THE WALL OF FACES

Your sacrifice is not forgotten.

GARRYOWEN

National Route QL-19 was a highway between Qui Nhon on the coast and Pleiku in the Central Highlands. The roadway was the strategically significant main arterial in which Allied bases in Pleiku Province were resupplied. Land clearance operations were performed along QL-19 by U.S. Army Engineer Rome plow crews to deny the enemy concealment in the jungle flora that lined the roadway. Caterpillar D7E bulldozers utilizing "stinger” blades sliced through the tropical forest to push back the jungle and open fields of fire. Most operations were accompanied by a tank platoon and infantry company for security. At 12:25 PM on September 17, 1967, a Rome plow clearing the area along QL-19 near Check Point 102 was hit with rocket-propelled grenade fire. A military police patrol securing the plow returned fire and killed one North Vietnamese Army (NVA) soldier. A platoon from D Company, 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry, operating 500 yards west of the checkpoint, deployed on both sides of the highway and began sweeping toward the contact area. The Battalion’s quick reaction force, a platoon from B-5/7 Cav, air assaulted into the area and joined the D Company platoon. At 2:20 PM, a UH-1B gunship from the 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, flying in support of the contact, encountered a weapons malfunction and landed on QL-19 near the Pleiku/Binh Dinh Provincial boundary to clear jammed machine guns. While on the ground, the aircraft drew intense small arms and automatic weapons fire that fatally wounded pilot WO1 Robert N. Dechene. The Battalion committed the remainder of B-5/7 Cav to the battle and requested aerial rocket artillery and air strikes on enemy positions. All forces then assaulted with fighting continuing until the enemy broke contact at 8:00 PM. The opposing force, estimated to be an NVA platoon, lost seventeen killed and two captured. U.S. losses were six dead and seven wounded. The lost personnel included Dechene; SP4 Stephen J. Melnick, a military policeman from C Company, 504th MP Battalion; and infantrymen (B-5/7 Cav) SGT Clyde E. Paul Jr. and SFC Wilfred M. Perez, and (D-5/7 Cav) SP4 Willie Ellison Jr. and 2LT William M. Harper. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org]

Private First Class Willie Ellison Jr., Served with Company D, 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, United States Army Vietnam.

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. The remembrance from fellow soldier Hank Thomas is touching. As long as you are remembered you will always be with us….

Every other year for the past sixteen I have visited you - even had a beer and left the coins on your stone that stated I was only a few feet away when that A-K burst went off and you called out "Hank; I'm hit!" also left a can of beer there for you my friend and brother (twice) s/s
Hank Thomas