THOMAS EARL OWENS
THOMAS E OWENS
22W/42
REMEMBRANCES
Remembrance
Tom was assigned to the 2nd Platoon, B Company 2nd Battalion 47th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division and I was the Medic at the time Tom died. I knew Thomas, but not very well as he had only been with us a few weeks.
We were on an Operation in the Long An Province in the Mekong Delta area of Vietnam when we were ambushed along side a small riverstream. We did not experience any wounded or killed in the initial action and afterwards we moved out of the thick jungle along the river into a rice paddy and set an ambush position up along a rice paddy dike. A short time later another of B Company's platoons started taking fire at their position which was relatively close by. During the course of that engagement artillery was called in on the enemy's position. One round was a short (meaning in fell short of it's intended target), which is classified as 'friendly fire' and landed in our 2nd Platoon position killing Thomas. Miraculously no others were killed or wounded. To this day I am still amazed by that.
We Remember
2nd/47th Mech. Infantry Honors It's Fallen Brothers
In Honor of PFC Thomas Earl Owens, our 2nd/47th Brother
We who served so proudly with you want to let you know that we have established a Memorial Scholarship to honor your memory and the ultimate sacrifice that you and the other 195 brave soldiers of the 2nd/47th Mechanized Infantry made while serving our country in Vietnam in 1966-1970.
Our wish is that this Memorial Scholarship conveys the highest tribute possible to each of you because it comes from the hearts of the soldiers who served with you. It represents the everlasting and inexpressible gratitude we feel for your sacrifice. We got to live the lives that you were deprived of, and this scholarship is one small way of expressing our sorrow for your loss and our appreciation for the magnitude of what you gave. Many of you brave young soldiers sacrificed your own lives to save one of us, and we have carried heartfelt memories of you for nearly four decades. This perpetual Memorial Scholarship is our way of being sure that the memories of love, honor, and respect we feel for you, our Panther Brothers lost in combat, will live on forever.
[If you are a 2nd/47th veteran, or a friend or family member of one of our fallen Brothers, and would like more information about how to support or apply for our Memorial Scholarship, information is available at www.angelfire.com/tx3/247infantry/.]
Wayne Johnson
Bravo Company, 2nd / 47th Mech. / 9th Inf. Div.