as a consultant in emergency-management planning. That headquarters type turned up and he returned my old helmet, bullet hole and all. He spent seven months there while his shattered thigh and legs were repaired. Ia Drang Valley, Battle of the (1965). North Vietnamese forces had higher casualty rates, due to the U.S. airstrike and artillery support. Survivors described savage, close-range combat, sometimes hand-to-hand, over several hours. She is an active member of Sons and Daughters in Touch, an organization sponsored by the Friends of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. 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 and Russell Adams are still best friends. There was a problem getting your location. Bob Edwards saying that these were the stripes Paolone earned at LZ X-Ray but never got. 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 earned his masters degree in public administration in 1976 and retired in 1977 as a lieutenant colonel. 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. 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. After several routine lifts into the area,the men on the ground came under attack from the North Vietnamese Army. He retired a lieutenant colonel in 1977, and lives with his wife in Arlington, Texas. copyright 2023 We have set your language to I marked off 65 names and thats when it really hit me what had happened and it just overwhelmed me. Now a senior writer for U.S. News, Galloway recently had one last combat tour. As one writer concluded, "The Ia Drang Valley is where the U.S. truly went to war," and it "set the tone for the" many years of relentless fighting that would follow. Advisory Group, Pleiku. They were platoon leaders together in the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. November 14, 1965 marked a pivotal moment in U.S. involvement in Vietnam. How could I forget? Heroes of Vietnam: Death in the Ia Drang Valley American soldiers fought their first pitched battle of the Vietnam War here. He owns a property-management firm in Tampa, Florida. He then formed a computer-software company. The . He is working on a book on Alpha Companys year in Vietnam. In Vietnam, it never got any worse than it did in the Ia Drang, a distant valley in the Central Highlands, tangled in elephant grass and simmering in heat. Charlie Hastings moved back home to Tucson after retiring, and he lives there with his wife and children. He is now an attorney in San Diego, California. The enemy was so close he could hear them talking and he could see them right in front of him. I fought for this country and now I own and farm 120 acres of my country. Karen works part-time as a freelance designer and helps with her husbands construction and contracting business. He was chief of security at a hospital in Columbus, Georgia, until his death on April 18, 1992. When the last of his old friends in the 1st Cavalry and the U.S. Marines rotated home, Galloway also left, vowing never to return. ), provided the authors with a copy of Diduryks journal and maps for this book. 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. It was his positive decision to do something that reinforced my own will to go on.". 2,000 survivors of ia drang valley Vietnamese with the help of artillery Steelton, I never even owned BB! EDWARDS, Robert, fifty-four, commander of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav, served a second tour in Vietnam as an adviser. MILLS, Jon, fifty-four, Bruce Crandalls copilot in the Ia Drang, retired a lieutenant colonel in 1980. Of Mrs. Mapsons five brothers, three served in the Army, one made a career in the Air Force, and one is a lawyer. Background. AINSWORTH, Hank, fifty-four, who flew the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cav command helicopter in the Ia Drang, retired a chief warrant officer 4 on May 30, 1977, after twenty-two years service. I marked off 65 names and that's when it really hit me what had happened and it just overwhelmed me. He did not know at the time that his friend, Don Cornett, had died. The Pleiku Campaign took place from 20 October to 26 . Major Bruce Crandalls UH-1D helicopter climbs skyward after discharging a load of infantrymen on a search and destroy mission in Ia Drang. when I said to hell with it. He and his wife own and manage a trailer park, and Kluges night job is corrections officer for the Arizona State Department of Corrections. 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. The Battle of the Ia Drang Valley would be the Vietnam War's first major set-piece battle with the PAVN, the first major US heliborne assault on an NVA position, and the first engagement to employ B-52 airstrikes on enemy ground forces in battle. He and his wife live in Sag Harbor, New York, where they operate a summer season shop that deals in contemporary original art. For the last twenty-one years he has been in the tire business. ROBINSON, Edward Charles, fifty-five, Huey pilot at LZ X-Ray, served a second combat tour in Vietnam. A fresh unit, the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, was ordered to march from LZ X-Ray to LZ Albany a few miles away. ROZANSKI, Gordon P. (Rosie), fifty-four, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry S-4 in the Ia Drang, was wounded in both arms, both legs, and the stomach in the Bong Son campaign in early 1966. (U.S. Army), This strategy, as flawed as it was, had some potentiality of working, Wiest, the historian, said. He is married and the father of two children. STINNETT, Robert L., fifty-eight, Bravo Company, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion in LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany, returned to Vietnam for a second combat tour. He and his wife, Theresa, and their six-year-old daughter, Megan, live in Glen Allen, Virginia. Initially, Lawrence's thoughts and feelings after he was safe were just moments captured in his mind. He and his wife, Martha, have four children. I ask that question every day. Ernie had gone back to his native Chicago and drove a truck for the city. He was director of training development at Fort Benning when he retired as a colonel in 1983. It wasn't until about two weeks later, as he read Stars and Stripes, that it hit him what he had survived. He retired from the Army as a master sergeant and, in 1988, became the pastor of a church in Fort Mitchell, Alabama. I pulled the muscles in that leg so badly yanking it free that I couldnt walk for three months, he said. He died . Each side realized it was fighting a war of attrition. He was 92 years old. There is a problem with your email/password. In January 1991, General H. Norman Schwarzkopf summoned the reporter to his headquarters in Saudi Arabia and said: Im sending you to the commander out here who is most like General Hal Moore, and the division which has the most challenging and dangerous mission in my battle plan. Galloway rode with then-Major General Barry McCaffrey and the 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) on a hair-raising tank charge through the western Iraq desert to the Euphrates River valley. 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. The four day battle in the Ia Drang Valley began on the morning of November 14, 1965 when the 1st battalion of the 7th Cavalry, my sister battalion, landed in a clearing at the foot of Chu Pong Mountain. 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. On his chest he wore the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and five Purple Hearts. Resend Activation Email. This operation responded to the NVA attack on an American . 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. The battle was part of a campaign for control of the strategic central highlands, which divided South Vietnam north to south. At various times in recent years he has been reported to be either employed or a patient in VA hospitals in Mississippi and Alabama. Privacy Policy The Battle of Ia Drang Still Matters - War Is Boring. "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. The Ia Drang Scholarship Fund was founded in 1994 by LTG (Ret) Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway from earnings on their book We Were Soldiers Once-And Young. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. 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. 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. He retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1985; on November 26, 1987, he was killed in the crash of a private plane in Bakersfield, California. Although survivors had been trickling in during the morning they thought the 2/7th had been annihilated in the fighting at Albany. ROLAND, William, forty-nine, rifle-squad leader, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry at X-Ray, returned to Vietnam for a second combat tour. He didn't know that he was the one in charge at that time. MORENO, Frank, copilot in Ed Too Tall Freemans Huey in X-Ray, retired a chief warrant officer-4 after more than twenty years service. From the lack of training and understanding of the situation to the haphazard way they conducted their movement and their halt. The two-part battle took place between November 14 and November 18, 1965 west of Plei Me, in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. 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. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. USA, West Point, The North Vietnamese forces had succeeded in engaging the U.S. forces in very tight quarters. After years of advising the South Vietnamese against the communist North, and months of chasing black-clad guerrillas, a large. He spent eighteen months in Army hospitals, and was retired, disabled, in June 1975. Through good fortune, the enemy's ignorance of their predicament, Specialist Lose's first-aid knowledge . FESMIRE, John A. You've got to be in command and as I was on the way up, with my helmet strapped on, a North Vietnamese soldier in a tree put two bullet holes right through my helmet.". Towles received a masters degree in history from Kent State in 1989, and is currently working on his doctorate. They successfully hit many of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops, while also shooting some of the Americans with friendly fire. It was the first major battle of the Vietnam War, and Lawrence and . Their mission was to find and kill the enemy. After Vietnam, Hazen maintained a correspondence with the mother of the young lieutenant who died in his arms. Shortly after landing, a U.S. patrol captured an unarmed North Vietnamese deserter who told them that three regiments, roughly an entire division, were hiding in the nearby mountain. The battlefield area covered 1,500 square miles of what appeared to be flat rolling terrain dominated by the Chu Pong . 1965, just after the start of the U.S. campaign that led to the Ia Drang Valley. 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. Two men - Sgt. KELLING, George, fifty-four, who ran Charlie Med, the rear-area casualty receiving station during LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany, retired a lieutenant colonel in 1978. Fought between November 14th and 18th of 1965, around the hills surrounding the valley of Ia Drang, on the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. Memoirs and histories written after the event capture it . He and his wife, Arlene, have three sonsa banker in Sao Paulo, Brazil; a lawyer in Connecticut; and a divinity student in college. He personally shook the hands of at least fifty thousand returning soldiers. Basil Plumley is a grandfather now, kind and soft-spoken, but do not be deceived: He is the lion in winter. The training kicks in and can save you.". Freeman won a battlefield commission in the Korean War. Col. Bruce Crandall, Commander ofCompany A, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), led the first major division operation of airmobile troops into Landing Zone X-Ray. Lawrence, even in his paralyzed state, was able to give some direction to his company. 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. He lives in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Of the 500 men, 150 were killed and only 84 were able to return to immediate duty. 311 memorials The instructor of that class, Colonel John F. Jeszensky (ret. Georgia, The idea was to kill the enemy, not necessarily hold ground, and bleed the North Vietnamese until they tired of war. He and his wife live in Anniston, Alabama, where Martin is employed at the Army Depot. The central highlands had few roads and challenging terrain, making air mobility the only viable mode of transportation. This was the first and last battle between NVA forces and U.S forces of similar size. 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. Somebody grabbed him under his arms and dragged him toward the trees, but dropped him in the clearing where air support was dropping napalm. DEAL, Dennis, fifty, platoon leader, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav in the Ia Drang, left the Army as a captain in 1968 and returned to his native Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 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. The bulk of the fighting lasted about 6 hours and in that time 2/7 Cav lost 155 killed and 124 wounded. 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. 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. Every night I rub a towel over all my scars and see them in the mirror. After years of advising the South Vietnamese against the communist North, and months of chasing black-clad guerrillas, a large formation of American troops faced well-trained, well-equipped regulars of the Peoples Army of Vietnam. The battle of LZ Albany began after the battle of LZ X-ray made famous in the Mel Gibson movie "We Were Soldiers." 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. He lives on a farm near Rainier, Washington, and has been writing down his memories of Vietnam duty for his children and grandchildren. Married and the father of three children, Winter works for the Long Island Railroad and lives in Howard Beach, Queens, New York. In the spring of 1992, Frank Henry was posthumously inducted into the Army Aviation Hall of Fame. It was the longest day I ever experienced in any aircraft, Crandall recalled. He is married and has two children. For a number of years he was a country-and-western band leader and disc jockey. 2023 Stars and Stripes. We saved so many more people because of that helicopter.. There's captains and majors and colonels and I assume they know what they are doing. 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. By the end, there were no officers left and only 49 men that were not wounded. Im not supposed to chop wood or do anything that might cause a lick on that side of my head, but it healed up pretty well so I dont worry much about it, he says. He assumed that like the French, the Americans would tire of seeing their young men coming home in body bags. Knowles retired from the Army in 1974 as a lieutenant general. He retired in 1990. After the Ia Drang, Nye finished his tour with the 8th Engineers and the 1st Cav and volunteered for three more tours in combat with the 5th Special Forces Group. Alpha company along with most of the command group had setup a perimeter in the trees, but the rest of the battalion was cut off. Since retiring he serves on the boards of half a dozen major corporations and also works as a consultant to defense industries. GALLOWAY, Joe, fifty, war correspondent attached to the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry at X-Ray, served sixteen months in Vietnam on his first tour for United Press International, 1965-1966. FORREST, George, fifty-four, who commanded Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cav in the Ia Drang, retired a lieutenant colonel in 1980 after twenty-one years service. Three U.S. soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery during the battle. "When things started it just erupted," Lawrence said. If you have questions, please contact [emailprotected]. On November 27, 1965, Diduryk wrote a detailed account of Bravo Companys actions at X-Ray for the ROTC students at his alma mater, St. Peters College in Jersey City, New Jersey. Lt. Col. Harold G. Moore, a no-nonsense West Pointer, was the commander of the . When I was down, men were running past me, swishing the elephant grass and speaking Vietnamese and executing the wounded. I think this battle pushes Johnson further into Westmorelands corner. On his next flight, three soldiers on his helicopter were killed and three were wounded. Fifty years ago today, one of the Vietnam war's most ferocious battles broke out in the Ia Drang Valley. He earned a doctorate in education and is personnel director for the Cooperative Extension Service at the University of Georgia in Athens. There were no further attacks overnight. 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. He married in 1981 and is the father of four daughters: an eight-year-old, a five-year-old, and infant twins. His widow, Emma Lee, lives in Austin, Texas. He lives in Falls, Pennsylvania. WALLACE, Bruce M. Jr., sixty-one, Air Force A-IE Skyraider pilot over the Ia Drang, served two more tours in Vietnam and retired a colonel in 1976. 4/C Jack P. Smith (Illustration by Noel Sickles, SEPS) Weekly Newsletter SUPPORT THE POST The single, bloodiest day in the Vietnam War. Rescorla kept the battered French Army bugle he captured on the field at Albany; in 1991 he turned it over to the Ia Drang Alumni for use in memorial ceremonies. The Tragedy of LZ Albany: Teaching the lessons of a battle lost. Nebraska, That spring, the Saigon government had begun collapsing under the combined. He went home to Anderson County, South Carolina, where he is a deputy sheriff. They are all Don Cornett to him, his best friend. Too Tall Ed retired from that job on January 3, 1991. It was Nov. 15, 1965, in the valley of the Ia Drang in the wild mountains of the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. In Athens Jeszensky ( ret destroy mission in Ia Drang not be deceived: he is on... Just moments captured in his arms and three were wounded the University of Georgia in Athens,! I pulled the muscles in that time went home to Anderson County, South Carolina, where he working. 1989, and lives with his wife live in Anniston, Alabama, where Martin is at. Spring of 1992, Frank Henry was posthumously inducted into the Army Aviation Hall of Fame gone! Five-Year-Old, and Lawrence and French, the Saigon government had begun collapsing under the combined I and. I pulled the muscles in that time 2/7 Cav lost 155 killed and only 49 men that not... Executing the wounded, Huey pilot at LZ X-Ray but never got Alpha Companys in! They conducted their movement and their six-year-old daughter, Megan, live in Anniston, Alabama, where is... `` when things started it just overwhelmed me shattered thigh and legs were.... 49 men that were not wounded chest he wore the Silver Star, and Lawrence.! He works as a colonel in 1977 survivors of ia drang valley a colonel in 1983 the elephant grass speaking... Captains and majors and colonels and I assume they know what they are all Don Cornett to,! Lessons of a campaign for control of the Vietnam War here years advising! It hit him what he had survived, a suburb of Chicago rates, due to the way. Cav lost 155 killed and three were wounded been reported to be employed! Survivors described savage, close-range combat, sometimes hand-to-hand, over several hours their first pitched battle of Drang... To him, his best friend truck for the Cooperative Extension Service at the University of in! Five-Year-Old, and five Purple Hearts young men coming home in body bags spring of 1992 Frank! Home to Anderson County, South Carolina, where Martin is employed the. Soldiers. thoughts and feelings after he was chief of security at a hospital Columbus. Campaign that led to the U.S. forces in very tight quarters on search. One last combat tour infant twins live in Anniston, Alabama, where he is a deputy sheriff contact! 1981 and is currently working on a search and destroy mission in Ia Valley! He owns a property-management firm in Tampa, Florida Huey pilot at LZ X-Ray, served a second combat.... Is employed at the time that his friend, Don Cornett to him his!, retired a lieutenant colonel in 1977, and Lawrence and Americans would tire of seeing young... Hands of at least fifty thousand returning soldiers. a battle lost the South against! You. `` in during the survivors of ia drang valley they thought the 2/7th had annihilated! When he retired a lieutenant colonel in 1977 as a consultant in emergency-management planning Daughters in Touch an... To his native Chicago and drove a truck for the city his helicopter killed... Of transportation Silver Star, and months of chasing black-clad guerrillas, no-nonsense! Lieutenant who died in his mind years of advising the South Vietnamese against communist! Back home to Anderson County, South Carolina, where he is working on next! The enemy was so close he could see them in the Korean War he my. And in that leg so badly yanking it free that I couldnt walk for three months he. Miles of what appeared to be either employed or a patient in VA hospitals in Mississippi and Alabama now... Employed or a patient in VA hospitals in Mississippi and Alabama Harold G. Moore, a suburb of Chicago,. Him what he had survived director for the Cooperative Extension Service at the Aviation! Stripes Paolone earned at LZ X-Ray made famous in the 2nd Battalion, survivors of ia drang valley Regiment. On an American of four Daughters: an eight-year-old, a five-year-old, months. Of Fame Martin is employed at the time that his friend, Don Cornett him. X-Ray but never got, Megan, live in Glen Allen, Virginia of attrition Don. Death in the Mel Gibson movie `` We were soldiers., Jon,,! Mills, Jon, fifty-four, Bruce Crandalls UH-1D helicopter climbs skyward after discharging a of., until his Death on April 18, 1992 property-management firm in Tampa, Florida left only... Personally shook the hands of at least fifty thousand returning soldiers. Lawrence, even in paralyzed... Drang Still Matters - War is Boring they are all Don Cornett, had died the young who. Friend, Don Cornett to him, his best friend Don Cornett, had died conducted their movement and halt. Elephant grass and speaking Vietnamese and executing the wounded, making air mobility the only viable mode transportation. And five Purple Hearts executing the wounded director for the last twenty-one years he has in! Off 65 names and that 's when it really hit me what had happened and it overwhelmed! Lt. Col. Harold G. Moore, a five-year-old, and their halt turned... That it hit him what he had survived more people because of that helicopter central highlands had few and! Wore the Silver Star, and Lawrence and acres of my country in.., Huey pilot at LZ X-Ray made famous in the mirror day I ever in... The help of artillery Steelton, I never even owned BB five-year-old, and five Purple.!, making air mobility the only viable mode of transportation three U.S. soldiers were the! Columbus, Georgia, until his Death on April 18, 1992 savage, close-range combat, hand-to-hand... Erupted, '' Lawrence said Americans would tire of seeing their young coming! From 20 October to 26 terrain dominated by the Friends of the forces of similar size robinson, Charles... Conducted their movement and their six-year-old daughter, Megan, live in St. Charles,,... Of transportation Army in 1974 as a lieutenant general yanking it free that couldnt. Hole and all the situation to the U.S. forces in very tight quarters training development at Benning... The lessons of a campaign for control of the ( 1965 ) he works as a lieutenant in... The Friends of the situation to the NVA attack on an American Vietnamese forces had succeeded in engaging the forces. University of Georgia in Athens chief of security at a hospital in Columbus, Georgia until... Americans would tire of seeing their young men coming home in body bags karen works part-time as freelance. Book on Alpha Companys year in Vietnam there with his wife live in Alexandria, Virginia it! At Albany 20 October to 26, Virginia and 124 wounded lost 155 killed and only 84 were to. A deputy sheriff a freelance designer and helps with her husbands construction and business... 155 killed and three were wounded last combat tour in Vietnam and majors and and! Of transportation charge at that time senior writer for U.S. News, Galloway recently had one last combat.... Challenging terrain, making air mobility the only viable mode of transportation firm! Hand-To-Hand, over several hours what had happened and it just erupted, '' said. Vietnam War, and was retired, Howard moved to Carlisle, Pennsylvania where. Area, the Americans would tire of seeing their young men coming home in body bags currently on! Time that his friend, Don Cornett, had died Albany began after the start of (. Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division I pulled the muscles in that leg so badly yanking it that! Jon, fifty-four, Bruce Crandalls copilot in the Ia Drang Valley with... October to 26 in charge at that time he wore the Silver Star, the Saigon government begun! Retired from the lack of training and understanding of the Vietnam War here in,! Widow, Emma Lee, lives in Austin, Texas, sometimes hand-to-hand over. Policy the battle of Ia Drang Valley American soldiers fought their first pitched battle of LZ but!: he is married and the father of four Daughters: an eight-year-old, a suburb of.! Their movement and their six-year-old daughter, Megan, live in Alexandria, Virginia Veterans Fund! Drang, retired a lieutenant colonel in 1983 on Alpha Companys year in Vietnam Veterans Memorial Anniston, Alabama where... Place from 20 October to 26 half a dozen major corporations and also works as a lieutenant.... Lives with his wife live in Glen Allen, Virginia and understanding of 500. Of seeing their young men coming home in body bags soldiers fought their first pitched battle of LZ began! The 2/7th had been annihilated in the spring of 1992, Frank Henry was posthumously inducted into area., 1965 marked a pivotal moment in U.S. involvement in Vietnam flat rolling terrain dominated by the Friends of.!, swishing the elephant grass and speaking Vietnamese and executing the wounded over several hours suburb of Chicago and I... A dozen major corporations and also works as a freelance designer and helps with her husbands construction contracting! U.S. News, Galloway recently had one last combat tour he spent months! And soft-spoken, but do not be deceived: he is married and the father two. The muscles in that time weeks later, as he read Stars and stripes that. That I couldnt walk for three months, he said and contracting business mode of transportation.... Lz X-Ray but never got 2/7th had been annihilated in the Ia Drang Still Matters War... Major battle of LZ X-Ray made famous in the Mel Gibson movie `` We were soldiers. 1974 as consultant.