Sunday, May 21, 2006

Armed Forces Day, May 20, 2006

For me personally, it means thinking a bit about my own first year -- plus a week or two extra -- of Marine infantry combat, from November, 1966 to December 1967, with the Ist Squad, Ist. Platoon, Fox Company, 2nd. Bn. First Marine Regiment, FMF Wes PAC, Vietnam I Corps Tactical Zone.

During that time my squad actually took less than its full share of the total Fox Company KIAs for that same period, KIAs that amounted to at least 45, equal to an entire platoon of US Marine infantry, less of course! Weapons attachments.

With a total of nine rifle squads, reinforced with weapons attachments in three platoons, 45 total KIAs is equal to a rough statistical average of 5 Marines Killed in Action per squad.

And good people, that means what it says, not just Wounded in Action or WIA, but Killed in Action, or KIA.

At any rate here's where we'd like to remember especially our own squad's wounded and fallen, who across nearly four decades of time still seem young, both in memories and in dreams:

1) L/Cpl. Pablo Rene Gonzalez July 18, 1967. KIA Gunshot wounds
2) Pfc. Harold Snyder, Jr. August 1, 1967 KIA Gunshot wounds
3) Cpl. Gary Frank Dissinger October 27, 1967 KIA Land Mine

Severely Wounded in Action, WIA, First Squad Personnel

1) L/Cpl James Moran July 18, 1967 WIA AK-47 round through right upper thigh.

2) Cpl. Ernie Stemsgar, July 18, 1967, WIA AK-47 round right smack through his left breast, just below the heart, from what I could see.


Died later on, on subsequent combat tour:


4) Cpl. Dennis Rae Maxwell: December 19, 1968 Freak accident

Best squad leader of First Squad, First Platoon, Fox Company

That legendary Tennessean buck sergeant E-5, Sergeant Otis Lovejoy, he who had been on joint training exercises with elements of the French Foreign Legion on the Mediterranean island of Corsica in 1963, scarcely a year from the time they were pulled out of the still-smoking hot battlefields of Algeria in old French North Africa in June of 1962.

Best Platoon Right Guide of First Platoon, Fox Company

The Canadian buck sergeant E-5, Sergeant Bernard Terhorst, he who "out Forrested Gump" at the Battle of Bin Son I, April 21, 1967, and got the Silver Star for doing so. Ironically, he wasn't wounded at Bin Son I, but was shortly after, taking what he believed was an SKS round right through one of his canteens, which deflected it into the flesh of his upper hip, instead of smashing a bone. Thus, he was out of the hospital in time to receive both his Silver Star and Purple Heart at the same Fox Company ceremony.

Best Platoon Sergeant of First Platoon, Fox Company

That tough, lean, tow-headed and taciturn hardcase combat veteran from the Korean War, Staff Sergeant E-6 Gutherie, cherished M-1 Carbine and banana clip forever at his side, a quiet and intense gaze likewise forever in his eyes. Kept to himself both physically and psychologically, and thereby gained the reputation of having one hell of a good Korean War combat record, odd though this may seem. His fellow NCOs and junior officers both left him strictly alone. I don't recall ever hearing him raise his voice, yet given the hypothetical for instance where he might have chosen to say a few words to one Pfc Dennis Paul Morony, you can just bet you life on it that 'ole Dennis listened.

Ist. Platoon Second Lieutenants commanding, during my tour of duty with Fox Co, 2/1:

1) 2nd. Lt George Mallon: Made First Lt. in time to narrowly miss the bloody pitched Battle of Bin Son I, April 21, 1967, where the other 8 Fox company rifle squads -- reinforced - sustained 33 KIAs and 56 WIAs in a frontal assault against an estimated battalion of tough, dedicated bo-doi "infantry," well dug-in, of the 3rd. NVA Regiment of the 2nd. PAVN/ NVA Division, 'way, 'way down in the Valley of the Song Ly Ly, sometimes called Que Son Valley, heading into the foothills of the Annamite Chu Mountains, leading in turn ever westward into Laos.

2) 2nd. Lt. Byron Morrow Speer: [tentative identity] June 13, 1967 KIA Gunshot wounds.

3) 2nd. Lt. James Joseph Mallon, Jr.: October 24, 1967 KIA Land Mine

4) 2nd. UNKNOWN (?): December 1967 or January 1968, WIA Mortar shrapnel, while leading a counter attack, presumably on north slope of Con Thien, after I'd left for home, never really had the chance to know him that well.

Best Fox Company First Sergeant during my tour

WW II veteran, First Sergeant E-8 Claud Thorpe, a genial grey eyed, pipe smoking first sergeant with a receding chin that belied what he called his 22 years of Marine Corps active duty. Since this was just before Thanksgiving, 1966, "Top" Thorpe would more than likely have come on duty most likely right after high school graduation in the spring of 1944. He was uncanny in his predictions as to the eventual destiny of all 8 of us replacements, speaking to us as a group. As I recall, this is roughly what he was telling us, in a slow, low matter-of-fact voice:

"Gentlemen, I see there are eight of you. The way things are running here these days at least 1 of you will be going home in a pine box, 2 more will be wounded, but recover, etc..." Wanna bet we weren't paying attention? You're damn well right we were. Why? Because First Sergeant Claud Thorpe knew what he was talking about.

Best Fox Company Gunnery Sergeant during my tour

[An E-7 slot. Corresponds roughly to what we've been told is a US Army Field First Sergeant]

Gunnery Sergeant E-7 Alex Romero. Badly shot up in burst of machinegun fire in the abdomen, whether in WW II, Korea, or who knows where -- nobody seemed to be sure, -- he was a tough no nonsense staff NCO. But the scars were still hideous none the less in 1966. "Gunny" Romero went on to seize the reins of the shattered remnants of Fox Company on April 21, 1967. Although badly wounded yet again himself, Romero refused medical evacuation until such wounded as could be were evacuated first. Supposedly he was recommended for Navy Cross, but so far I've not be able to verify whether or not he got it.


Best Fox Company Commander during my tour

1) Captain (later Maj. General) Gene Deegan: April 21, 1967 WIA Gunshot wounds, "They knicked my liver," as he was quoted later as telling a book writer. He personally led the frontal assault at Bin Son I.

Best 2/1 Battalion Commander during my tour

1) Lt. Colonel Archie Van Winkle, MOH: Fall of 1950,WIA from Red Chinese "potato masher" grenade* while leading a desperate counter attack against oncoming enemy hordes on some frozen piece of nowhere north of the 37th parallel during the Korean War (1950-1953). Likewise his ribbons seemed to indicate he had fought in WW II, too. He managed to be, all at the same time, tough, quiet, yet unbelievably flamboyant. I had a lot of personal, up front respect and affection for him, as did most all of us. Damn! But he barely pulled us out of harms way in time after that hairy multi-battalion raid we pulled deep into the canopy rain forest during Operation Medina, October, 1967. We were dropped in by Sikorsky 34's, but fought our way back out the old fashioned way.


* "Humm.. uh-huh! So maybe that's why he needed some help from yours truly -- in getting over an enormous log -- like maybe two(2) meters in diameter, laying across our trail during that super-fast withdrawal on the last day of Operation Medina.That, plus he insisted on carrying his enormous Alaskan-style yellowish and tan colored tubular back pack."


So, anyhow, Happy Armed Forces Day 2006, all you guys and gals serving in harms way in any fleet, land and air units, and especially for you gyrenes fighting who knows where these days, because as the old song says it best:

So, here's health to you and to our Corps,
Which we so proudly serve,
In many a fight we've fought for life,
But never lost our nerve,

If the Army and the Navy,
Ever look on heaven's scene,
They'll find the streets are guarded,
By United States Marines!

!! SEMPER FI !!

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home