Jon Wallenius - Battle of the Ia Drang Valley 

Did you know Danny Brotz. Trained with him . KIA April 1967. Hill 861.

Had the 2/9 with us on the USS Tulare LKA 112. Great Marines.

We took over 2/9's Bn. area off of Anderson Trail in Sept. '66.

Aside from the m 60..you guys were the huge right arm Thanks

So so true

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I really like that.

I believe Hal was a Lt. Col. when his boys dropped into the Ia Drang Valley.

My mothers first husband Edward Pienta,was killed at Anzio,May 14, 1944,88 division 325 infantry,Blue devils of Italy!

You wish you did? I was a Vietnam war/Draft resistor. I avoided the war but those days were terrible to be 17-19 y.o.. You think you missed something? What you missed was being a sacrificial lamb in an illegal and unjust war for Americans to be in. To put it bluntly, it was NOT our fight. It appears you weren't "motivated" to serve after high school...lol.

Mikey, thank your lucky stars that you were not there, I was in I CORP IN '66-'67, it was a fool's errand for all of us. I was stateside when the Iadrang battle happened, we did not have any idea how bad it was, they kept it a secret, be glad you were born too late for the fun and games the politicians put us thru.

My comments were meant show respect for those that did serve! More than I got from Jon. My statement that I wish I had served doesn't mean I meant in Vietnam! It was a mess, mishandled, and fraudulent! And we should have figured something out long before we lost 58,000 lives! I just want to show my respect for those that did a dirty rotten job that I didn't have to. One question; Was France wrong when they supported the rebels in the American revolution?

@@michaelmonaghan2717 Good comment. Good question at the end. But for some unexplainable reason, I can't put those 2 conflicts together...in other words...one justified the other. But I have thought about that as well. For one thing...one of the things that turned me off about Vietnam was I wasn't convinced about the resolve of the South Vietnamese people to sacrifice everything for their own freedom. And let's face it....you didn't know who the real enemy was in Vietnam. The "battlefield" was too undefined. I firmly believe that a generous support of American weaponry ALONE should have been adequate to give those that wanted "freedom" in Vietnam a fair fight with the Viet Cong and NVA. France apparently had rivalry interests to support Americans against the British. The US shouldn't have assumed they were a legitimate "ally" in what was clearly an Asian issue. If you believe that the US has a "Divine" right to be the Policeman of the world, then you can justify American involvement in Vietnam. My position is that the US is not that noble of a nation and culture to evaluate the world through its needs and interests. I believe we are severely deluded about ourselves.

@@topgeardel Yet here you are. In America with the freedoms that allow you to say things like that without fear of death or imprisonment. Bought and paid for by our men and women that never came home or came home "broken". These men never asked for this war it was just set in their laps and they did what was asked of them. It's shameful to live in a country that gives you so much and then just spit in its face for something that was a government mistake. No sense of trying to dishonor the service that you were not going to do and other men had to go in your place and maybe they made it back maybe not. Shameful that we as a country have had freedom so long that we forgot about how good we really do have it.

Yet your countrymen threw shit & piss at the poor men as they returned. Whenever I see all the stars & stripes in American yards I think Fairweather patriots.

Were you able to go or actively serving during that time?

@@tylermillare8417 yes USMC ‘66 ‘68.

@@martinworkens6130 Draftee? We had some draftees, not bad guys at all, pulled their weight. '65-'69, 0311.

Boondocker . My USMC boot camp platoon 121 in January ‘68 all but two were draftees. One was a four year air wing enlistee the other a reservist who did not graduate. Twenty drafted into Marines from Detroit that day. 4 were KIa one of the KIA Silver Star

Frankie, I do not know him but I do know about fear and lucky to be alive. Especially when a perimeter defense was not set.

@@martinworkens6130 must have been different for you. Every time I was in contact time stopped, the decisions were easy. I had already accepted I would die so fear never entered the equation. Not a “hero” just how it was for me. With men under your command, showing fear is a recipe for disaster.

Sheldor . Controlling fear is what you were able to do. Fear is present.

You would be too, time smooths out the rough spots, after 50 plus years.

😊❤