by Jim Sheppard » Sun Nov 07, 2010 2:08 pm
I fell far short in my assessment of this engagement as a "brief firefight" years ago...Tam Quan and An Bao having always taken "center stage" when it came to discussions of "heavy contact" during the 50th Infantry's tour in Vietnam.
I began to realize the true magnitude of this engagement about a year ago as I worked on the memorial pages of the 4 men killed in the battle. This realization pushed me to begin collecting and documenting this battle. I have a map in the "creation" stage showing the various APC positions and personal accounts from many of the "D" Company men involved. The battle was fierce as the men of Delta Company faced the entire 8th Battalion, 22nd NVA Regiment reinforced with local Viet Cong who completely encircled the night position at LZ Litts, south of Uplift. My collection of General Orders in August revealed that no less than 34 men were wounded that night along with Bradford, Leavell, Perez and Sternin who were killed in action. Eventually, I hope to put together a display on this battle for our archives.
My thanks to Rigo Ordaz, Noel Allen, Dennis Driscoll, Mick Hawkins, Bob Gold, Bruce Braun, Lou Frisbie, George Borges, Randy Smith and others too numerous to recall "off hand" for their input and assistance.