In past Carroll Eagle Archives columns we have shared the
stories of some of the eighteen fallen heroes from the Vietnam War who faces
are etched in the black granite memorial in the Carroll County Vietnam Memorial
Park on Willis Street.
The stories of Frederick John Magsamen, Christopher Jesse
Miller, Jr., Stanley Groomes, Joseph William Blickenstaff, Herbert Eugene
Mulkey, Jr., James Norman Byers and Sherman E. Flanagan, Jr., have been told.
I cannot imagine what Private Kenny went through. He was
light weapons grunt and left Mount Airy Maryland in the idealistic mid-1960s to
be dropped into the Battle of Battle of Ia Drang and then right into the Battle
of Bong Son… Up against the NVA 22nd and the the Sao Vang - Yellow
Star – Division, 2nd VC Main Force Regiment…
On November 17, 1966, the 7th Cavalry 2nd
Battalion lost 150 American soldiers in 16 hours at LZ Albany northwest of Plei
Me in the Central Highlands – 35 miles from Pleiku…
Kenny was killed in action in the ‘Iron Triangle’ region of
Binh Dinh province, in Vietnam Feb. 19, 1966, along with Sgt. Elzie Jefferson
Collins, Jr., and Sgt. Freddie Wallace Green. This was soon after the Battle of
Bong Son – Operation Irving, January 28 to February 12, 1966.
Bong Son was essentially the second major battle of the war,
not that long after the 5th Cavalry had been engaged in the Battle of Ia Drang,
November 14-18, 1965, also in Binh Dinh. Many know Binh Dinh as where An Khe
and Camp Radcliff were located – not far from Camp Holloway airfield at Pleiku.
Kenny had entered the Army following graduation. In November
1965 he was stationed in central-coastal Vietnam in an area remembered for its
heavy combat and high American casualties at the time.
Kenny was deployed with C Company, 1st Battalion, 5th
Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division; which can trace its roots as far back
as 1855, when it was organized and deployed in Texas in the Native American
Plains Wars. The 5th Calvary regiment participated in twelve campaigns in
Vietnam.
The area known as the Iron Triangle was a heavily fortified
position about 12-miles below Bong Son in the hills south and east of the Kim
Son Valley, and was defended by a combined Viet Cong (VC) – North Vietnamese
Army (NVA) force that included the Sao Vang - Yellow Star – Division, 2nd VC
Main Force Regiment, and the acclaimed NVA 22nd Regiment.
We remember PFC Kenny. God Bless him. Memorial Day is
important…
Very little has been written about Private First Class (PFC)
Kenny. In my research I came across a You Tube, “An Khe, Vietnam; “Films of 1st
Cavalry Air Mobile at An Khe, Vietnam, filmed between December 1965 and January
1966…”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD81o3yYwV0
“Films of 1st Cavalry (Air Mobile) at An Khe, Vietnam,
filmed between December 1965 and January 1966. Films were done as part of a
briefing for the Army leadership.”
[Films of 1st Cavalry Air Mobile at An Khe, Vietnam, filmed
between December 1965 and January 1966…]
Related:
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... represent "Miss Poppy" for the observance
of Memorial Day. In the United States, the poppy is most often worn
on Memorial Day. Pat Davis, who is assisting the ... this," said
Amass of Krauss. Kevin Dayhoff
By Kevin E. Dayhoff, June 2, 2012 ... Westminster for the
expanded 145th Memorial Day parade and ceremonies. Main ... had been the focal
point of many Memorial Day observances in Westminster ? after ... May 30, 1868.
This year's Memorial Day address was delivered by Navy Commander ...
... to visit the USS Maine Memorial Plat in the middle of
... Cemetery. The Maine Memorial area, surrounded by ... It was on the
second day of military operations ... Well," and, to this day,
the battle is commemorated ... south in February Kevin Dayhoff may be
reached at…
By Kevin E. Dayhoff, Story January 28, 2013
... cemetery when they attend the
annual Memorial Day parade. The annual observance ... before,
make plans to attend the Memorial Day ceremonies in Westminster.
This ... the Westminster Cemetery, Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at
By Kevin E. Dayhoff, January 12, 2013 ... A. P. Schultz,
Monuments and Tombstones ... The good ole' days were indeed hard ... often took
several days, and it was made ... microwave oven, Kevin Dayhoff may
be reached at ... A. P. Schultz, Monuments and Tombstones ... much easier
than day-to-day life in ...
By Kevin Dayhoff, May 26, 2012 ... will be remembered on the
first Memorial Day since his death in January ... Dulaney
Valley Memorial Gardens' Memorial Day observance, in Timonium ... Valley
has conducted an annual Memorial Day observance since 1967. The
memorial ...
By Kevin Dayhoff, September 9, 2011 ... cookouts over the
three-day Labor Day weekend, men and women ... have any memory
of that day or weren't yet born ... attend one of the
several memorial services that will take ... 11 anniversary,
Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at kevindayhoff ...
By Kevin Dayhoff, November 1, 2011 ... Shellman founded
Westminster's Memorial Day Parade in 1868 ? today believed ... the longest
continuously running Memorial Day parade in the country. She ... Arlington
National Cemetery," the Memorial Day poem for Antietam Battlefield
and ...
By Kevin Dayhoff, Carroll Eagle and Steve Kilar, Baltimore
Sun, January 12, 2012 ... Base. "This is a tragic day for
(Seidler's unit), and ... Interment will be later that day at Arlington
National Cemetery ... join the military. In the days following news of
Seidler ... payable to: The Matthew Seidler Memorial Fund, c/o Susquehanna Bank
...
By Kevin Dayhoff, January 7, 2012 ... no additional details
were released. "This is a tragic day for (Seidler's unit), and
especially for Matt's family ... the pride we'll feel when we see Matt's name
on the EOD Memorial Wall at Eglin Air Force Base will not extinguish
the sorrow ...
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