Tam Quan Research trip #2 at NARA - College Park

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Tam Quan Research trip #2 at NARA - College Park

Postby Jim Sheppard » Sat Jul 20, 2013 2:26 pm

I just spent another few days at the National Archives with Tom Kjos....who you might remember is working on a book about Tam Quan. Tom was a Platoon Leader with Company D , 1-12 Cav.

We are so fortunate to have Tom involved in this effort and I am looking forward to the finished product in about a year or so. I am also grateful since he has helped me become so much more well informed about this running battle in December of 1967. I had a very limited knowledge before Tom came on the scene with his effort. Rigo Ordaz had been my "go to" guy initially...and I also garnered bits and pieces from others in "A" and "B" Company...but the scope of his research is covering so many units that were involved..that I am now getting a much more intelligent and overall view of the battle. It is staggering to think of the resources the United States had at it's disposal for this event. It was the 1st Battalion (M), 50th Infantry's "Coming Out" party in Vietnam...and we earned the respect of thr 1st Cavalry Division in ways I had never suspected. I now believe that if it had been logistically possible, they would have kept us with them beyond February of 1968.

Tom and I concentrated on the General Orders this trip and I found about 70 additional orders cut by the 1st Cavalry long after we left their command. These orders were not limited to Tam Quan but I had not looked beyond June when I scanned these a few years back...so finding them cut in Late June and July was a surprize. I also obtained a few Intelligence Summaries for the period after Tam Quan (January, 1968)

I researched in the Photo section for a future visit and found there are photographs available for the 50th Armored Infantry Battalion in WWII, which will be my next target.

I apologize for not getting a report to the Newsletter Gals in time for the next edition. This little note pretty much sums up my recent work...although I am still emersed in updating KIA files and other work on our website and Association Archives. In May, I had two WWI panorama photos professionally framed. They were photos of the 50th Infantry Regiment in Germany after WWI. I delivered one to the Battalion HQ at Fort Benning and kept one for our Archives. They are awesome! The cost was completely covered by the proceeds I received from Document Disks and other items I sold at the reunion.
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