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Just got home from a FANTASTIC week with Larry and Judy Harper. They hosted us at their FABULOUS summer RV digs in Colorado. We had great time and was neat to re-live our time in Nam, (good and bad). We can all thank him for being the driving force in bringing so many of us back together. One tip…if you ever visit him, be careful as he will try to kill you on one of his ATV’s as you travel along what are supposedly trails along deep canyons and steep mountain climbs! Once you get to the top, though you can see forever. We sure enjoyed the cool temps and the rain. By the way…anybody going to the Iowa reunion?
My wife, Judy and I had a great time with Jim and Patty Grose in Creede, CO last week. Creede was always about 50 degrees cooler than in the Pheonix area where they are from.
The time to see everyone at the reunion is getting shorrrrrtttt!
Chuck,
Still hanging out with Captain Jack?
To All Yall
Two weeks and a wake up till the reunion in Kileen.
Cocktails anyone….
I have thought about a recent post for several days now and wanted to think my response thru as I was outraged by the post. I am talking about a battle we had on January 11, 1970 where 2nd platoon took the blunt of the battle, of which I was a member. It was told that we left our dead and someone to crawl to and retrieve our dead.
The January 11, 1970 battle in Que Son Valley Grover “Jake†Bowers and Roy “Arky†Lewis were killed. I have firsthand knowledge as I was holding Jake up out of the water in the canal we were in and Doc Szydlo was administering first aid when he died in my arms. I stayed and helped carry out our platoon’s dead. No one crawled up to me unarmed and took Arky out of my arms and carried him back to others to carry out.
sry Larry////there r people out there that want to disquinsh themselves as hero’s/soliders it is suppose to be like a diease//sometimes they get confused as to what actually happened so they impose themselves into the equation.
Short round
I think if I remember right It Smith wanted to stay with the guys one more night is why he was still with us. What a loss, I don’t know why I still remember but I think he had a set of twins born not to long before he died, but I could be wrong.
lt smith was to be a captain and go to bravo co. but was KIA by a small piece of shrapnel to the head –from a booby trap that he thought was not a booby trap. he could have left C co. but for whatever reason ,planned to leave the next day.
John, Lt.Shepard was 1st platoon leader.He was wounded just after Thanksgiving 69 by a booby trap set off by a sgt. with the first name of Marty. I was also hit by that same booby trap.If you remember, another Lt. was killed on the hill above by another booby trap [ he was an african american 2nd. Lt.]. Shepard is on the roster. Tooch
john–lt shepherd was 1 of the thanksgiving of 1969 casualties. he was gone before i got to C-2/1 around 1 dec of 70.
Oh Boy…….
Does anyone remember a Lt. Shepard Ty seems to think he was my platoon leader on Jan 11th I am looking for someone that can confirm my actions that day. He was only with us for a short period of time. I seem to remember him because after I retrieved the two KIA’s he was with me in the paddy and had brought my sixteen with him. He tossed it to me and we covered each other getting back to the perimeter. If anyone remembers him do you know how to contact him? Thanks
I wrote Alice up for a silver star and I believe he got it for his actions on Jan 11th. For some reson he had the M-60 that day and was about 3 yards to my right spraying the area. He dropped an NVA about 15 feet in front of me. I thought saving my life was worth a silver star. That was a pretty intense couple of days.
did al firman of 2nd platoon get awarded any medals for actions involved in this ? seems i remember he did. lt ty might remember. his platoon lost 2 KIA and sgt lucky was wounded.
Al Firman (Shorty) charged a bunker dropping in a grenade on Jan 11, killing 3. He is a hero in my book.
ben–you sure about that order of march ? i am sure i was walking company drag that day. when we were stopped, before fully forming up, we took some sporadic incoming where our squad was. i keep thinking it was to draw our fire to get any idea of our location. at 1 time i thought it could have came from Alpha co., cause they were supposed to be nearby. when we got moving again,to form us up, is when tiny fell, dropped, into a well. took us a bit to get him back out.
Not a restful night. I relived the responsibility I felt toward my men to get them out of the kill zone and then the terror of realizing the targets were getting fewer and fewer. I am pretty sure I was last man out. I took a lot of bullets for Ty Harper and I do remind him occassionally.
Reaffirms the fact I am lucky to be here and blessed. Today will be one of the best days of my life. Haven’t had a bad day for over 40 years.
ben–george lathrop–3rd platoon–received a silver star for actions involved with the january action we had–area was called the pineapple for some reason.
Yes, that was Pinapple Forest (I never saw any pineapples) near Tam KY. Ty Harper had just gone back to confer with Cpt Morris and left me in charge of 3rd Platoon when all hell broke loose. Thinking I was the PL they fired me up pretty good. Simultaneous RPG’s one in front and one between me and Paul Rosteck my RTO. Bob Duckworth in front of me took a round in his canteen, Duane Bailey behind me also took a round through his canteen. Most of us had holes in our packs and clothing. Only hit was Duckworth and we think that was a richocet. Not sure if it was Duckworth or me last man out, but I do remember Mike Colby firing his M-60 around me and over my head to give me covering fire to get out of the kill zone. I owe you, Mike. Hope to see you at a reunion. Order of march that day was 3, 1, 2 Platoon, so anyone in 1st Platoon may have been in a position to help us, but not all of 3rd Platoon had entered the rice paddy when the firing started and I think that is why Mike could bring fire to bear to assist us.
I was thinking George Lathrop had been wounded in that M-79 vs water buffalo incident by then and was gone. Hope someone locates George. I would like to see him again.
May God hold the valiant soldiers who died on Aug 26, 1970 in his hands and protect them from all harm! Rest in Peace Brothers!
another 26 aug–R.I.P. Delta grunts and 2nd platoons obrian
Ben, the last two months of my deployment, I ran the war room in BTOC for Col Nerone. I recently contacted him ; and will hopefully hook up when I visit D.C. this fall. Tooch
Thanks Ben do you know how I can contact him?
Company Clerk was Allan Rowedder. He is on the roster. I will be in contact with him anyway and will get back to you.
Tooch, Col Nerone asked about you at the St Louis reunion. I guess you must have ended up working for him at BTOC. His contact information should be here on the roster, he would like to hear from you.
John, as for the action on Jan 11, 1970 they asked for volunteers to pull out the dead and wounded, several responded. Some were awarded Bronze Stars, others nothing. I think there was one Silver Star awarded from that action. The man that probably wrote them up lives near me, in fact we visited earlier this week. He seems to have pretty good recall of them and the ones that were denied. At least he remembers mine being denied.
Tooch and John,
You should come and join us in Killeen for some scintilating conversations(war stories) and maybe you could get the answers you seek firsthand!
LT
john–i think you have the dates wrong–it was more like jan 9 to 12, as i recall. cpt morris got his shoulder messed up near the end of the operation –when F troop came in–after 3 days of air strikes, and F troop dang near fired up us grunts–we did take some incoming from them. who ever gave then the azimuth should have been seated on a .50 caliber round, to get thier attention.
some years back i sent you the after action report–that was not very detailed. you still have it ?
i don`t remember tooch being with us at that time
Short round, I remember being in a mini firefight with F troop. We had taken some fire from a bunker complex in a tree line across an ”L” shaped rice patty. One squad went online in the patty, another on the left flank; which ran into a machine gun nest, killing two, and wounding a guy called Lucky. Is this the same incident ? Tooch
Touch I think It is the same incident. I remember being with you when we finally got in the bunker complex after F Troop arrived. Do you remember any part of the incident I am refering too? I wish I could make it to the reunion but am short on funds and am preparing to move to New Mexico in September. How you doing? Short round Cpt Morris got his shoulder messed up at the begining of the incident from what I recall but you might be right. Does anyone else remember dates etc.? Thanks for the input Talk with Ty he is writing up the request for the medal. I really need someone to say yep what Ty is saying happened it would really help alot. I had the daily logs you sent but some how they disappeared. I just requested them again but you are right they were not very detailed.
Hello all, I am looking for HELP. I need a few of my fellow grunts that were with C 2/1 196th LIB during January 1 to January 7, 1970 when we were pinned down for 3 or 4 days an overwhelming force of NVA regulars. Ty Harper wrote me up for a Silver Star for my actions during that period. I was the one that retrieved the two bodies of our fallen comrades that day by crawling into the NVA perimiter twice unarmed and retrieved the bodies and passed them back to my commarades that followed me with ponchos. I also exposed myself to hostile enemy fire to retrieve machine gun ammo for Tennessee when we first came under attact. I also went out into the rice patty and got one of the platoons back on line as they were spread all over the place and could not effectly return fire towards the enemy. I never received my medal for that action. I need one or more of you who witnessed the events of that day to backup what Ty Harper is writing up for me in hopes of finally receiving the medal I deserve. You can leave a message on this site or contact Ty directly to get a copy of what he has written up for me. I appreciate any help that anyone can provide.I thank you in advance for your help.
Sincerely,
John Anderson
John, do you remember where this happened ? I was the squad leader of 1st.sqd, 1st. plt. at the time. The only major action I remember was in Hiep Duc. Tooch
Jim and Patty Grose is going to visit Judy and I in Creede, CO starting this Wednesday. They are going to stay several days. We are really looking forward to their visit. I got to go to Jim’s wedding in September, 1970 in Iowa.
I am not the one keeping track of who is coming to the reunion and I have not had very much information on who all is coming to the reunion. I know of several coming, and we are looking to having a good time with the ones that do make it to the reunion.
Guys!
Guess it is time to start building up my drinking capacity for Killeen. I usually end up consuming a years supply of Colorado Kool Aid or whatever is available in a few days with the gang. Fred, can you please try to cool it down a bit for us! I remember a few drinking days at Lake Belton from my days there. Under one month and we meet again!
being ready is a good way to stay.. will be there//it is just a few hrs drive////// if don’t have anymore allergic reactions//they r trying to redo my heart meds//as long they r not [-ace/inhibators-]
Jim, I was just thinking as though it twer!
You are welcome!
Thank you Bill for the info. I got right on it and it should be mailed to me sometime in the near future.
“Near Future” is not in their vocabulary!
Go to http://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/
This will get you started.
John F. Wilson:
Please come to the Iowa reunion in October. That’s those of us who served during that time period and you’ll probably find people you know. Heck, I might even know you but just don’t remember! I’m certain Louie LaParl will be there, along with a bunch of others.
As for getting a copy of your records? Yes, that can be done, but I’m not entirely up to speed on how to do it. I know there’s a form you can fill out and send in, but I don’t know what it is. A VFW, American Legion, VVA or DAV service officer should be able to help you, though.
Come on to Iowa and we’ll talk about it over a few beers. 🙂