Sp/4 William W. Seay, 62nd TC; PFC Arden G. Sonnenberg, 10th TC; PFC Danny Mitchell, 62nd TC; Sp/4 Eugene Turner, 62nd TC; Sp/4 William Lawson, 86th TC; PFC Paul Pirkola, 86th TC; and Sp/5 Claude Vauhn, 86th TC; all of whom lost their lives in the ambush at Ap Nhi

Okay, this ain't going to be easy. There are some redundancies here, but you'll forgive that. All these men died on July 22, 1970, in a valley 2 1/2 kilometers southeast of FSB Ripcord. They were all assigned or attached to Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division.

Private First Class John Babich, who manned his machine gun until North Vietnamese mortar fire consumed him.

Private First Class Virgil Bixby, who fought viciously against overwhelming odds, was gunned down by enemy rifle fire in the early minutes of the fight.

Private First Class Robert Brown grabbed Babich’s machine gun and made a stand as khaki-clad soldiers from the North swarmed through the jungle. A half-hour into the battle, from his exposed, forward position, Brown fought on, until a rocket from a U.S. attack helicopter buried itself in his back, and exploded.

Specialist Fourth Class Martin Draper, a medic, was killed by an enemy bullet to his forehead while he was trying to save Bixby’s life.

Private First Class Danny Fries, a medic, was crippled by the blast of a mortar bomb, and was then savagely blown apart by an exploding satchel charge.

Specialist Fourth Class Robert Journell, a rifleman who killed one too few enemy, and, knowing he was mortally wounded, waved off friends coming to his rescue.

Sergeant John Kreckel, a squad leader who saved the life of one of his men by pushing him out of the line of fire and squaring off with an enemy machine gunner. Kreckel was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, our nation’s second highest award for valor.

Specialist Fourth Class Harvey Neal, a rifleman, had his body shredded by enemy bullets, but somehow managed to hang on. He died of his wounds in an Army hospital five days later.

Second Lieutenant Steve Olson, an artillery forward observer, was shattered by an enemy rocket as he was radioing for artillery fire support.

First Lieutenant William Pahissa, a rifle platoon leader, was struck down leading his men against an attacking enemy formation. Pahissa was the first member of West Point’s 1969 graduating class to be killed in Vietnam.

Specialist Fourth Class Thomas Schultz, a pointman, led his platoon into the teeth of enemy action. He discovered and helped eliminate two enemy positions before he succumbed to a fusillade of automatic weapon fire.

Specialist Fourth Class Donald Severson, a rifleman whose lethal fire helped blunt the initial enemy assault, and whose wife gave birth the day of his death to a baby girl he would never see.

Staff Sergeant Gerald Singleton, Pahissa’s platoon sergeant, died going to the aid of his lieutenant.

There is a 14^th name not listed, but nevertheless not forgotten—Sergeant First Class Pham Uam Long, a soldier in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam detached from his unit to serve as interpreter for the Americans. Pham bled to death after the North Vietnamese who had no compassion for one of their race mercilessly gunned him down.

These are my men who died at the Battle of Fire Base Ripcord. They died fighting in an unpopular war because they chose to do their duty instead of running away from it. They were smart, combat savvy and of good character, and I loved them.

                                                                          Trav