Lang Vei

In a far away land called Viet Nam on the road to Laos sat a tiny camp of no account. Just a tiny camp of no value only a mile and a half from the Laos border, not far at all.

This little camp was home to troops of CIDG, and LLDB and Mobile Strike Force of the Hre, Bru, Oh, and 24 men who wore funny little green hats, 484 soldiers about to be abandoned by their own command and left to fight and die on their own.

Only a mile and a half away the NVA had decreed that they must all die and to carry out these orders, they sent two reinforced infantry companies and 5 PT76 Tanks supported by 4 153 mm artillery pieces and 4 82 mm mortars.

From the first shot in the early morning hours until the camp was overrun at 1110 hours, the brave men from this tiny camp fought with recoilless rifles, LAWS, 50 calibers, anything and everything that could be used was used.

Meanwhile only 9 kilometers away, some help was given by the heavy artillery; some, but not enough, the promised relief force, they would not send, it might be a trap, so here we will stay, after all they are not ours, they are not Semper Fi, we’ll leave them to die.

For 8 long terrible bloody hours the battle raged; Spooky was there and the Spads and FACs, all trying vainly to turn the tide, to help those trapped inside. From the Important Camp only 9 miles away, the camp that turned down the pleas for help, a small band of soldiers quietly slipped away, heading to the tiny camp that had been deemed of no use.

These were not the soldiers of the Semper Fi, but soldiers who wore funny green hats and who no one knew about, these were a small band of shadow soldiers and they were going to their brothers aid. Many would give their own lives to help those in the tiny camp, and those lives would not be counted, for they did not exist.

Far to the South a group of helicopters from the 1^st Marine Air Wing sat with rotors turning, blades spinning, turbines whining as they lifted of with a Strike Force lead by more men wearing funny green hats, men who would die to rescue their brothers.

By 1730 on this fateful day, all known survivors were out of the tiny camp, of the 500 or so brave indigenous souls over 300 were KIA and MIA and over 75 were WIA,

Of the 24 brave men who wore those silly green hats, the price they paid was high. They paid their way to Heaven with their blood; of the 24 men who called this camp home, 11 were WIA and 10 were KIA or MIA.

Of those who helped to save their brothers, their cost was not told, for shadows cannot be counted and back into the mist they slipped, back into the big camp just 9 miles from the little camp that was not important: slipped back thru the wire and into history.

Many survived; they are listed below, many are M.I.A. Their Bru and Hre were mostly lost as were many of the LLDB and the Strike force. Most were seen going down fighting as their positions were overrun.  Left to fight and die because they were not Semper Fi.

Sfc Eugene Ashley Jr.  MOH (KIA)

LtCol Daniel f, Schungel (WIA)

Sgt, Richard H.Allen(WIA)

Harvey Gordon Brande- POW released 1973 (WIA)

SSgt Arthur Brooks (WIA)

Sfc.William T.Graig (WIA)

Sgt.John D.Early (WIA)

Sgt.Nikolas Fragos (WIA)

Sgt. Kenneth Hanna (MIA)

Sgt. Dennis L. Thompson (POW-WIA) Released in 1973

Sgt. James T. Holt (MIA)

SP4 Joel Johnson (WIA)

Sgt. Charles Wesley Lindenwold, Jr. (MIA)

1LT Paul R. Longgrear (WIA)

Sp4 William G. McMurry (POW-WIA) Released 1973

Sgt. Leslie Moreland (MIA)

Sgt. Daniel Raymond Phillips (MIA)

Sgt. Peter Trioch (WIA)

1Lt. Thomas D. Todd (WIA)

1Lt. Miles R. Wilkins (WIA)

Capt. Frank C. Willoughby (WIA)

© Grey Eagle