The Grunt Padre: Father Vincent Robert Capodanno, Vietnam, 1966-1967 by Father Daniel L. Mode
five stars on Amazon
Ping!
The Grunt Padre: Father Vincent Robert Capodanno, Vietnam, 1966-1967 by Father Daniel L. Mode
five stars on Amazon
Remembering my brother, WO Thomas Forsythe.
From my files....
“On September 27, 1969, all of the 101st units had pulled out of the A Shau Valley, thus closing one chapter in the division’s history. The A Shau Valley would have been difficult to defend during the upcoming monsoon season. Low hanging clouds and unpredicable weather were the biggest factors in abandoning the valley. There was an artillery raid in either November or December, 1969. The Phoenix flew the troops into the abandoned firebase, possibly Airborne for the raid. The Phoenix continued to fly missions and hadn’t lost anyone to hostile action until December 21st when Captain Arthur Herndon, WO Thomas Forsythe and Specialist 4 David L. Egleston were killed while flying a mission near the DMZ. They were caught in a cross fire
of .51 caliber machine guns. Specialist Amos survived the crash by jumping from the aircraft just prior to impact. He would survive another crash less than two months later by jumping from the aircraft which was piloted by CPT Donald Swanson. Another Phoenix aircraft had taken fire in that area of the DMZ on December 20th, the aircraft was piloted by CWO Bob Sauer. Sauer had given a spent round from that action to Tom Forsythe who wanted it as a good luck charm.
http://www.phoenix158.org/taps/
BTW, Specialist Amos who jumped from two crashing choppers was sent back to the States. His CO said he might not survive a third jump.
To: undisclosed recipients:
Subject: Ken
Hi,
Ken passed in his sleep at home early yesterday morning.".............
This was part of the message that I received from a dear friend's wife last year. I am a VietNam Era veteran, meaning that I served 1964-1968, but not IN VietNam. Ken DID serve in VietNam, and he told me that he had severe problems because of exposure to Agent Orange, and that the Central Texas VA had done all that they could for him, and basically had sent him home to die. He also told me that he had gone to Mexico for treatment after VA gave up on him, but that was not very long before he died.
He was a best friend 1957-1959, and we were disconnected after that, reconnecting only a couple of years before he died.
Vietnam War: Battle of Ia Drang
http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/vietnamwar/p/Vietnam-War-Battle-Of-Ia-Drang.htm
If I remember correctly Lieutenant Colonel Harold G. Moore unit took the first casualties of a non existent war. Was nearly wiped out as a unit, as the US Military were not prepared to fight a ground war, that had already seen 20 yrs of ground war during the ENDO China war with the French. The enemy was a well entrenched, guerrilla, warfare wise enemy our unprepared Military ran head first into.
They have their own section on the Wall I believe, casualty rate was extremely high. Lack of experienced leaders, troops, not the right gear, you name it, any thing that could go wrong, went wrong. http://everything2.com/title/We+Were+Soldiers
Closest to it hubby got was the USS Midway when they were pulling out the Amb. But I had several cousins who fought, 1 wounded and still limps to this day.