A Note from The Virtual Wall
On the first day of the Tet Offensive of 1968 a mixed Viet Cong/North Vietnamese Army battalion captured the village of Hoc Mon while enroute to join the attack on Tan Son Nhut Air Base. Elements of the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry, were tasked with kicking the VC/NVA out of the village. When the 1/27th Infantry found themselves grossly outnumbered, elements of B and C Troops, 3/4 Cavalry, were committed to provide armored support for the infantrymen.
The fighting in and around Hoc Mon continued until 12 Feb 1968, when air strikes and continued ground pressure finally destroyed the last remnants of organized VC/NVA resistance. American losses were heavy - 29 dead from the 27th Infantry, 14 from the 3/4 Cav, and a total of 177 wounded - but the VC/NVA left 623 dead on the field of battle.
On 08 Feb eight Americans were killed in an engagement 1 kilometer east of Hoc Mon:
A Co, 1st Bn, 27th Infantry
SGT Randy H. Brock, Austell, GA
CPL James L. McCoy, Dyer, TN
B Trp, 3rd Sqdn, 4th Cavalry
SFC Donald E. Moore, Pratt, KS
C Trp, 3rd Sqdn, 4th Cavalry
SP5 Alger L. White, Bay City, MI
SP4 Michael J. Longabardi, New York, NY
SP4 Robert R. Lord, Flint, MI
PFC Joe W. Grigsby, Kansas City, MO (Dist Svc Cross)
PFC Charles C. Hale, Williamsburg, VA
09 May 2008
We both grew up in the same neighborhood, but hung out with different friends. I knew you by sight and am not sure if you even knew me. I had heard you were killed in Vietnam from "Solly" at the 76th Street Lounge. For almost four years I have monitored this site waiting for someone to post your name. After waiting I decided it was my duty to insure you are not forgotten. I too served in Vietnam, and was one of the lucky ones to make it home (I often wonder how all that got decided). Rest in peace, you are not forgotten.
From a friend,
Bob Matonte
Eric Longabardi
newstip@theenterprisereport.com
Not sure - but I believe related
Newport Beach CA USA
On this Memorial Day 2010, I honor this fallen hero who shares my family name, I did not know this American hero, but I do know he fought and lost his life in the fight for freedom, liberty and justice for all.
May 30, 2010
Manuel Pino B/2/8th Cav 68-69
mpjr54@msn.com
Fellow Vietnam Army Vet
C Trp/3/4th Cav Rgt, 25th Inf Div
The young dead soldiers do not speak.
Nevertheless, they are heard in the still houses:
who has not heard them?
They have a silence that speaks for them at night
and when the clock counts.
They say: We were young. We have died.
Remember us.
They say: We have done what we could
but until it is finished it is not done.
They say: We have given our lives but until it is finished
no one can know what our lives gave.
They say: Our deaths are not ours: they are yours,
they will mean what you make them.
They say: Whether our lives and our deaths were for
peace and a new hope or for nothing we cannot say,
it is you who must say this.
We leave you our deaths. Give them their meaning.
We were young, they say. We have died; remember us.
by Archibald MacLeish,
1892-1982, American Poet
Aug 27, 2007
Bob Matonte
rjmatonte@aol.com
Friend
Boynton Beach FL 33437 USA
Michael
We grew up in Bay Ridge, hung out with different crowds, hardly knew each other. Yet we are bound by Vietnam. You went and made the ultimate sacrifice; I went and returned home. I often wonder why and how the selection was made as to who will live or die. Regardless, no one who gave their life should be forgotten. You will always have a friend who remembers you after all the years since Vietnam.
Be at peace.
Jan 3, 2007
diane gesell
grandma9615@aol.com
school mate
Hartford, CT 06114 USA
goodbye Michael
I went to St. Patrick's school with Michael. He was a sweet kid, who often gave me a rough time. Well, that's what boys that age do to girls. I liked him. I never saw him after l957. I was saddened to hear about his death.
Friday, September 13, 2002
We Remember
Michael is buried at Green Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY. PH
Never Forgotten
FOREVER REMEMBERED
"If you are able, save for them a place inside of you....and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the places they can no longer go.....Be not ashamed to say you loved them....
Take what they have left and what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own....And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind...."
Quote from a letter home by Maj. Michael Davis O'Donnell
KIA 24 March 1970. Distinguished Flying Cross: Shot down and Killed while attempting to rescue 8 fellow soldiers surrounded by attacking enemy forces.
We Nam Brothers pause to give a backward glance, and post this remembrance to you, one of the gentle heroes lost to the War in Vietnam:
Slip off that pack. Set it down by the crooked trail. Drop your steel pot alongside. Shed those magazine-ladened bandoliers away from your sweat-soaked shirt. Lay that silent weapon down and step out of the heat. Feel the soothing cool breeze right down to your soul ... and rest forever in the shade of our love, brother.
From your Nam-Band-Of-Brothers
Posted by: Bill Nelson
Email: grite@yahoo.com
Relationship: NamVet 2/502 Inf 101 Abn 69-70
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Thank you
Dear Sir,
As a student that is currently involved in the Gridley High School Posting Project in Gridley, Illinois, I wanted to thank you for your commitment to your country during the Vietnam war. You supported your homeland and lost your life fighting for the country you loved. Through your actions, you stand as a role model for future generations of Americans. May you never be forgotten
Posted by: Amanda Carls
Email: smileygal_26@yahoo.com
Relationship: Gridley High School Posting Pr
Saturday, March 13, 2004 |
