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Casualty Info
Home Town Franklin, OH
Last Address Franklin, OH
Casualty Date May 28, 1969
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Multiple Fragmentation Wounds
Location Kontum (Vietnam)
Conflict Vietnam War
Location of Interment Springboro Cemetery - Springboro, Ohio
Wall/Plot Coordinates 23W 005
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
In the first half of 1969, three companies of the 299th Combat Engineer Battalion and the 15th Light Equipment Company defended the big American base and air strip at Dak To, RVN, against the North Vietnamese Armys 66th Infantry Regiment and 40th Artillery Regiment. From January through July of 1969, some six hundred bulldozer drivers, crane and front-end loader operators, mechanics, medics, cooks, clerks, truck drivers, and other non-infantry men defended the rugged, jungle-covered mountain in the Central Highlands northwest of Kontum near the Laos and Cambodian borders. From May 9 until the second week of July, the NVA shelled the mountain virtually every day with 122mm rockets, 81mm mortar rounds, recoilless rifles, and B-40 rockets. The deadliest single attack took place on May 28, 1969, when a 122mm NVA rocket came screaming directly into the 15th Light Equipments headquarters bunker. The heavily sandbagged bunker, sunk some twenty feet in the ground, was crowded with engineers, including a thirty-man reaction force.
Nine men, including Company Commander 1LT Franklin L. Koch, were killed. The other lost Americans comprised FSGT Dudley J. Benefiel Jr., SP4 Floyd E. Barber, SP5 James S. Colombero, SP4 Valentine M. Dwornik, SP4 Edward T. Kiezkowski, SP4 David R. Mann, SP4 Dennis R. Meetze, and SFC Luther R. Perkins (who died of his wounds on June 9, 1969). Another nineteen were wounded. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and digitaledition.qwinc.com and the VVMF]
Comments/Citation:
POSTED ON 5.26.2020. POSTED BY: DAVID HUSS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE AND SACRIFICE FOR OUR NATION. I am a Boy Scout from Troop 7 in Springboro, OH. Our Troop installs the flags at the Springboro Cemetery. Thank you for your service to our Nation and I will remember the ultimate sacrifice you made. Our Troop will do our best to recognize you every Memorial Day for years to come. David Huss, Troop 7.
POSTED ON 7.20.2010. POSTED BY: ERIKA. I REMEMBER YOU ALWAYS. We met in Germany and fell in love. We had a short time together but it was magical.Sometimes i still think about what could have been. Forever in my heart.brp.s.brIf a family member sees this you can contact me. after all these years i still have 2 pictures and dog tags i would like to get back to you.
POSTED ON 11.13.2002. POSTED BY: RAY BARBER. TO MY WONDERFUL SON. Gone but not forgotten. Thank you for helping keep our country free. I miss you and love you. Your Dad
Vietnam War/Counteroffensive Phase IV Campaign (1968)
From Month/Year
April / 1968
To Month/Year
June / 1968
Description This campaign was from 2 April to 30 June 1968. During this period friendly forces conducted a number of battalion-size attritional operations against the enemy.
Operations PEGASUS-Lam Son 207 relieved the Khe Sanh Combat Base on 5 April and thereby opened Route 9 for the first time since August 1967. This operation not only severely restricted the North Vietnamese Army's use of western Quang Tri Province but also inflicted casualties on the remnants of two North Vietnamese divisions withdrawing from the area. This success was followed by a singular allied spoiling operation in the A Shau Valley, Operation DELAWARE-Lam Son. These two operations prevented the enemy from further attacking I Corps Tactical Zone population centers and forced him to shift his pressure to the III Corps Tactical Zone.
During the period 5-12 May 1968 the Viet Cong launched an offensive with Saigon as the primary objective. Friendly forces defended the city with great determination. Consequently Saigon was never in danger of being overrun. Small Viet Cong units that did manage to get into the outskirts were fragmented and driven out with great loss of enemy life. By the end of June 1968 friendly forces had decisively blunted the enemy's attacks, inflicted very heavy casualties, and hindered his ability to attack urban areas throughout the Republic of Vietnam. The enemy was forced to withdraw to his sanctuaries.
The strength of the U.S. Army in Vietnam reach a peak of nearly 360,000 men during this period.
