 |
A Tribute |
The following information is taken from awards
orders and from first-person accounts of the action. These narratives
are written as a memorial to the men who were killed in action.
27 August 1967
PFC Dennis Wayne Cole
CPL Michael Clyde Kamph
SP4 Tommy Ralph Peters
On August 27, 1967, Bravo
Company was on a search and destroy mission in the Iron Triangle. During
this operation the lead platoon was ambushed and became heavily engaged by an
estimated Viet Cong platoon. Having been in the field with his platoon
only a short time, PFC Dennis Cole was walking point that day.
Due to the intense and extremely accurate enemy
automatic weapons and small arms fire, the trapped platoon was unable to
extract their dead and wounded personnel. When volunteers were called to
aid the besieged platoon in the evacuation of their wounded, three men
including SP4 Michael Autry volunteered. With the others, SP4 Autry
moved forward through intense and deadly enemy fire to the immobilized
platoon's position.
Repeatedly exposing himself to the enemy fire, PFC
Autry helped extract the equipment of the dead and wounded. Then he
moved forward again and began dragging the bodies of his mortally wounded
comrades to the rear in an effort to prevent their capture and possible
mutilation by the enemy. PFC Autry pulled the body of Dennis Cole to the
rear, and from the extent of his wounds knew he had been killed
instantly.
Thanks to Michael K. Autry for providing a copy of his Bronze
Star Medal for Heroism with "V" Device orders, and for his
personal recollections of the action that day.
24 March
1968
SSG Terrance Edward Smith
[On March
24, Bravo Company was participating in a search and destroy operation near the
town of Trang Bang.]
For gallantry in action:
Staff Sergeant Smith distinguished himself by heroic actions on 24 March 1968,
while serving as a platoon sergeant with Company B, 2d Battalion, 14th
Infantry on a combat operation in the Republic of Vietnam. When his unit
was pinned down by intense enemy fire Sergeant Smith reacted instantly to the
situation and led his platoon to protective cover. He repeatedly exposed
himself to the enemy fire to direct his men's fire and when a group of his men
were trapped by the enemy fire he maneuvered to their position. After
maneuvering these men to within 25 meters of the friendly positions Sergeant
Smith was mortally wounded by the intense enemy fire. His valorous
actions saved several lives and were of immeasurable value to the successful
completion of the mission. Sergeant Smith's personal bravery,
aggressiveness, and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest
traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his
unit, the 25th Infantry Division, and the United States Army.
Thanks to Ron Titus, 1/96th, 15th Field Engineers, for
offering the above Silver Star orders as a memorial to one of the men from his
High School who lost their lives in Vietnam.
11 May 1966
First Sergeant Robert Schuyler Van Duyne
Charlie Company had
spent the previous night at outpost Ann Margaret as our company's rotation to
man the outpost. Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie companies took turns manning
the post when not in the field or in camp on emergency rescue duty. The
Company commander and Top (First Sergeant Robert Van Duyne) were with us,
which was unusual, since Ann Margaret was only 500 yards from Cu Chi camp’s
borders. But because of all the VC activity over the past several
weeks, they were with us that particular time. We had been probed almost
continuously that particular night taking lots of small arms and mortar fire
(no casualties). At first light the First Sergeant decided to see "if he
could find out where the VC were coming from and how they got so close."
He went from bunker to bunker looking for signs of VC activity. And
while looking for signs of activity he wandered into our mine field on the
perimeter of Ann Margaret. The mine field was not marked and had been set up
to trap the VC, who had probed almost on a nightly basis, while trying to
sneak into the outpost. The mine blew off both his legs just below
the hips and he bled to death in minutes. It was a bad, bad scene to
watch the color drain out of him and not be able to reach him to do anything.
One medic did run through the mine field and safely reached him, but the
Sergeant was already dead. I still don't know how he managed to get to
him without stepping on another mine. Having reached him, the only thing the
medic could do was lay on his dead body to avoid detonating another mine, and
wait until the rest of us could reach them. As I recall, several men were
wounded that day during the recovery operation. I remember this day so
vividly because it was the first Dust Off I ever called in. The entire
company was in shock because the mines were ours, and no one had told us about
them. As I recall, Top planned to retire in six months, after serving 30
years in the Army. He was our first casualty killed by our own
ordinance.
[Thanks to Sgt. Terry Harwell for his recollections of the events at outpost
Ann Margaret on May 11, 1966. He later became company RTO, and was
subsequently wounded on December 27, 1966]