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Carl,
When 2/1 Stood Down, that’s when all remaining personnel were formed into Operation Gimlet, or Project Gimlet, and we continued conducting some small operations. I can’t remember exactly, but I’m pretty sure that Cpt Cato was the last Company Commander for C Company.
Jim, Did Robert White go over with C2/1 as the CO? Capt. Thompson has been to several reunions. I thought he was the first CO. Thanks for the correction. I’m going to have to list all these on paper. Anyone know who the last CO was when 2/1 stood down and came home.
Robert White was the first CO of C Company (as a 1LT) when the Brigade was formed. He went on to be the Bn S-1 and then the CO of A Company until July, 1967.
James Thompson followed him.
There was someone between Capt Yap and Morris. He did not last long. He was a real loser. That story later. Does anyone remember who?????
Yes, Nelson replaced Downey when he was relieved because of the mutiny at the DMZ.
I don’t remember the CO when I went out to the company in Sept/Oct 1970. Captain Downey came in probably in late October. It seems like Captain Nelson came in in April, 1971.
chuck,
You are correct in your sequence, it was Cpt Ron Hines, Gardner, Ty Harper, followed by 1LT John Dorman and then on.
Cpt. Morris left by dislocating his previously wounded shoulder.
To the best of my recollection, after Morris was Heinz and then Gardner (Chicken Man). LT Harper was CO for a bit also. Larry, you I think have that sequence all nailed down. what was it?
I am in South Texas right now and the information I have is back in Colorado. I can look at what I have when I go home for Christmas.
Carl, Capt Morris was CO when I left.
When I got there in Nov, 1970, it was CPT Downey. He was followed by CPT’s Nelson and Foxx before I left.
Interestingly, Foxx’s XO was LT Foxx….and they weren’t related.
I’ve always wondered about how many CO’s we had and who they were. I now know the first seven, I believe. The first CO was Capt. Thompson, next was Capt. Rowell, followed by Capt. Witt, Capt. Thomasson, Capt. Peters, Capt. Yap and finally by Capt. Morris. Bill, who followed Capt. Morris? Can anyone remember any of the CO’s toward the end? I’m sure there were Lt’s that filled in between CO’s. LT McAndrews filled in for us when Capt Thomasson left for about 3 months.
Carl,
In 72, we had Cpt Cato as C company Commander.
Morris was the CO in January of 70 when I got to the company. I remember he looked weak from some kind of illness, possibly malaria….He was replaced soon after.
Don’t forget Cpt. Morris’s cigar…..
Larry,
I believe Capt Yap may have been our Capt in March, 69. I believe he had a heat stroke then. Oh, how I remember Capt Morris. Without a shirt he looked like GI Joe with muscles and scars. All he needed was a tommy gun in one hand and a hand grenade in the other charging a dug in machine gun nest. He looked the part. Wasn’t he wounded later after Nov, 69?
Bill, Capt. Yap was the CO when I arrived in May of 69. I don’t think Morris was wounded; I think he was injured and then replaced with Capt. Heinz.
Question! I know some of you have stayed in contact with Capt Yap. Anybody have any idea when he came into the field and when he left the field?
I keep in contact with Captain Yap. I am not sure when he got to the company, but he left the company in September, 1969 after his at least 2nd heat stroke dust off. He left not very long after our Hiep Duc battle. We then got Captain Morris.
Carl, look forward to it!
Donald P. Sloat, D 2/1 may receive a posthumous Medal of Honor for throwing himself on a grenade in Jan, 1970.
The Senate Armed Services Committee approved legislation waving the time limit for awarding the MOH. I’m assuming it still must be acted upon by the full Senate and the House.
Bill, My CO Capt Jack Thomasson and Battalion CO Lt Col Lyman Hammond were at that one. We couldn’t call Capt Thomasson , Jack, even after all these years so we kept referring to him as Charlie 6. Gosh I thought all of Charlie Company was at the same table for the banquet. Guess not! Hopefully, we can get together at a reunion someplace.
Carl.
Thanks for clearing that up! Now I know the rest of the story. I did not know either of them. I am not aware of any hot LZ’s as I never landed in one, thank God, but again I was a PFC. We had some great guys in Charlie who gave it their all. Proud to be a part of this company. I was at Hampton Beach in 1992. Don’t remember much but a dog handler who came up to me and remember me and introduced himself.
Just looked at the Coffelt Database and Don was awarded a Silver Star. I just assume it was for saving George Hill.
Bill, Oddly enough, even though I was out of the country by then, I can tell you about Don. He joined 1st plt while I was there. Don was a very intelligent black guy as well as I remember. Does anyone remember George Hill, a shake and bake from Philadelphia? George came over and became squad leader of 1st squad, 1st plt. I carried the radio for George. I saw George at a reunion in 1992 in Hampton, VA. He said you guys did a combat assault into a hot LZ. George was mired in mud and couldn’t get out. He told me Don came to help him and he told Don to leave because he was a dead man. Don refused and got George out. George survived and Don was killed. We went to the wall in DC and George broke down when we found Don’s name. There was another guy with him named Rodriquez, I believe. Does his name ring a bell? It’s been 21 years since George told me the story and I may have some of it wrong. Brain drain after all these years. Haven’t seen George or heard from him since. He gave me his address and phone number but no reply or answer. Does anyone remember George or Rodriquez? Maybe someone can shed more light on this story.
Tooch, I will tell you what I know about Tien Phucs of March, 1969 as a PFC who had been in country four mouths and by then had encountered no major engagements. It had been all hit and run attacks by the enemy with no KIA’s on our side. By then I thought I can do this and get through it. I soon learned different.
We were doing a joint operation with C A 2/1 in the Tien Phuc valley on or about March 19,1969. Company A was either ahead or somewhere on the side of us and killed an NVA. They and left an Ace of spade in his mouth as a sign it was Co A. My first witness of a confirmed kill.
Not sure what happen around March 21, 1969 because we stopped and a platoon was sent out to scout an area. Soon my platoon was sitting on its butts when we heard small round fire. Next thing we are all flat on the ground taking defensive positions. The next thing I know word came down the line a wounded grunt was coming down the line to be evacuated. It was Alan Bernstein from Flushing, NY. I saw him go by and he was conscious and I believe shot in the stomach. I thought he would make it because the scuttle but was that if you could make it to the rear conscious your survival was above 90%. Well heard later he died in Da Nang. I knew his face at the time but not his name.
The next thing that happen was 2nd platoon was asked to lead out in a different direction from where the firefight had come. The firing had stopped so I figured we were flanking the position or just going else where. After a short distance we were told to drop our gear, proceed out of the wood line at the bottom of a hill, spread out, cross a major clearing going up the hill into another tree line.
I was in the first or second line going up the hill. We got about 2/3 up this steep hill in the open when automatic fire open. We all hit the dirt and no one appeared to be hit. We returned fire. I shot three or four grenades from my M-79. Then the firing stopped on both sides and we all laid there waiting for the next move. Don’t remember any orders being given. Just extremely quiet. Then it started, bullets hitting all around us and me. Could feel them hitting next to me on both sides. Thought it was all over. Then it stopped. Have no idea how long it lasted but seemed like an eternity. Found out later one or two huey’s tought we were NVA in our fatigues and opened up with there M-60’s.
By now we are exhausted, hot, and thirsty. No one had taken water with us. I had five canteens at the bottom of the hill. We withdrew to the bottom of the hill and joined the rest of the company. When I found my pack all five canteens were dry. They had been drunk by the other guys. I would have shot them if I knew who they where. I have never been that thirsty again in my life after laying in the open sun, almost killed by friendly fire, and no water.
Our company then moved up an opposing hill from the one we had just done the assault and set up a perimeter. After this they brought in artillery fire, shelling from the USS New Jersey, and fighter planes with bombs. For the first and only time in my tour I dug in. We were told the shells from USS new Jersey were the size of a Volkswagen. We were quite away from the other hill but we could see all the action. A shell from the ship went over our heads and we heard it and watched it land. A piece of shrapnel about the size of your hand landed which was red hot landed in front of us. We moved farther toward the peak of our hill to avoid more shrapnel and immediately started digging for China after it stopped.
By evening they had brought in water and more ammo. For some reason we were not expecting to be attacked because we the steep upper ground. We were prepared for the worse.
Now during the day while Charlie Company was engaged with the enemy, Alpha Company had walked into an ambush and lost four men. I never knew the number wounded. They joined us on the hill in a joint perimeter. It was decided the next day our platoon would go down the hill to retrieve the bodies of Alpha Company. Needless to say we were all expecting to be ambushed. We were not! We located the bodies at the base of the hill and I was one of the guys who put one of the KIA’s on a poncho and four of us carried it back up the hill to be taken to the rear. Needless to say it left an impression on me.
The one incident that will always stay with me was a jet fighter diving at the enemy hill and firing its machine guns at the enemy. Every time it pulled out of its dive you would hear a single AK-47 firing at it. Dive, pull up from the dive, and AK fire. This went on a number of times. It seemed so futile on both parties part. It made no sense.
I do not remember how many days we stayed on the hill but I believe it was three or four. We finally were ordered to sweep the hill. Again we were expecting the worse but our platoon was not on point. We were lucky and met no opposition. Found a lot of well dug in bunkers but nothing else. They had packed up and taken everything, including wounded and KIA’s if any with them. We saw no more action on that operation.
Now I have a mystery question. We show a Donald Alexander, Socorro from New Mexico
killed on March 22,1969 from our company according to our records. This would would have been the day after Alan Bernstein. Now he could have died on the field or after being evacuated but I do not remember his death. Can anyone shed any light on this? Thank you.
Thanks , Bill.
Westmoreland has been called “The Inevitable General.” He looked the part and had all the “right” things on his resume’. He was a product of his times and fit perfectly into McNamara’s process of trying to quantify the battlefield by the compilation of statistics. In many ways, he reminds me of George McClelland; capable, efficient, concerned for his troops but unable to win victories because victories can only be won, not managed into existence.
The Army is led by similar officers today…with the same results in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We’ve forgotten how to win wars.
William C. Westmoreland ran the show in Vietnam for years.
His personality traits and character set the tone and expectations of the first several years of senior officers in all the services.
Unfortunately, he was insenstitive, arrogant, cowardly, dishonest and not too bright.
There were, of course, exceptions, but overall we were ill-served by our “leaders.”
Tien Phuc may have been the operation I was part of in March, 1969. More on it later.
No, Clay, that was a different time and place. We were in the Thien Phouc area before y’all went to the DMZ. I say “y’all” because I missed that whole operation.
And, we didn’t sandbag it. We dug in and put out more Claymores. The plan called for us to haul ass at the first contact and saturate the hill with pre-planned artillery fire. Obviously, none of that happened, though. Thank God for small miracles.
The battalion went back out to Kham Duc right before I got assigned to it in August, 1970. I’ve heard or read the main point of the mission was to find the remains of some MIA’s. Sounds like the NVA had about the same reaction as they did in the Mothers Day battle. At any rate either then or later they have found remains, mainly from E 2/1, along the ridge line perimeter in old bunkers. That was the time when the Chinook got shot down coming into LZ Judy and wiped out a whole platoon of passengers from Delta Co. One of the rotors cartwheeled up the hill, into the LZ and hit a C 2/1 grunt, killing him. Bad deal.
I think Gary’s sandbagged ambush of a VC battalion was the same night I wrote about earlier when the ROK’s ran them down all night until the AK 47s quit shooting back. VC must have broken into smaller groups to make their escape and some unlucky group(s) got run down. Our LT never said anything to me about size of the group headed our way. We just got into a decent defensive position and waited it out. Thanks again for the ROKs. You’d think some of them might have kept coming after the ROKs jumped them. Fortunately our platoon was at about normal numbers, I think. That would be 20-25 at that time.
Hey, I like that one Gary. I know a lot of you guys are familiar with Kham Duc. I was in the first battle (not firefight) there in May of 68. The special forces got on the same 130 that we got off. Later, I found out that it was to be evacuated on orders from the pentagon. Our stupid brigade commander Col. Louis Gelling decided we could hold it. The whole 2/1 battalion was sent there along with A 1/46. We almost all died there. Recon E2/1 lost about 2 platoons either killed or captured. A 2/1 took heavy casualties also. I saw an F4 C130’s and helicopters shot down there. Two regiments came across the wire on Mother’s Day 1968 and we couldn’t stop them. We were all lucky to get out of there alive. Almost as bad as 10 or 12 guys ambushing a battalion. I’m sitting here now laughing at that one. Just glad we can!!!!