THE WALL OF FACES

Peace brother, remembering you in my prayers.l

Sergeant Gary Everet Clayton, Served with Company C, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, United States Army Vietnam.

American intelligence received information from villagers to the west of the hamlet of An Tinh in Bin Dinh Province, RVN, that on January 1, 1968, a North Vietnamese Army (NVA) Battalion was seen moving to the east and north. U.S. commanders decided to commit two companies from 1st Battalion, 50th Infantry, 1st Cavalry Division to find and destroy the enemy battalion. On the morning of January 2nd, D Company, 1/50, while moving into the hamlet of An Lac (1), received a heavy volume of small arms and automatic weapons fire from that hamlet and an adjacent hamlet to the north (An Tinh). It soon became clear that D Company was in contact with a major force. B Company, 1/50, was redirected to reinforce D-1/50. Aerial rocket artillery ships flying in support of the contact received extremely heavy volumes of groundfire. A little after noon, D-1/50 broke contact, and the local populace was given thirty minutes to clear the contact area. More units from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry were air assaulted into the area to cordon off the enemy. Once the NVA were surrounded, all elements began to press the attack. U.S. Air Force and artillery pounded the enemy positions. The attack was met with fierce resistance and the Task Force was unable to sweep the entire contact area. A captured prisoner revealed that two NVA companies were trapped in the hamlet. The cordon was bolstered overnight, and the following day, the attack resumed. All units met with light to heavy contact. By 1:00 PM, the last pocket of resistance was eliminated. Elements of 1/50 remained an extra day digging through the enemy’s demolished bunkers and fortified positions recovering bodies and weapons. The NVA body count was 103. U.S. losses were seven killed and twenty-eight wounded. The lost personnel included (from 1/50) SGT Jose A. Silveira, PFC Gerald F. Riedlberger, and PFC William E. Stainer; (from 1/5) SGT Terry W. Birmingham, SGT Tommy G. Stover, and SGT Gary E. Clayton; and Forward Observer (attached to 1/5) CPL Frederick L. Manly from B Battery, 1st Battalion, 77th Artillery. Manly sustained several gunshot wounds to the chest attempting rescue a fallen comrade. He was carried by armored personnel carrier to a medivac aircraft that landed on an adjacent beach. Delirious, Manly struggled against the medics on board, thrashing violently. He expired five minutes after arrival to the 85th Evacuation Hospital. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org, 11thpathfindercompany.org, and 15thmedbnassociation.org]

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…..

First, I would like to take a moment and honor all veterans, dead or alive, who served in the vietnam war. Second I just would like to state that I feel a special connection to Gary in particular because we just so happen to share a birthday! Thank you for your service Gary, and may you rest in peace.