THE WALL OF FACES

On the remembrance of your 81st birthday, your sacrifice is not forgotten.

"Greater love hath no man, than that man lay down his life for a friend."

Semper Fortis.

On June 9, 1965, a Viet Cong force estimated at 1500-2000 strong attacked the Dong Xoai Special Forces Camp, located approximately 60 miles north of Saigon in Phuoc Long Province, RVN. The camp was occupied by eleven men of a U.S Army Special Forces team, a Vietnamese force of approximately 400 men, and nine U.S. Navy Seabees. The attack occurred shortly before midnight with mortar and 57mm recoilless-rifle fire. Some of the first mortar rounds struck the communications building, medical aid station, and the quarters where the Americans were sleeping, inflicting casualties in the first moments of the attack. Friendly aircraft arrived to drop flares followed by armed helicopters which bombed and strafed the areas north and west of the camp. The Viet Cong pressed the assault, overrunning the west berm of the north area of the camp. The defenders were scattered and suffered many casualties. American and Vietnamese aircraft arrived at daybreak, the defenders directing highly effective air strikes against the attacking enemy. Shortly after noon, rescue helicopters came in through the Viet Cong fire and successfully evacuated thirteen American survivors. The Viet Cong withdrew on the morning of June 11th, and the remaining Americans survivors were lifted out by rescue helicopters. Twenty Americans died in the battle, including three Special Forces soldiers: SSG Donald C. Dedmon, SGT Charles O. Jenkins Jr., and SFC Bobby Russell; and two Seabees: SWF2 William C. Hoover and CMA3 Marvin G. Shields. Of the surviving 15 Americans, 14 were wounded. Additionally, about 43 CIDG Montagnards and South Vietnamese troops were killed. Outside of the camp, American deaths included eight helicopter crewmen, four from the 118th Aviation Company: pilot CPT Walter L. Hall, co-pilot Donald R. Saegaert, crew chief SSG Joseph J. Compa Jr., and gunner SGT Craig L. Hagen; and four from the 82nd Aviation Battalion: pilot CWO Raymond C. Galbraith, co-pilot WO Zoltan A. Kovacs, crew chief William R. Batchelder, and gunner PFC Walter R. Gray. Five U.S. Army advisers were also killed: SP4 Ronald E. Blake, SSG Robert L. Curlee Jr., LTC Bruce G. Johnson, CPT Edward E. Krukowski, and SFC Fred M. Owens, three from helicopter crashes and two killed while attached to South Vietnamese units. More than 400 South Vietnamese soldiers died in fights in the outskirts of the camp. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org, historynet.com, and the publication The Military Engineer (November-December 1965 issue)]

During the night of June 9, 1965, a paramilitary Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) camp and adjacent district headquarters compound just west of Dong Xoai in Phuoc Long Province came under attack. Most of Seabee Team 1104 had arrived from Tay Ninh City a few days earlier to improve the CIDG camp. For the next fourteen hours, Seabees, Special Forces troops, and advisers fought alongside their allies against an overwhelming enemy. Following an intense mortar barrage, the attackers breached the barbed wire defenses, overran the CIDG compound, and penetrated the district headquarters compound. The surviving Americans and some South Vietnamese held out in the district headquarters building, calling in air strikes. One wounded Seabee, Construction Mechanic Third Class Marvin G. Shields, carried the seriously wounded Special Forces commander from one of the defensive berms to the district headquarters building. Then Shields and a Special Forces officer, 2LT Charles Q. Williams, second in command of the Special Forces detachment, manning a 3.5-inch rocket launcher, destroyed a Viet Cong machine-gun position. Shields was wounded again and later died aboard an evacuation helicopter. By then most of the Americans had been picked up by U.S. Army helicopters. Two of the Seabees, who had become separated during the fighting, were later found by a South Vietnamese Army relief force still holding out in the area. For a time, the 173d Airborne Brigade was poised to intervene, but the enemy withdrawal eliminated the need. [Taken from Engineers at War by Adrian G. Traas]

spent 68-69 in nam . fought for you and our country.

You were one of the brave that answered the call. You honored us by your service and sacrifice. We now honor you each time we stand and sing the words “THE LAND OF THE FREE AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE”. Rest in Peace and Honor Marvin.