Moore, Larry Richard, PFC

FINAL MISSION OF PFC LARRY R. MOORE - SFC William Jenkins and PFC Larry R. Moore were Armor Crewmen serving with C Troop, 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry, 25th Infantry Division. On February 19, 1968, Jenkins and Moore were killed when their tank was hit by rocket-propelled grenades (RPG’s) in a Viet Cong ambush near Tan Thai Nhu on Route 236, three miles northwest of Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Binh Long Province, RVN. The following is a personal account of the incident by Dwight Birdwell: We were all on (tank) C35. SFC Jenkins was new, as were Moore and Donnelly. I was classified as a Gunner on C35 that day. Jenkins was the TC (Tank Commander), and Moore was the Loader. At a great distance, across a wide-open field, I saw two fast moving balls of fire approaching our tank. I had an M60 (machine gun), which I used to try to shoot down the balls of fire. I failed. One ball of fire hit the top of the tank, killing Moore and Jenkins. We had a significant load of spare ammo in the bustle rack behind the TC and Loader slots, and one of the balls of fire hit that ammo. There was a big blast. Donnelly, to my right, took the brunt of that blast, saving me from serious injury. We were both blown into a ditch nearby. The unit pulled back, leaving us in the ditch. Finally, FSG Delacerda crawled up to the ditch and rescued us. Donnelly was hospitalized for weeks, then returned to C Troop. He was assigned to my C36, and on July 7, 1968, was critically injured by RPG's which, after several years, ended his life. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and information provided by David Olsen (August 2018)]