This has been going on for about a week Every time I try to watch a video on Youtube from my laptop I get instantly redirected to "gslbeacon.ligit.com." Event date is used instead of declared dead date for some of those who were listed as missing in action). He was with the 509th Radio Research Station. From the Landing Zone, we were carried not too far. Soon I could take the gun apart and put it back together in the dark. I think convoy truck drivers had one of the most dangerous job. I personally carried 300 rounds of ammo at all times, one belt in the gun and two across my chest. 4 Bill May and Spc. Opinion | What a Combat Medic Still Carries - The New York Times Id love to see the casualties listed by Corps ? The oldest man killed was 62 years old. Units would send a thorough report of their KIA and WIA, battle action coordinates, estimated enemy troop strength, enemy unit KIA/captured and any known direction heading. Moving west down the trail, 4th Platoon exchanged fire with a single NVA soldier, then a handful and finally a group of about 10-15 around noon. What was the average life expectancy of a soldier in World War II? Me molesta que mis padres no ______ (cuidar) su alimentacin.. 3. Eventually I found a spot where the bed leveled off and began firing on the NVA. We (Americans) had nothing to do with controlling VNAF, according to Lieutenant General (Ret) James F. Hollingsworth, the Commanding General of TRAC at that time. During this Census count, the number of Americans falsely claiming to have served in-country is: 13,853,027. He retired in 2012 and lives in Delray Beach, Florida. Calculate the pH of a solution of 0.157 M pyridine.? I am one lucky SOB. Ernest, Im glad that your first tour with the VN airborne was rewarding. The peace settlement was signed in Paris on 27 January 1973. Deltoid muscle _____ 2. Foot soldiers went by the grace of God, but had a better chance than the infantry platoon commander in combat. Interesting, I carried a Prick 25, for 2 months. A former expert with the M60 machine gun shares his experiences wielding the fearsome weapon in Vietnam. This is not Vietnam where a machine gunner's life expectancy was short because you had an entire army shooting at them. Papitto Opportunity Connections Mission: The Papitto Opportunity Connection (POC) is a private foundation dedicated to listening and working together with Rhode Islands BIPOC communities to empower and create individual success stories by investing in education, job skills training, and entrepreneurial ventures. It was just north of Saigon. I was a 2nd Lt. Infantry platoon Leader. They also struggled with logistical problems and the complex political situation in Vietnam. General Vo Nguyen Giap, the designer of the Tet Offensive, is considered by some as ranking with Wellington, Grant, Lee and MacArthur as a great commander. Two rounds smashed into a log inches above my head. Ive always considered myself damn lucky to make it out alive. Well, according to current mortality and morbidity statistics for the USright around 77.5 Years! I DISAGREETHE ENEMY WOULD SHOOT THE GUY NEXT TO THE RTO-KNOWING HE WAS THE COMMANDER. I told by RTO that i could carry my own radio, When he agreed he was humping ammo. John Doever Artillery, and ground forces. Me, a vehicle mechanic with Btry E, 41st Arty Quads 1970. estimated education differentials in life expectancy for Veterans in 2011-14 are close to those of U. S. population in 1979-89. I may not have hit anyone that day, but I am certain that No. Fact: Assuming KIAs accurately represented age groups serving in Vietnam, the average age of an infantryman (MOS 11B) serving in Vietnam to be 19 years old is a myth, it is actually 22. A Co, 1/5 Cav, 1 Cav Division. It didnt matter who you were or where you were. Quickly learned to control rate of fire. Fact: 86% of the men who died in Vietnam were Caucasians, 12.5% were black, 1.2% were other races. Address: 561 E Hines Hill Road Hudson, Ohio 44236 Phone: 1-800-650-0659 / 330-655-5050 Fax: 330-653-3750 Email: [emailprotected], Retail Store Hours: Monday-Friday: 9am - 5pm EST Saturdays: 10am -3pm (Oct-Jan) Sundays: Closed. I always was told that the life expectancy of a LT was 14 seconds in INITIAL combat versus 9 seconds for an RTO. I will always think/say, we had absolutely no reason for being in that place. PLEASE HELP!!! As far as I knew that was done in the whole battalion in 1968 . Jimmy aaja, jimmy aaja. rice farmer who was still working with is ox like nothing ever 240 men were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War. Naturally I was excited at the opportunity to join Sanzone, but at the same time I hated leaving 2nd Platoons No. There were no Americans involved in any capacity. 1 Gun had registered its first kill. I remember we were always short of replacements throughout 1968 because of the high Kia & wounded rate we suffered at that time ! Overrun and utterly destroyed, the 30-man 4th Platoon had suffered 21 killed and one missing. Some of my men didnt. I agree with all of the comments, however I would add Tunnel Rats to the group I was one and saw many of my friends die in those tunnels I was very fortunate or very lucky and was never a lead but was at the tail end. (tirotactico.net). Or is it on display in a Hanoi museum so curious citizens of that city can inspect a weapon captured from American imperialists? The Organization of the Viet Cong Units in the South never recovered. Look for the blue accessibility symbol floating on every page of our website and click on it to tailor your viewing experience to your particular disability. Then we all, loaded on C-147 cargo planes. We could not see any enemy soldiers, but we could see smoke coming from their weapons through the trees. Surrounded by an enemy battalion, our hopelessly outnumbered platoon waged a desperate battle for survival. General Westmoreland quoting Douglas Pike (a professor at the University of California, Berkeley), a major military defeat for the VC and NVA. In an instant the jungle erupted in gunfire. I applaud the courage and difficult and all so dangerous job of Roger Herforth when he served as an RTO for the Hawk Recon Platoon of the 101st airborne division in Vietnam.. Interesting reading. Comments were more interesting than the article it self. Soldier Life Expectancy in Ukraine 'Meat Grinder' Is 4 Hours: Marine No. To my surprise, I qualified as an expert with the M60 machine gun, nicknamed the pig because of the size, weight and sound of the weapon. Vietnam veterans' personal income exceeds that of our non-veteran age group by more than 18 percent. It was just part of the job. The Vietnam War was the first American war in which Black and White troops were not formally segregated, and even saw significant growth in the number of African Americans engaged in battlefield combat, [1] though some de facto segregation still occurred. I was on a radar crew and we were told that, during war time, we would most likely be killed within minutes. Thats what I figured but didnt know for sure. 2/3 of the men who served in World War II were drafted. This makes our site more accessible to the blind, visually impaired, motor disabled, people with cognitive disabilities and more. Bob Sanzone. From a military standpoint, it was almost an unprecedented performance. Of the . My second tour was as the S3 for LTC Anthony Herbertone of Americas greatest leaders and WARRIORS OF ALL TIME. Veteran Owned Since 1986. Was the 7th Infantry in Vietnam? - 2023 The 140,000 evacuees in April 1975 during the fall of Saigon consisted almost entirely of civilians and Vietnamese military, NOT American military running for their lives. Back in 1965, I was a door gunner on Medevac recovery operations. The Statistics in the Combat Area Casualty File (CACF 11/93) show an average age of death much higher than that of news reports. 1 Gun and I now faced a new and more formidable foethe North Vietnamese Army. Nothing could be further from the truth. Total fantasy. It was a daily challenge to know who your real enemy was. According to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) there are now officially 58, 318 names on the wall. As of April 14, 2017, there are 1,611 Americans still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War across Vietnam (1,258), Laos(297), Cambodia(49), and China(7). 1: physical position (in the field / column) 79% had a high school education or better. The average man who fought in World War II was 26 years of age. Certainly got my attention. We killed a lot of the enemy but we took few serious casualties. Out of the 3,000,000 men and women in our armed forces and reserves, we have lost 4,500 in this 9 year war. Arthur Parker and Spc. What unit lost the most soldiers in Vietnam? 4 Answers aaja Come. I would suspect that stating with any accuracy the life span of a grunt like me, or any other MOS, would be pretty much pure speculation. See you in the next life!!!!! All the comments and replies are of absolute truth, I was only 18 when I got to Nam ,Im a country boy from NC so here I am Dont know why, but generally, their aircraft were not armed (door gunners, etc.). Gotta say I think you hit it on the nose. It had a crew of 4 (forward gunner, the coxswain (steering and driving) and the two aft gunners. I saw aircraft loaded with troops explode in mid-air. On average US troops served 1-2 years in Vietnam, and the percentage of troops killed was actually fairly low for a war this size, 2.14% of all who served were killed, the life expectancy was roughly around 1 year, 5 months and 3 weeks (taking into account the 1-2 year difference in some troops's serving times) Sponsored by Primal Labs Then I dropped back down in the streambed to organize our ammo. If youre American (which you probably are), I could give a f***. Please do not send samples. Before he was drafted Renza had worked as a hairdresser for women in his hometown of Peekskill, New York. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_losses_of S/F, There were no door gunners on dustoffs. The U.S. Army Infantryman Vietnam Pocket Manual Review - HistoryNet Mech. The one number that is really important is 56,220 and we all know what that number represents. When Apache Snow began, I was an RTO, after Airborne, and before the CA on Dong Ap Bia, I became the AG for Roeski. Also, it has been incorrectly reported that two of Kim Phucs brothers were killed in this incident. When Roeski got hit, I took over the M-60. by Zita Ballinger Fletcher 1/18/2022. Now, the wisdom of this soldier tough but humanly compassionate warrior ethos can be assessed through the 2d Bn recordNO complaints about mistreatment of prisonerswhile achieving the most combat SUCCESSES IN THE BRIGADE. Americans who deliberately killed civilians received prison sentences while Communists who did so received commendations. 11,465 of those killed were younger than 20 years old. We were expecting, an attack. But I made it back in one piece. Ambulances are not supposed to be armed (either) though in training, medics are told they and their vehicles will be a prime target. If the enemy was near, we never saw any. 58,148 were killed in Vietnam, 75,000 severely disabled, 23,214 were 100% disabled, 5,283 lost limbs and 1,081 sustained multiple amputations. In my tour everyone had the same chance of getting shot. Got hit inside 15 minutes, first ambush we walked up too. Bloody May 1968 Mini TET. What were the life expectancies of soldiers during the VietnamWar? I was an O5C-20 in Vietnam. First Sgt. Was a door gunner and crew chief for just shy of 18 months (I extended to get out early). There must have been a real mathematician to come up with those calculations. aND, mAY GOD BLESS AMERICA!!! I was with HHC and 1st Platoon C Company in 70-71. I was wounded 3 times during the 10 1/2 months I was in-country before being medevacd out in Apr of 68. My assistant gunner and my ammo bearer also carried 300 rounds each. I always felt that Infantry units were in more danger because of ambush issues and no permanent defensive structures. 1 Gun over my shoulder, grabbed a corner of a poncho and stumbled off with three other soldiers. We were very, lucky. 1 Gun used to kill Americans? Welcome home!! If you have other information let me know. Black fatalities amounted to 12 percent of all Americans killed in Southeast Asia, a figure proportional to the number of blacks in the U.S. population at the time and slightly lower than the proportion of blacks in the Army at the close of the war..