The training kicks in and can save you.". The battle was later dramatized in the film We Were Soldiers. The Battle of Ia Drang was the first major battle of Vietnam fought on the dates of November 14-18, 1965. (Joe), fifty, platoon leader, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry and the only man to receive the Medal of Honor, Americas highest decoration for valor, in the Ia Drang campaign, is a colonel and still on active duty after twenty-eight years. Baker, who was less than a foot away from me, was screaming that I was in charge and that I had to do something," he said. Westmorelands recommendation for more troops carried the day even as Johnson and his advisers privately questioned prospects for success. ROBINSON, Edward Charles, fifty-five, Huey pilot at LZ X-Ray, served a second combat tour in Vietnam. He lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and owns and operates a real estate brokerage firm. I thought to myself. 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. U.S. intelligence knew that North Vietnamese regulars probably a single regiment were in the area. Jim also talks about the failure of leadership. He told Moore to execute an airmobile assault into the Ia Drang valley north of the Chu Pong peak early the next morning and to conduct search and destroy operations through 15 November. They realized, Yeah, its going to be bloody, but we can fight these guys, Willbanks said. He and his wife, Theresa, live on a farm in northern Virginia with their sons Lee, fifteen, and Joshua, twelve. The Battle of Ia Drang Still Matters - War Is Boring. It was the most successful ambush against U.S. forces during the course of the entire war. Two men - Sgt. Nebraska, The Battle of Ia Drang Valley was a series of engagements between the U.S 1st Cavalry Division and the B-3 front, North Vietnamese Army. MORENO, Frank, copilot in Ed Too Tall Freemans Huey in X-Ray, retired a chief warrant officer-4 after more than twenty years service. 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. Basil Plumley is a grandfather now, kind and soft-spoken, but do not be deceived: He is the lion in winter. SAVAGE, Ernie, forty-eight, the fourth man to inherit command of Lieutenant Henry Herricks 2nd Platoon, the Lost Platoon of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry at LZ X-Ray, retired a sergeant first class in 1982 after twenty years active duty. Nearly 70 percent of the battalions soldiers were killed or wounded before airstrikes, artillery and reinforcements drove the North Vietnamese into nearby Cambodia. Survivors described savage, close-range combat, sometimes hand-to-hand, over several hours. 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. Their mission was to find and kill the enemy. Surprisingly, Adams, Beck's buddy who was shot in the head, was among the. The XO was going fast. Elements of the Armys 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) entered the first major land battle of the war at landing zones X-Ray and Albany, which would turn out to be proving grounds for a whole new kind of warfare. . It was a battle between one US division and three NVA regiments. Within an hour, they came under attack for the first time by North Vietnamese regulars, launching a four-day battle that killed hundreds of Americans and perhaps more than 1,000 Vietnamese and changed the course of the Vietnam War. Rosemary Giles is a history content writer with Hive Media. 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. In the first major engagement of the war between regular U.S. and North Vietnamese forces, elements of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) fight a pitched battle with Communist main . Easy. WINKEL, Paul Patton, Jr., sixty, Orange 1 flight leader, Bravo Company, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion in the Ia Drang, served a second combat tour in Vietnam. One of those soldiers was Army Captain David Moore, 82nd Airborne Division, son of his old battlefield commander in X-Ray, and that homecoming gave George the greatest pleasure of all. Crandall kept his helicopter on the ground in the line of enemy fire, so that four wounded soldiers could be loaded aboard. "I'm just as guilty. These men survived the fighting in the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam from Oct 23, 1965 to Nov 1965. When someone shook me and tried to get me moving I was actually offended. "I thought I was dying and laid there waiting for death to come. Other donors to the fund are readers of the book from across America, Veterans, and supporters of the fund. He still grows soybeans and corn on the farm in his spare time. Florence County, 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 central highlands had few roads and challenging terrain, making air mobility the only viable mode of transportation. After years of advising the South Vietnamese against the communist North, and months of chasing black-clad guerrillas, a large. (U.S. Army), This strategy, as flawed as it was, had some potentiality of working, Wiest, the historian, said. A battalion of the U.S. 1st Air Cavalry Division was ambushed while marching from the jungle clearing where the Ia Drang Valley fighting started on November 14, 1965. He is working on a book on Alpha Companys year in Vietnam. He lives on a farm near Rainier, Washington, and has been writing down his memories of Vietnam duty for his children and grandchildren. Unknown to them at the time, they were surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese troops. Theres a lot of pain but at least I lived. Jeanette says: When I was in the hospital in 1966, I was down in the doldrums, feeling sorry, and they tried to nudge me out of that. It is republished unedited in its original form. It was the first major battle between PAVN and US Army units and one of the war's bloodiest encounters. Mrs. Mapson is a member of the Columbus chapter of the 1st Cavalry Division Association. "When things started it just erupted," Lawrence said. 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. Recalling the aftermath of the fight, he said, Back then Stars and Stripes would carry the casualty reports and I had a red pen and started checking off the names of guys I knew who were listed as KIA. Battle of Ia Drang Valley Survivors These men survived the fighting in the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam from Oct 23, 1965 to Nov 1965. Her research focused on military, environmental, and Canadian history with a specific focus on the Second World War. Hal Moore and the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment fought at the former for three days, beginning on November 14. The North Vietnamese attempt one final attack, but are soon overrun and ordered to evacuate the headquarters they took only a few days prior. Each side realized it was fighting a war of attrition. Crandalls back was broken; he spent five months in an Army hospital recovering. The Ia Drang Valley is a valley located near Pleiku in Central Highlands of Vietnam. You can customize the cemeteries you volunteer for by selecting or deselecting below. Yesteryears: For survivors, Battle of the Ia Drang Valley changed everything. (Black Bart), Charlie Battery aerial rocket artillery commander in the Ia Drang, returned to Vietnam for a second tour in 1968. 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. I still have my leg, and I can walk on it. Fifty years ago today, one of the Vietnam war's most ferocious battles broke out in the Ia Drang Valley. One of the survivors recalls how it was - the blood, the agony, and the fear. 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. At various times in recent years he has been reported to be either employed or a patient in VA hospitals in Mississippi and Alabama. Lt. Col. Hal Moores 1stBattalion, 7thCalvary wasordered to take on an air assaultin the Ia Drang Valley. TULLY, Walter Busill (Buse) Jr., commander, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry in the Ia Drang, returned to Vietnam on a second tour as a major in the Americal Division. BARTHOLOMEW, Roger J. The Tragedy of LZ Albany: Teaching the lessons of a battle lost. 5 cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Companies C and D took the brunt of the Communist attack, and most of the men were quickly hit. Thus died one of the finest officers who fought in the Ia Drang. (Skip), fifty-three, commander of Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cav in the Ia Drang, is still on active duty. He plays volleyball two nights a week to keep trim and has devoted much of his spare time over the past two years to a detailed study of the part played in the Ia Drang battles by his fellow aviators of the 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, our beloved Huey slick drivers. Orange County, Resend Activation Email. This browser does not support getting your location. Jemison works part-time as a security guard in Columbus, Georgia, and he says: Each night I go back to Vietnam to fight that same battle, over and over.. The XO had been hit in the small of the back. He lives in Falls, Pennsylvania. All Rights Reserved. Many did a second tour and others left the service and returned home to their families. With a passion for historical learning and historical education, her writing interests include social history, and war history, especially researching obscure facts about the Second World War. Where the difference between We Were Soldiers and reality lies is that the battle didnt end with Moore and his men evacuating, nor was there a final heroic charge. They are all Don Cornett to him, his best friend. Spec. Her mother, who never remarried, died in 1986. The men were still in an administrative maneuver, so when the word to halt came they plopped down where they were. He was chief of security at a hospital in Columbus, Georgia, until his death on April 18, 1992. With only 700 effective soldiers left of the original 2,200, the 33d Regiment needed help. 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. 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