Panel 28E - the price of war.
On 17 October 1967, elements of the 2/28th Infantry found the basecamp of the 271st Main Force VC Regiment, which we had been pursuing and skirmishing with for the previous 8 days. The Black Lion force was caught in a bloody ambush in which at least 60 American soldiers were killed or missing and presumed dead, and at least 75 others wounded (typical of the Vietnam War, the numbers vary slightly, depending on what account you read). Four of those killed were fellow Black Lion medics. Military strategists use the term "acceptable loss", which is the approximate number of casualties that are acceptable in order to achieve an objective. No objective was gained that day, and to a combat medic no loss is acceptable. Loss on this scale is devastating.
The known list of KIA/MIA (Body Not Recovered)/DoW (Died of Wounds)
• MAJ Donald W. Holleder, Webster, NY
• SP5 Verland A. Gilbertson, Banning, California
• 2LT Harold B. Durham, Tifton, Georgia - Medal of Honor
• PFC Larry M. Anderson, Spencer, Iowa
• PFC Clifford L. Breeden, Hillsdale, Michigan
• PFC Santos Camero, Malaga, California
• SP4 Ralph Carrasco, Phoenix, Arizona
• SP4 Elwood D. Chaney, Washington, D. C.
• PFC Richard L. Crites, Cleveland, Ohio
• PFC Wesley E. Dodson, Robinson, Pennsylvania
• SP4 Leon N. East, Ironto, Virginia
• SP4 Maurice S. Ellis, Asheville, North Carolina
• PFC Anthony J. Familiare, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• SP4 Michael J. Farrell, New Orleans, Louisiana
• SSG Paul L. Fitzgerald, Fort Valley, Georgia (MIA/BNR)
• SP4 Michael J. Gallagher, New Hyde Park, New York
• SP4 Arturo Garcia, Mercedes, Texas
• SP4 Ray N. Gribble, Muncie, Indiana
• SSG Olin Hargrove, Birmingham, Alabama (MIA/BNR)
• PSG Willie C. Johnson, Jr, Savannah, Georgia (DoW 11/09/1967)
• PFC John Daniel Krische, West Hempstead, New York
• SP4 Jerry David Lancaster, Lebanon, Tennessee
• PFC Walter Platosz, Hartford, Connecticut
• PFC Allan Vincent Reilly, Los Angeles, California
• PFC Donald Wayne Adkins, Gretna, Virginia
• SGT Gary Lee Barker, Garden Grove, California
• SP4 Jackie Everrett Bolen, Jr, Ury, WV
• PFC Joseph Otis Booker, Richmond, Virginia (DoW 10/18/1967)
• SP4 Melvin Bruce Cook, Salem, Oregon
• PFC Joe Albert Crutcher, Winter Park, Florida
• PFC Edward Phillip. Dye, Wellston, Ohio
• PFC Robert Lee Fuqua, Mansfield, Ohio
• PFC Melesso Garcia, Watsonville, California
• SP4 Stanley Donald Gilbert, Dexter, Minnesota
• PFC Richard William Jones, Cairo, Illinois
• PFC Gary Gene Lincoln, Eaton, Ohio
• 2LT Andrew Patrick Luberda, Chicago, Illinois
• PFC Emil George Megiveron, Pontiac, Michigan
• SP4 Michael Merlin Miller, Mount Pleasant, Florida
• PFC Robert Joseph Nagy, Lorain, Ohio
• SP4 Steven Larry Ostroff, Sun Valley, California
• SFC Eugene John Plier, Sheboygan, Wisconsin
• PFC Ronney Dean Reece, Atlanta, Georgia
• PFC Jack Wayne Schroder, Clay Center, Nebraska
• PFC Jackie Echol Shubert, Jacksonville, Florida
• SP4 Daniel Sikorski, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• SSG Luther Augustus Smith, Miami, Florida
• PFC Theodore Dave Thomas, Houston, Texas
• SP4 Kenneth Pete Wilson, Clinton, North Carolina
• LTC Terry De la Mesa. Allen, Jr, El Paso, Texas
• CPT James Lisman Blackwell, Jr, Evansville, Indiana
• SGM Francis Ellsworth Dowling, Cooperstown, North Dakota
• PFC Allen Dale Jagielo, San Gabriel, California
• SP4 Joe Lovato, Jr, Lubbock, Texas
• PFC Joe Davis Moultrie, St Stephen, South Carolina
• SP5 Archie Andrew Porter, Cameron, West Virginia (DoW 10/21/1967)
• SP4 Garland Jerone Randall, Houston, Texas
• SP4 Pasquale Joseph Tizzio, New York, New York
• SP4 Harry Carl Sarsfield, Oxnard, California
• SGT James Edward Larson, Mauston, Wisconsin
". . . They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them."*
* "For the Fallen", by Laurence Binyon
A synopsis of the battle can be found here http://donmooreswartales.com/2010/06/28/james-shelton/
