A North Vietnamese map, captured in 1966, accurately depicts enemy maneuvers and attacks during the Ia Drang campaign. The Ia Drang Valley is where the U.S. truly went to war. Savage and the 22-year-old medic, Sp5. Setelin is president of the Major General George W. Casey chapter of the 1st Cavalry Division Association and a member of the national associations board of trustees. In four days and nights of fighting. JOHNS, Barbara Geoghegan, fifty, widow of Lieutenant John Lance (Jack) Geoghegan of the 2nd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, killed in action in X-Ray, married Lieutenant Colonel John Johns in 1969. 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. 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. God rest you, George. Towles received a masters degree in history from Kent State in 1989, and is currently working on his doctorate. 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. 4 Oscar E . Postal Service in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The column was strung out about 550 yards in the open with dense vegetation to their right. Somebody grabbed him under his arms and dragged him toward the trees, but dropped him in the clearing where air support was dropping napalm. He and his wife, Kornelia, live in Columbus, Georgia, where for several years Scott taught military subjects to Junior ROTC in the high schools. UH-1 aircraft of the 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion carry wounded 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry soldiers away during the fight for LZ X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley of Vietnam. These additional troops pushed back the enemy, allowing the others to evacuate the wounded. He was forty-five. The bulk of the fighting was centered around two vital helicopter landing zones: LZ X-Ray and Albany. He and his wife, Billie, have a son in college and a daughter still at home. They successfully hit many of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops, while also shooting some of the Americans with friendly fire. I couldnt grasp it., More from us: Val Kilmer Accidentally Landed Matthew Modine the Starring Role in Full Metal Jacket. 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. It was a battle between one US division and three NVA regiments. Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. . South Carolina, Most of the planes touched down between midnight and six A.M., but George Nye was always there, rain or shine. 1/7 Cavalry lands at LZ X-Ray. We were caught inside of what was essentially an L-shaped ambush.". 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. I fought for this country and now I own and farm 120 acres of my country. 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. At the end of a year only fifteen of the original contingent were still there, Gwin included. Assigned to intelligence duty in Europe in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Adams earned a bachelors degree from the University of Austria in Vienna, a masters degree in history at the University in Innsbruck, and a doctorate of psychology from Munich Universityall under an assumed name. "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. Unknown to them at the time, they were surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese troops. A Chicago native, Doc Carrara returned home, changed his specialty to pathology. 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. It featured a question-and-answer session with some of the battle's key players, including retired Lt. Gen. Hal Moore. Found more than one record for entered Email, You need to confirm this account before you can sign in. About 80 U.S. soldiers were killed, 124 wounded, in the first two days of the fight. North Vietnamese forces had higher casualty rates, due to the U.S. airstrike and artillery support. James Lawrence, one of the men who fought at LZ Albany, later recounted his experiences. Diduryk is buried at the Fort Benning cemetery; his widow, Delores, lives in Jacksonville, Florida. Early Ia Drang Valley 1965 KIA group - 2/8 Calavary - LZ Cavalair Early Ia Drang Valley 1965 KIA group - 2/8 Calavary - LZ Cavalair. November 14, 1965 marked a pivotal moment in U.S. involvement in Vietnam. 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. He was discharged a sergeant, completed his college education, and is now an on-air national news correspondent for ABC Televisions Weekend News. Today he is an orchestra leader and serves in the state militia. He retired from the Army as a staff sergeant in 1976, and now serves in the Alabama National Guard. About 40 minutes later, North Vietnamese launched their attack, hiding in the tall elephant grass and in stands of trees. Every night I rub a towel over all my scars and see them in the mirror. Photo extracted from U.S. Army motion picture footage from November 1965. Lacking confidence in the South Vietnamese, Gen. William C. Westmoreland ordered the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division, which had been in country about a month, to pursue the enemy, using newly minted airmobile tactics. Freeman won a battlefield commission in the Korean War. This praise is largely due to the heavy emphasis director Randall Wallace put on ensuring what he created was as accurate to the real events of the Battle of Ia Drang as possible. The bullets missed his head by fractions of an inch, but the impact knocked him backward and he couldn't move from the waist down. The survivors of Landing Zone X-Ray have always had an aura of fame about them. Outnumbered when they arrive, the men are forced to fight for their lives while eliminating the 4,000-strong North Vietnamese force. But Charlie was back in the air, flying F-4 Phantoms, less than a year later. They and their buddies fought off hundreds of North Vietnamese with the help of artillery. As a student, she worked in a variety of research positions, including as an archivist. He and his wife and young son live in Lawndale, California. HENRY, Frank, executive officer of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry in LZ Albany, served a second tour in Vietnam as a battalion commander in the 1st Cavalry Division, later commanded a brigade of the 101st Airborne Division, and was promoted to chief of staff of the 101st Airborne in the summer of 1977. They didnt discover I was a doctor until the day I was dischargedwhen I had a long talk with them about treating their patients like pieces of meat. He was discharged in November 1966, and wound up in Boston in 1981. 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. Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. In addition, they were exhausted from the fight at X-Ray, so it was easy for hundreds of NVA troops to sneak up and launch an attack. 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. He then formed a computer-software company. The bulk of the fighting lasted about 6 hours and in that time 2/7 Cav lost 155 killed and 124 wounded. 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. Moore continues to fight, returning home to Julia after a year. After about a three mile march, the front of the column reached the landing zone and the 2/7 Cav commander, Lt. Col. Robert McDade, called his company commanders forward to discuss how to best array their forces in preparation for extraction. He retired in 1990. 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. Moore and his battalion were evacuated the next day, Nov. 17. I pulled the muscles in that leg so badly yanking it free that I couldnt walk for three months, he said. Charlie Company held their position, exemplifying extraordinary heroism and courage. We . He and his wife live in Sag Harbor, New York, where they operate a summer season shop that deals in contemporary original art. The Ia Drang Valley is the place the U.S. really went to warfare. His friends completed the tree for him and dedicated it to Sergeant China Joe Nye. Rosemary Giles is a history content writer with Hive Media. 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 spent thirty-two months in the hospital recovering from the wounds he suffered in LZ X-Ray. He is a consultant to industries seeking defense business. 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. His son is a staff sergeant in the 82nd Airborne Division and a veteran of both the Panama invasion and the Persian Gulf War. Charlie Company took the brunt of the assault. 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. The Battle of Ia Drang was fought November 14-18, 1965, during the Vietnam War (1955-1975) and was the first major engagement between the US Army and the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN). "The emotions are so high, the noise is tremendous, the confusion is everywhere; they had overrun us by now. If you notice a problem with the translation, please send a message to [emailprotected] and include a link to the page and details about the problem. He retired a lieutenant colonel in 1977, and lives with his wife in Arlington, Texas. He lives in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Adams and his wife have a three-year-old daughter. 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. Lt. Col. Hal Moores 1stBattalion, 7thCalvary wasordered to take on an air assaultin the Ia Drang Valley. It was the signal for all available American aircraft to converge and provide aid to the American unit. He added a masters degree in Latin American studies to his M.A. Both later were awarded the Medal of Honor, our nations highest award for heroism in combat. PAOLONE, Ernest E., Bob Edwardss radio operator, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, died of a massive heart attack on March 30, 1992, at the age of fifty. Both were present at the Battle of Ia Drang, the first large-scale engagement of the Vietnam War. "The XO let out a low moan, and his head sank. They were interrogated by McDade, who, along with most of the commanding officers and radio operators, were called into a meeting to discuss the intel. RIDDLE, Bill, fifty-two, artillery forward observer with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, completed his Army service in the summer of 1966. Some of the men who hadn't slept for close to 48 hours closed their eyes, others smoked or ate. 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. He retired in August 1990, and now lives in Peekskill, New York. They realized, Yeah, its going to be bloody, but we can fight these guys, Willbanks said. Johns retired a brigadier general and is now dean of faculty at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in Washington, D.C. Mrs. Johns, whose two youngest children are in college, does volunteer work and writes for her own pleasure in her spare time. All Rights Reserved. There was a problem getting your location. 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. Bun-gum operated a 161-acre dairy farm until 1988, when he sold his cows and took a job in town. He is partly paralyzed as a result of his terrible wound. Georgia, His personalized license plate proclaims: LZ X-Ray. In the same way, the story of his experiences at LZ Albany is a story that could be told by the nearly 400 Troopers of 2/7 Cav who fought and died at LZ Albany, or the 1/7 Cav Troopers at LZ X-ray or the more than 2.6 million US personnel who served in Vietnam. 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. The Ia Drang Valley is a valley located near Pleiku in Central Highlands of Vietnam. Payne and his wife, Patty, live in Hinsdale, Illinois, and have three children. 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