THE WALL OF FACES

Sergeant Robert Allen Gray, Served with Company C, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade, United States Army Vietnam.

I would like to correct this entry. I was the Artillery Forward Observer attached to LT Joe Yatsko's Recon Platoon during this operation & witnessed his death. I believe there were 14 of us in the Recon Platoon, HHC, 2/503d, at the time & we were M60 machine gun heavy. The point was stuck in a heavy bamboo thicket & LT Yatsko told them to return to our position. We wore no rank on our uniforms. When the LT took his map out of hid pocket & opened it he was immediately shot in the chest by a VC in a tree. All hell broke loose as Charlie Company approached, the VC were evidently on the other side of the bamboo. I could not contact my FDC to call for artillery. The "sniper" fired on us but could not get clear shots of myself, RTO from Recon, SSG Uncle & one other. When the fire fight subsided we recovered SGT Gray's & LT Yatsko's remains & returned to base camp. A B52 strike went in that night as well as artillery & mortar fires. The next morning we (Recon Plt) we returned to do a BDA & found SGT Brown of C Company who had miraculously survived the night. He came close to getting shot when he stood up. He had two dents in his helmet where he had been shot. I believe SGT Gray was the same SGT Gray I knew from the 2/501st Abn Inf in the 82d Abn Div. RIP.

May those who served never be forgotten. Rest in peace SGT. Gray, I salute your brave soul. My heart goes out to you and your family.

In late 1965, while conducting military operations between National Route QL-15 and Route 2 in Bien Hoa Province, RVN, American intelligence uncovered intimations that the Viet Cong might be planning a major assault there during the Christmas holiday period. U.S. commanders decided to begin spoiling operations to throw the enemy’s plans off balance. Accordingly, the 173rd Airborne Brigade launched Operation Smash I, while the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division began Operation Smash II. The two efforts were to be loosely coordinated, with the 173rd 's battalions patrolling west of Route 2 and the 2nd Brigade working east of QL-15. OP Smash I started on December 17, 1965, when the 173rd moved into position near the Courtenay Rubber Plantation. Elements of the 2nd of the 503rd Infantry soon found the enemy. On the December 18th, operating from the battalion's base southwest of the plantation area, about five miles west of Route 2, the 2nd of the 503rd carried out company-size search and destroy missions, one each to the north, the east, and the west. Shortly after 10:30 AM, about a quarter mile from the base camp, the company operating to the east encountered dug-in Viet Cong. When the Viet Cong opened up with machine guns and antitank weapons, the Americans returned fire and called in artillery and air support. Meanwhile, the company operating to the west pushed to assist, with the third company returning to secure the battalion base and, if necessary, to reinforce. Although U.S. Air Force flew fourteen sorties and artillery fired over a thousand rounds during the afternoon, the enemy fought on. Finally, just before dark, when the reinforcing company arrived, an all-out attack was launched to end the engagement. Shortly after, the insurgents withdrew and the battle ended. The Viet Cong lost sixty-two killed, plus a large quantity of arms and ammunition. Six Americans from C-2/503rd died. They included SGT Robert A. Gray, PFC Sammie Griffin, PFC Daniel J. Guilmet, PFC Richard W. Peterson, and 1LT Joseph P. Yatsko Jr. Although the search for the enemy continued in the days that followed, combat was over, and Smash I ended on December 21st. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and “Stemming the Tide: May 1965 to October 1966” by John M. Carland]

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.