M.I.A
by Don Gourley
This story is true, every word of it.
Any soldier from D Co, 1st Battalion 501st Infantry who survived the Tam Ky operation of May-June 1969 will know the first part. Most other 1/501 line troops from that period would also have heard about it from their leaders, the RTOs or the grapevine.
The second part of the story was, to my knowledge, never made public. I DEROSed about two weeks after my meeting with Tomahawk. I expected that everyone back in The World would be talking about this amazing event. But, they had never heard a word of it. It did not make the news; it was never mentioned to my knowledge. I don't know why this was so and am still puzzled by it.
How is it that I know about this? Pure coincidence?...read on.
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Part I
It was early December 1969. I was XO of A Company, 1/501 based at LZ Sally when I got the word that morning that Tomahawk, LTC Douglas A. Huff, wanted to see me ASAP. When the battalion commander wants to see a 1LT ASAP, it's not for coffee and advice on how to run the unit. I ran to his office!
LTC Huff was not just a battalion commander, he was bigger than life to me--a real warrior; Master Blaster, red stars on his jump wings from Normandy and Holland, CIB with two stars and a real gentleman, as I later learned when we met up after RVN.
"You're the only officer left in the battalion who was in the field during the Tam Ky operation," he said. "What do you know about the D Company operation in early June* in which two soldiers were reported MIA?"
*(I think this is right/however, it could have been late May.)
I told him that I remembered it well. I was a platoon leader in Charlie Company at the time and we all heard about it when it happened. We followed the events for the next two days or so, as D Company tried desperately to find their missing men. It was a shock to think about a GI going missing; an infantryman might get killed or wounded but this was not something I'd previously considered.
Then I told him the coincidental piece. In the Sep-Oct '69 time frame, I was assigned to do the Report of Survey for the D Company weapons that were combat-lost when this incident occurred. In my Survey Officer role, I did a face-to-face interview with the last remaining soldier in D Company who had survived the incident.
"Give me the story from the beginning", LTC Huff ordered and this is what I told him.
The Tam Ky battle was at its peak when this happened. D Company was in a daytime defensive position and sent out a squad-sized patrol, 8-9 men, led by an NCO, apparently to act as an OP. They found a likely position and had hunkered down when an NVA unit suddenly jumped them.
One or two men were killed and several were wounded in the initial burst of fire. Weapons, which had been leaning against trees, were knocked over in the rush to take cover and the return fire was limited and ineffective. The NVA hammered the squad and all but two or three men were quickly hit. Those who could disengaged and moved back to the main body of Delta. The Delta CO, CPT Roy meanwhile sent another unit to assist the patrol and they rescued the few survivors who had managed to get away.
Something in the order of 5-6 soldiers had been left behind and Delta troopers tried for the next couple of days to rescue them. Maybe they saved a couple, I no longer remember all the details but the NVA continued to fight hard. The Delta soldiers tried but could not get all the way back to the site of the ambush and they lost more men in the process. Finally, it was finally decided to call Tac Air in on the location, as after 48 hours or so, it was felt that they were now in a recovery operation.
The air strikes pounded the area around the original ambush site and anywhere else where the NVA had dug in. Then in the usual way, the NVA withdrew and the Delta soldiers went in to recover the bodies, but two were missing and no trace could be found of either man. It was thought that the bombing might have wiped out any traces of their bodies and that they might never be found so after a final search of the area, D Co left and the two men were declared Missing In Action/Presumed Dead.
The last word on this, or so we thought came a few weeks later when an ARVN unit patrolling the area where this action had occurred, found the remains of a GI in a bomb crater. He was positively identified as one of the two missing Delta soldiers and everyone felt that this was confirmation of what had to have happened to the other guy, too.
As for the Report of Survey, the man I interviewed some months later was an E5 who had been with the patrol that day, in a leadership role. He was not anxious to talk with me about the incident and while I understood that, I had to play hardball with him. I told him I wouldn't be released from my obligation as Survey Officer until I had a sworn statement from him and he would not be allowed to DEROS until he gave it-sorry about that but the Army is not a democracy.
I told LTC Huff what that E5 told me, but out of respect for him and the other men from that patrol, I will not discuss the matter further.
Part II
LTC Huff asked me to clarify a number of points to my account and asked many questions regarding the overall Tam Ky operation and tactical situation there. Then he floored me with a piece of unbelievable information.
"At about 1600 yesterday", he said, "A VC patrol escorted a GI to an ARVN outpost near Tam Ky and released him. The ARVNs turned him over to the Americal Division and we learned this morning that he has been positively identified as the D Company soldier who has been missing since June."
LTC Huff continued, saying that the man had been badly wounded and quickly taken prisoner by the NVA unit that initially hit the Delta Co patrol. He had been treated in the mountains for months and when his condition had improved enough for him to travel, he was moved to the coast and turned over to the VC for release. LTC Huff had no idea, or chose not to tell me, why the NVA had done this thing. The GI, whose name I no longer remember, was in an Army hospital at Chu Lai being checked out but was in good condition, all things considered.
The 1/501 Signal Officer, 1LT Steve ____?_____, who had been scheduled to DEROS in a week or 10 days was detailed to leave immediately and escort this man back to The World. Steve was a probation officer in civilian life and it was obvious that he had been carefully picked for this escort mission, which the Army considered sensitive in nature.
Although I was not told to keep my mouth shut, I decided not to say anything about this incident at the time. Besides, everyone I was really friendly with had DEROSed by then so whom could I have discussed it with?
I again met the now Colonel Huff in Germany in1970 and we later became friends. He was always interested in talking about the 1/501, to my surprise he knew a lot of names and faces from 1969 and he considered us all to be "his boys." However, I never felt comfortable raising the issue of the D Co MIA with him and whatever information he had on this incident died with him a few years ago.
Don Gourley
C/1/501 & A/1/501
Jan-Dec 1969