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Contact Info
Home Town Sweetwater
Last Address 913 West 3rd Street, Sweetwater, TX 79556
FINAL MISSION OF SSGT R.D. MCDONELL - On March 25, 1971, PFC Manuel R. Puentes, PFC Richard J. Rossano, and SSGT R.D. McDonell were rifleman and members of a 12 man combat patrol operating in northwest Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, a few miles south of the demilitarized zone (DMZ). Their patrol leader was Jimmy C. Johnson. During the patrol, the team was ambushed by enemy forces. It was reported that PFC Rossano was the first man to be hit, apparently by a blast from a grenade. Puentes was seen wounded, but moving under his own power seeking cover. The patrol was forced to withdraw. Johnson, Puentes, Rossano and McDonell were left behind. Attempts by reaction forces to reenter the area were unsuccessful. Johnson was later recovered with bad wounds in the lower body. He reported that SSGT McDonell had picked up a grenade to throw it back at the enemy, but the device had exploded in his hand, killing him immediately. McDonell was listed as killed, body not recovered. Rossano was also considered to be dead, but his body was not recovered. Puentes was declared Missing in Action, since he was last seen alive. There is a distinct possibility that he was captured. [Taken from pownetwork.org]
Vietnam War/Counteroffensive Phase VII Campaign (1970-71)
From Month/Year
July / 1970
To Month/Year
June / 1971
Description This campaign was from 1 Jul 1970 to 30 June 1971. Fighting continued in Cambodia during early February before and after South Vietnam began its U.S.-aided drive in Laos, Lam Son 719, the most significant operation during this campaign.
Lam Son 719 was conducted out of I Corps by Vietnamese troops with US fire and air support. Their object was to cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail and to destroy enemy bases at Techepone, Laos. The operation consisted of four phases. In Phases I, called Operation DEWEY CANYON II, the 1st Brigade, US 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized) occupied the Khe Sanh area and cleared Route No. 9 up to the Laotian border. In the meantime, the US 101st Airborne Division conducted diversionary operations in the A Shau Valley. The US 45th Engineer Group had the mission of repairing Route No. 9 up to the Laotian border. This lasted from 30 January to 7 February 1971. During Phase II US forces continued to provide fire support, helilift, and tactical and strategic air support for ARVN units. This phase was 8 February to March 1971. Phase III ran from March to 16 March 1971; Phase IV was the withdrawal phase.
Faced with mounting losses, Lt. Gen. Hoang Xuan Lam, the commander of the invasion forces, decided to cut short the operation and ordered a withdrawal.
Lam Son 719, though it was less than a signal success, forestalled a Communist offensive in the spring of 1971. Enemy units and replacements enroute south were diverted to the scene of the action.
