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Just a reminder: If you’re planning to come to Manitou Springs, CO with the 70-71 group, the cut off date for making reservations is Tuesday, April 9.
Gene Frego who served 10/1970 to 10/1971 with Charlie Company sent me his photos and they are now posted to the web site. Thank you Gene!
thanks bill—me too
Lawrence,
My wife says my head is “empty”. Glad you made it.
Happy April fools day to all my brothers.
Rex Allen got here last night and will be residing here for now. It’s great to see my brother. Great to hear from Ed Davis last night as he called about an hour before Rex got here. SR is supposed to stop by and see Rex and I later this week.
my many-many thanks to the grunts that ran over and helped out. BOOM–and instant confusion. crap or go blind ? command detonated and ambush or a boob trap ?–get to radio,help the wounded–and do all at once. not somethiing i`d want to do again. my 1st and last day as a squad leader. made me a bitter grunt that wanted to blow up the whole dam country. got me started blowing up any booby traps we found and even a bomb 1 time-me and chuck m. that was fun-cause no 1 told B-toc .cpt garden got a radio call.
28 march 70 is the day a bouncing betty got my squad . all 7 got purple hearts. rudy genovese from long island got to C-2/1 a week to the day earlier. in on the 21st–medevaked out the 28th. frank thomas also hit–no word to date where he is. talked to rudy a week ago. now retired from a V.A. job and still full of shrapnel.. i got minor shrapnel,went in to hawk hill aid station, then next day to chu lai to see the guys and saw hoang also. not a good 2 week period.
in regaurds to that day—i vaguely remember –being sr rto i was close to the action–as the choppers were being landed and filed i dont remember i passed out or what as the last one was being loaded but i was put on//someone noticed i was bleeding… when i awoke in Chu-Lai [three days later] the doc came in and said it was good to see me–told they had to revive me three times while they removed the fragments from inside my head…
just a note—HAVE A HAPPY EASTER 1 AND ALL…///i remember them days as well—whod had thunkit—12 days later we had come back and found a couple more—i’m thankful for those who helped on the 28th…it was a mind blowing experience….headache was mild only 3 days this year…
I have oftened wondered who was standing next to me as we watched the wounded come in that day.Infantry was so distraught then that he threw his 16 across the tarmac in front of the aid station. Now I know. A few days later Top asked me to check on Johnny in Chu Lai, they had him stuck back in a dark corner by himself. I asked a nurse why and she said doctor’s orders. Saw Hoang too.
Regarding teh March 16 bouncing betty. I wasn’t there. I was short-two weeks to go and was digging ditches at Hawk Hill. I heard about it, or was near the chopper loading area when it happened. We heard about the first one and while hanging out or loading the chopper with stuff, heard about the second. I remember some details very clearly. Johnny Pierce (Pearson or Pierce, don’t remember) lost part of a leg and had 42 days left.
I don’t know what was worse. Being in the field when that stuff happened and seeing it, or being helpless and feeling guilty about being safe and clean back at Hawk hill. No. that’s not true. With 16 days left, I was glad not to be there. 43 years ago. Jeez.
Who is Skinny Tango?
if i remember right–didn`t chuck have a nickname for larry ? not that i`d print that name here.
I think it is Tom Sipps.
Larry,
You have done a wonderful job on this site for which I say thank you and am grateful for the extreme effort you put in it. I just wish more of Company C from all the years used it. As for me I am glad you located me.
It is very hard to have correct KIA list, but I try very hard to make sure it is accurate. After some more research and imput from brothers, there was some names omitted and some names that did not belong on C 2/1’s list. After all this was put together again, I updated the list of KIA’s today. If you see any errors or omissions, please let me know. I want to honor all of our KIA’s.
Larry
3/16
Hoang lost his leg that day also.
I have updated contact information as of today. After sending out reunion notices, several emails was no longer working and I tried to contact everyone to get a new email address. I have not had very many return calls to update email addresses. I have deleted the email address on the ones that are no longer working. If your contact information is not up to date, please use the contact button above and let me know your changes.
forgot–larry mendez of 1st platoon was also wounded–shrapnel in the left arm. he and i were with doc descatue when he was medevaked out. no mention of which chopper took him out, or if any 1 else went out with him. my memory says he was the only 1–.
larry–ok–the 2 medics are mentioned. tiny of 1st platoon was hit in the shoulder but i don`t think he turned it in. no mention of ga and wong. are the mortar guys mentioned ? don`t seem to be.–whew–what a nite that was.
GA is mentioned in the report. The last name in the second paragraph says G.A.
Here is the report I have on 3/16/1970:
SFC David Walden was killed when he sat on a booby trap at 1756 hour. SSgt Pearson , Johnnie B, Sp-4 Connell, William F, PFC Martinez-Torres, Eduardo were wounded. Two were extracted by evac and two by Rattler 12 C/C.
At 1852 hour, a bouncing betty was set off and Sgt Peagler, W.D. was killed. There was 10 wounded in Sgt D.L. McKinney, Spc-4 Gregerson, R, Spc-4 Doan (or could be Boan), M.E., E-8 Silverman, S.R., Spc-4 Dunn, C.V., (no rank or first name given) Laflame, PFC Descoteau, W.J., PFC McColley, S, O2 Kotula, M.L. (No rank given) Dixon, D.J., Spc-4 Jensen, D.A., Spc-4 King, G.A.
Bill,
Someone gave me a copy of the BTOC log from that night a few years back which I don’t know where it is. It might have been Ed Davis who gave it to me.
Anyone heard anything from the Buehlers?
I heard from Ben in December. I sent a email or two since then. I think his reply button broke on his computer.
bill–if i remember right–big maybe—i got reports from either national archives years back, before computers are what they are now, or from st louis. no idea if any online.some 1 from 196th association might know more.
Tooch,
It is a start with the VA.
Bill,
Wayne Peagler was a Commo Sgt assigned to the company cp
Short Round…I never saw any after action reports or medic reports…..Are they available on the internet?……Can somebody post a link?….Thanks
bill–what isn`t mentioned in the C-2/1 after action report is the medics mentioned in their own reports , not our C-2/1 reports. same goes with the mortar guys assigned to us. that`s 5 there–and maybe others reported elsewhere.for sure 2 medics were wounded, not sure if any others were.
i believe i had your horseshoe the next day when i stepped on the BB that didn’t go off.
Oops! I forgot to mention my man Hoang lost his leg on the first BB
I had a horseshoe up my ass that day.
Bill,
I feel bad that I forgot Wayne. He was the furthest one from the second BB and unfortunately took schrapnel in the juggler. You, Pancho, SFC Walden and Johnnie Pearson got it from the first and the second got a slew of folks including Peagler, Ga, Lt Kotula, several medics, Top and others. What mess that was. I was helping to guide folks up the hill when the first one went off stepped on by SFC Walden and was at the base of the hill trying to get my platoon linked up with another platoon on the perimeter when the second went off. I’m glad Irish whiskey is there for those that need it and I am glad I came out of that mess as well as I did both physically and mentally. God bless all my brothers!