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Boy Wonder,
Neither of them were there. I know Larry didn’t show up as his daughter was expecting but don’t know what happened to Grose.
Glad you guys had a good time in Iowa. Sorry I couldn’t make it.
(LT, I didn’t see Jim Grose or Larry Harper on your list of attendee’s – did either of them make it?)
ben wish i had your phone number. went up north to say good bye to one of my younger sisters[one with stage four pancreatic cancer in Quincy] would of got together. you have my e-mail?
We just arrived home safely. Ditto LT and Tom. Some of these guys served under CO Dorman, my second replacement before I left the company.
Ended up bringing most of the beer home. Will take a day or two to drink it, but will replace with fresh beer in South Dakota as it belongs to “the grunts”.
Larry Wisnoski, a door gunner and classmate of Doc Rimmer, stopped by on Sunday morning. Saturday night, Jim Clark (artillery), my roommate from college, dropped in.
Hey guys!
Got back home this afternoon from LeClaire reunion! Had a super great time with the guys! Myself and Tai, Terry and Louise Roberts, Ben and Marilyn Buehler and Dan and Lori Roczniak from outside their usual group attended. Had a wonderful time with Louie LaParl and his wife Shari, Gary Capshaw, Russ Wright , Ben and Mary Musquezn, Top Seacrest and others. I felt it was a great honor as I left this morning as they saluted me going past them in my Aviator. I now have more “brothers”. We need to teach them how to drink though as we didn’t finish 3 cases of beer in the two days. Love yah guys!
Just gor back from Iowa. What a great weekend. First reunion I have attended and I fugure, I will be down for some more. Many, many memories of Hawk Hill and other places unknown. Met some guys who had served earlier than 70-71. Great time!
1 day and a wake-up before Iowa!
Last year, Congress passed a bill which equalized the COLA for SS and VA disability. Whatever SS gets, VA gets too. Before that, they used a different accounting system and your COLA wouldn’t be the same for the two checks. Not so now. The COLA will be the same on both of them.
Bill,
The good news is that it works for us old farts on social security and being a former lifer I also benefit on my military retired pay. Amen brother!
Good news for all of us disabled vets……The cost of living allowance came in at 3.6% so we will get a little raise on our compensation checks come January 1, 2012.
Yep. Makes you proud, don’t it?
The investigation into 1st Infantry commander Arthur St. Clair’s conduct resulted in the first ever claim of executive privelege (by none other than George Washington).
But, you should know the “rest of the story:”
The regiment returned to NW Ohio a few years later and crushed the Indian’s permanently at the Battle of Fallen Timbers.
Here’s something I learned while researching on the internet which might make a good conversation subject in Iowa this weekend, or at any subsequent reunions. 🙂
As you may know, the 1st Infantry Regiment traces its lineage back to the 1790’s and has been involved in every war our nation ever fought. The regiment’s first combat operations were against the Miami Indian’s in NW Ohio, where our unit participated in the worst defeat ever suffered by the United States Army in terms of percentage of casualties. Of the 1100 troops engaged at the Battle of the Wabash, only 48 escaped unharmed.
In other words, our old outfit suffered a worse defeat than did Custer at the Little Bighorn!
Just thought you’d like to know your heritage. LOL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Clair%27s_Defeat
HOPE EVERYONE HAS GREAT DAY ON THE UPCOMING VETERIANS FESTIVATIES//RIP TO THOSE WE REMEBER
Larry glad u and Judy are doing great
Jim,
I have hearing loss, wear hearing aids, but the loss is not bad enough according to the VA for any disability. They have on file as from my service. My wife says I have had it for years but always called it “selective hearing'”.
A word about situation reports (sitreps). During “normal” days, the CP was required to send sitreps to BN every 30-60 minutes to update location,etc. If we were in contact or had a bird coming in for some reason, we sent sitreps every 15 minutes as required by BTOC. KIA/WIA reporting was done by roster number, not names. If the names show up in staff journals, chances are BN had a company roster and put down the names. It was inconvenient as hell to report like this but that was the requirement. Hope this helps.
Sorry about your ear Ben. But, as some of you guys know, Vanderbossche and me were very lucky to have been dusted off. When I came back a day or so later, Wayne walked me over to the sleeping position. There was a mortar crater in it. If V. and I had been sleeping there when it hit, we would have been toast, literally. 60mm wasn’t too powerful but adirect hit. Yeesh. So, that trip to Chou Lai hospital was worth more than just sleeping in sheets that night!
Also. Curious. Do many of you guys have hearing losses? I do, diagnosed almost immediately after I got home and starting to be a little bit of a problem the last 10 years or so, but trivial compared to what happened to some other guys. In addition to hearing, i hear “running water” in my head whenever it is quiet. Funny story.(not really funny) I had a bathroom fitting break and flood my basement. I heard it but thought it was the sounds in my head. By the time I discovered it, my basement was flooded! That was about a year and a half ago. Did about 20,000 worth of damage altogether-carpets, ceiling tiles, furniture. Insurance took care of it, though.
Jan 9-14, 1970: Jan 9 was the big day for 3rd Platoon. As I remember the briefing, intel had been monitoring radio traffic for several days as they (NVA) moved in from Laos and from the amount of radio traffic they figured it to be a Regiment. 3rd Platoon had point that day and as I remember no one was scared as we were used to faulty intelligence gathering. Should have known better as it wasn’t long before we were receiving random sniper fire. Paul Rosteck, my RTO said one knocked leaves off a tree right behind my head. Then we started seeing scouts. Lt Harper chased one into a tunnel and wanted to dig him out. Cpt Morris told us to move on. In the middle of a rice paddy all hell broke loose. RPG went between Paul and me. Another at the same time went by in front of me. Duane Bailey behind me took an AK round through his canteen. Bob Duckworth in front of me took one in his canteen also and it was still there when we got out. A lot of bullets and a lot of bullet holes and only one drew blood, Bob Duckworth (his 3rd Purple Heart). We were lucky as we were to find out in the ensuing hours and days they had a 51 Cal and mortars.
Speaking of mortars, Intravia and Vanderbosche had dug in right behind me, but were dusted off on the 11th, leaving behind the ammo for their 90MM. A mortar landed in their foxhole setting off the ammo. When you talk to me at the reunions be sure to speak into my left ear.
I attended Gary King’s funeral in St Louis 2 weeks ago. Emotional. Patriot Guard came early and stayed late for visitation and were back in full force the next day for the funeral. The family played some of Gary’s favorite songs at the funeral and the family picked “Paint it Black” – overwhelming for me. I was asked to be a pallbearer. What an honor! Afterwards I was asked back to the house with the family where I had a chance to talk about our time together. I showed my pictures. In my notebook was the Daily Staff Journal of Jan 9, 1970, noting the ambush of 3rd Platoon and where Gary came to our assistance with his 4 pod rocket launcher. Gary’s son Brian found it. Gary and I had spent a lot of time together at 2 reunions and also on the phone because of our common bond over that weapon (we trained together) and we never remembered he risked his life to save mine. What can I say? Thanks Gary.
If you remember the postings, Gary lost a son in May.
He was on the road to Texas for the reunion when the hospital called about a problem and he had to go back. Rest in Peace Gary, you have spent your time in Hell.
Gary was walking point and now he is on the other side, smiling back and waiting for the rest of us.
Ben////thnx for doing that . I APRECIATE you being abel to do that. there should be a vn brethen at every funeral of a comrade in arms.//i remember the postings//he looked like picure of health at the reunion//u just never know//////
Jim:
What you’ve got there must be a translation of the radio traffic, not a word for word recounting. I say that because anything about an individual broadcast in the clear referred to them by the company roster line number, not by name. At least, that’s how it was done a year later when I was with the company and throughout my nearly 15 years in the Army.
I can’t say about radio reports being required every so many minutes, but it wouldn’t surprise me. HQ staff lives and breathes statistics and information, whether it makes sense at the time or not.
Jim Intravia. I have no answers to your questions, Jim Armstrong and Bill Beckum. I’m guessing tht someone in HQ platoon (is that what it was called) had to report in every half hour or so and more often when shit was happening. Some clerk at Battalion (honestly I haave no idea what S1, S3 or S4 was, and I guess there was an S2) was transcribing it. There are minor (an maybe major) errors that I see; names spelled wrong, etc. Each KIA/WIA one has its soc. security no.listed, so I guess these things were actually typed up later on with more access to tht type of info.
If I remember right, it was about amonth after I sent the check that I got the package in the mail. My check was $36 which was probably 36 pages.
Jim, I ran the war roomthe last 2 months of my deployment. Any contact was sent over radio with a prelim. report [kia,wia,enemycasualities,weapons seized,etc.,and a very basic description of the action. The company commander had to write a detailed report and submit it to S2. I can say this with certainty; the CO’s had a tendency to embelish the report.Tooch
Jim Intravia:
That is an interesting paragraph with casualty details.
I wonder if the info wouldn’t have been more likely sent to S1.
I can’t imagine how useful it would have been to send that often,
If some one wasn’t taking the time (under fire?) to encrypt it, any VC/NVA monitor must have loved to get it.
Finally, how much staff time at battalion was spent getting that that much, that often and how big a mountain of paper must have been generated by all the companies for all those years?
Jim,
How long did it take to order and receive? I am thinking about getting information while I was there.
Me again. I mentioned a few days ago that I have some Jan. 11 1970 documentation. When I was trying to rewrite my story about thtat day (which I still haven’t done), on someone here’s advice, I wrote to NARA (don’t know what it stands for but its military records) and bought about 40 pages of stuff.
It is called the Daily Staff Journal and appears to be reports made by radio to Battallion every 15 minutes or so. If anybody wants to get this stuff for some other time, I can give you the address, etc. You have to request, they tell you how much (About $1 a page I think), etc.
If anyone wants this stuff that I have, I will gladly mail or fax you a copy. Give me your info and I’ll do it.
Here is the stuff from Jan. 11 at 16:10 hours. C Co to S3: In heavy contact from right and left flanks, saf and awf. Gun ships requested. urgent dustoff requested. 2 U.S. KIA and 6 WIA. Casualty report: KIA Lewis, Roy-SA to body; Bowers, Grover- frag to body (I don’t think that is accurate, he was shot, wasn’t he?). WIA; Laurenand, Larry, Delano, Ridhard; frag wound; Rogers, Charles-gunshot in neck; Shepard, Robert-frag wounds left shoulder; Intravia, James -frag in head; Vonderbossche, Charles-frag wound right arm, left neck.
There is other interesting stuff as well-things like tunnels found, emergency ammo resupply rerquest, boobytraps found and our claymores disabled.
The pages I have (about 40) covers everything for the full 24-hour days of Jan. 11, 12, 13.
Jim Intravia. Although some memories that I was sure of have turned out to be not so sure, I am absolutelly 100% certain that the incident was Jan. 11. That was definitely when Jake and Arky were killed and 5 wounded. Years later I remember vividly the image of Luckyk being carried in a poncho by about 4 guys, bleeding all over he place. But my memory didn’t place it as the same day. Funny how the memory plays tricks, but there is no doubt about the 11th.
Day of casualty as for as I know.
I’ll see some of you guys in Le Claire Iowa in a few!
How ironic. Pops Rose and Alan Gray will killed on the 11th of January the following year.
bowers and lewis were KIA the 11nth of jan. was that our 1st or 2nd day there ? did they die the same day or possibly listed the next day. how does graves registration work ? the day of casualty or the day they recieve the remains ?
They died on the 11th at the same time, both were killed by the gun that got Lucky.
Guys, the date of that encounter was Jan. 11.