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Casualty Info
Home Town Alex
Last Address Alex
Casualty Date Jul 21, 1967
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Multiple Fragmentation Wounds
Location Long Khanh (Vietnam)
Conflict Vietnam War
Location of Interment Fairlawn Cemetery - Chickasha, Oklahoma
FINAL MISSION OF PFC Billy Rodgers
Operation Emporia (July 21-September 14, 1967) was a 9th Infantry Division
operation to secure the major transportation avenues in Long Khanh Province, RVN.
The mission was to deny the Viet Cong (VC) concealment along routes QL-2 and
QL-20, and National Highway QL-1, which the enemy had long used as vantage points
for tax collection, as well as ambush purposes. U.S. ground operations were
conducted by the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (Blackhorse) with convoy escort
support provided by elements of the 720th MP Battalion. The first day of the
operation began with 3rd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry conducting a road march
along QL-20 to secure route clearing and Rome Plow operations for the 86th
Engineers. At 9:35 AM, the 3rd Platoon of L Troop, 11th ACR was leading the
squadron column accompanied by members of the 615th Military Police Company when
they were ambushed near the village of Xa Binh Hoa by a VC force estimated at two
battalions. The enemy fired recoilless rifle, heavy machine gun, rocket-propelled
grenades, and automatic weapons. CPT William F. Abernethy, the Troop commander,
was able to issue an ambush report over the squadron frequency before being
fatally wounded. Troops I and K were ordered to sweep to the east and west flanks
of QL-20 at the point of contact. K Troop moved down QL-20 to aid the embattled
3rd Platoon. They were met by intense automatic weapons and anti-armor fire from
the west of the road just south of the ambush site. K Troop replied with unit
weapons supported by air and artillery strikes. At 11:00 AM, enemy fire from the
east of the road had completely ceased; by 1:30 PM, enemy resistance ended, and
their remnants withdrew from the area. The 3rd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry
lost fourteen men in the fighting.
L Troop losses included:
CPT William F. Abernethy (posthumously awarded the Silver Star medal)
SP4 Lawrence M. Dawson
SP4 Richard J. Schutz
PFC Douglas W. Hill (a medic from HHC w/ L/3/11)
PFC Frank D. Leal
PFC Gary A. McLennan
PFC James L. Whitfield
PVT Thomas F. Ganion
Three artillerymen from L Troop's Artillery Forward Observer team were also killed:
PFC James F. Bean
PFC John J. Campa
PFC George Foster
K Troop losses were
1LT Ponder R. Sims
PFC Roosevelt C. Curley Jr. PFC Billy G. Rodgers
Another forty-seven Americans were wounded, and two South Vietnamese interpreters
were killed. Enemy losses were put at 196 dead. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org,
virtualwall.org, and 720mpreunion.org]
