THE WALL OF FACES

Specialist Four Jerry Duane Byers, Served with the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, United States Army Vietnam.

May those who served never be forgotten. Rest in peace SP4. Byers, I salute your brave soul. My hart goes out to you and your family.

C Company, 2/34th Armor was a tank company comprised of M48A3 Patton tanks. On the early morning of March 1, 1967, the company was in a night position along Highway 239, five miles southwest of Dau Tieng in Tay Ninh Province, RVN, conducting a security operation in support of elements of the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry. Beginning around midnight, a reinforced battalion from the 271st Viet Cong Regiment attempted to overrun their position in a battle that would last until 5:30 AM. During the engagement, one of the tanks (C-33) was struck by a recoilless rifle, killing Tank Commander SSG Alvester Hill and medic SP4 Jerry D. Byers. Crewman PFC Joseph Vierra was seriously wounded and expired the following day. Another crewman, PFC Jesse R. Castro, was critically burned and evacuated to the burn center at the 106th General Hospital in Yokohama, Japan, where he expired March 9th. The gunner also sustained burns and was evacuated to Japan; he survived. The tank driver was taken to a Long Binh military hospital where he was treated and released. A reaction force arrived, and a tank pulled alongside the burning C-33. It was hit by the same weapon; however, there were no fatalities. Following the battle, C-33 was loaded onto a flatbed trailer and hauled away. [Taken from virtualwall.org and information provided by Ralph Arvizu (March 2012) and Ronald F. McRae (April 2013) at pbase.com]

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. As long as you are remembered you will remain in our hearts forever....

Spec 4 Byers was awarded the Silver Star Medal for his exemplary courage under fire while serving with 2nd Bn, 34th Armor, 4th Infantry Div. He was also awarded the Bronze Star Medal for Valor.