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Vietnam "A Shau Valley" 3rd Platoon Photo


KingsMountainTigers
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  • 1 month later...

I'm almost positive this is Firebase or LZ Bastogne and I would be willing to bet the soldiers are from the 1st Battalion 505th Infantry of the 3rd Brigade 82nd AIrborne Division. The firebase was located on Highway 547 (really just a barely two lane dirt road) that ran west from Hue to the A Shau Valley. After the Tet Offensive, the 101st Airborne spent the next several months fighting to drive the NVA out of Hue and back west towards Laos. The 3rd Brigade 82nd AIrborne was sent to Vietnam on an emergency basis in February 1968 and attached to the 101st that had two brigades in the Hue area and its 3rd Brigade still down around Saigon attached to the 25th Infantry Division. The 101st and 82nd established a series of firebases running west along Highway 547 that were within range of each other and could mutually support each other. From east to west they were Boyd, Birmingham, Bastogne and then Veghel before reaching the actual mountains that formed the eastern ridge of the A Shau Valley. Firebase Bastogne was located on a hill at the mouth of the mountains that led to the A Shau Valley, but was not actually in the valley per se. That is the first place my father was sent when he joined his company of the 82nd Airborne in May 1968. In his letters home, he referred to the location as being in the A Shau Valley, but as I said, it technically wasn't in the valley itself, really more the foothills (albeit tall ones) leading to the valley. I think at the time the valley had such a mystique and was considered such a bad place to be that the soldiers serving in that area of operations often referred to being in the valley although technically they weren't. I have heard several other soldiers of the 82nd refer to Bastogne as being in the A Shau Valley.

 

During the late spring/early summer of 1968, the primary job of the 82nd was to secure Highway 547 while engineers upgraded the road to allow units of the 101st to conduct combat operations further and further west of Hue. My father's letters along with operational reports of the 82nd mention that the three infantry battalions of the 82nd secured the firebases I mentioned as well as securing convoys between them and Rome plows working on the road every day. Every morning, before any vehicles could travel the roads, engineers had to sweep them from mines that would be planted by the NVA during the previous night. From time to time, they got into some heavy combat as the NVA would try to ambush the convoys.

 

The back of the photo also mentions that the unit had marched to what I believe is Panther II. That was another 82nd firebase in the jungles southeast of Bastogne. It was named after the winged panther which was the nickname and symbol on the DUI of the 505th Infantry. I have highlighted what I am referring to on your picture.

 

I am also attaching a page from the 82nd Airborne's operational report for the period 1 May through 31 July 1968 that indicates the 1st Battalion 505th Infantry secured Bastogne from 3 May to 9 June and then Panther II from 9 June to 31 June. This is why I feel almost 100% certain that not only do I believe this photo was taken at LZ Bastogne, but also that the troops are from the 1st Battalion 505th Infantry. In fact, the soldier third from left in the second row actually looks very much like my father.

 

Hope this helps.

post-1761-0-56529300-1565287678_thumb.jpg

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Good assessment Sean, wild that you see that your Father might be in this group.

I zoomed in on the picture and that is definitely not my father, although he not only looks like him from afar but was also satnding with the same gait and posture as my father. But I still stand by my conclusion that the picture was taken at Firebase/LZ Bastogne (I have seen the name used interchangeably) and the soldiers are from the 1/505th Infantry. The writing indicates this was 3rd Platoon, which would be from either Company A, B or C. That number of soldiers looks about right for a rifle platoon of the 82nd in the spring/summer 1968 (About 40 soldiers per TOE, but usually in the low 30s and sometime as low as 20). The battalion did not have Companies D and E at this point but did form them later during the summer of 1968.

 

The soldier mentions that he was recently reassigned to HQ section. That probably indicates the headquarters section of the rifle company. I would be willing to bet he was either a RTO (Radio Telephone Operator) who carried the radio the company commander used to communicate with the battalion HQ and the platoon leaders or else a medic. Typically medics were assigned on paper to the Medical Platoon in the battalion Headquarters and Headquarters Company but were attached to the various platoons in the rifle companies. However, I believe each company also had a senior aid man who was attached to the company HQ section.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just as I thought. I posted this picture on the 82nd Airborne Division In Vietnam Facebook group I manage and another member identified the person who took this picture. Robert Rounkle was a platoon leader with Company C 1/505th Infantry and this was his platoon. The attached photo is on his Facebook page. Notice it was taken at the same time but is actually a different image. You can especially tell by the different pose of the NCO on the far left.

post-1761-0-15145000-1566610159.jpeg

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KingsMountainTigers

I am absolutely speechless!!!!!!!!!!! I just noticed your post(s) today. I can't believe there is another photo of the same company still in existence. Even more astonishing that they were taken just seconds apart. What an amazing history lesson you have provided, specially about your fathers accounts of the Firebase. Thank you so much for the information you provided! Absolutely incredible!!! I will be printing out all the info and framing it with the photo. Moments like these are what fuel my passion for collecting and researching items. Do you know what company your father served in?

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I am absolutely speechless!!!!!!!!!!! I just noticed your post(s) today. I can't believe there is another photo of the same company still in existence. Even more astonishing that they were taken just seconds apart. What an amazing history lesson you have provided, specially about your fathers accounts of the Firebase. Thank you so much for the information you provided! Absolutely incredible!!! I will be printing out all the info and framing it with the photo. Moments like these are what fuel my passion for collecting and researching items. Do you know what company your father served in?

My father served in Company A 1/505th Infantry from May 1968 to March 1969. Here is a picture taken of my fathers platoon (He is not in the picture) which I believe was taken at the same Firebase around the same time.

post-1761-0-53628800-1566667120_thumb.jpeg

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OUTSTANDING!!! Excellent follow-up and work on you putting all the pieces of the puzzle together seanmc1114! That is AWESOME!!!

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