Vietnam. The twopart battle took place 1965. Ovember 14 to 18, it was thanksgiving day at home when Americans First read about the battle, which was a turning week of sorts, with single casualty numbers exceeding those of the worst week of the korean war. Americans had to face the facts that we really were engaged in a war. Today, we have veterans of the battle of the ia drang valley it wastalking about what like on the front lines. Mr. Vince cantu was drafted in 1963 and became a u. S. Army private in the First Battalion of the seventh cavalry. His battalion was charged with a new type of air warfare that they called air mobile. Colonel Bruce Crandall is a helicopters,or and and has led more than 900, insions during two tours vietnam. He was drafted into the army in 1953, and in early 1965, he joined the dominican republican republic as a liaison for the air corps and later commanded Division Battalion in vietnam. He has received many awards, including the bronze star medal, the flying cross, and the medal of honor. Tone johnson junior went to vietnam in 1963 as part of a cavalry regiments. 1965, his unit was ambushed by the vietcong in the all but valley and was destroyed. He received a bronze star for his meritorious achievements and his bravery during the campaign. Later, recovering in the hospital, he was inspired by the care he received to pursue a career in medicine. He later became a family practitioner and started a combat medical Training Program for soldiers to learn first aid. It listed inarm the army in 1964 and left as a second lieutenant. The firstigned to cavalry division, and by 1965 was in vietnam. In november 1965, his tie and came under fire in the ia drang valley. Received a medal for his bravery in the campaign. Waiver that going back into harms way again was his own choice. And finally, your moderator for mr. Joe mr. Good galloway. He is a war correspondent and the recipient of numerous journalism awards. But he is also the recipient of the bronze star for valor. The only civilian to receive the honor and the vietnam war. And as the recipient of the doherty award, the highest award the Army Infantry can present to an individual. He is been he has authored several books we were soldiers, once in young. We are shoulders soldiers, too. Ladies and gentlemen, your panel for the afternoon. [applause] is awful quiet out there. Dont know about this being much of a panel discussion, but it certainly is a great gathering of my brother soldiers. [applause] it has been 50 years and five on as since we met battlefield in the Central Highlands of the vietnam on the 14th of november, 1965. It was the first major battle for american infantry to run headon into north vietnamese very lightwo infantry. And they went at it north tooth and nail. The north vietnamese were there to kill us all. Ell determinedmn w they would not. It is interesting. On the battlefield on the second day, i was shooting some pictures. And i was behind a little bush on one knee, and a fellow jumped out of a mortar pit and zigzagged across the edge of the clearing. He dove under the bush and all i eyeballs were two about the size of saucers under the rim of the helmet. He said, joe galloway . This is vince cantu, dont you know me . [laughter] i graduated in the class of 1959 in high school, 59 of us. And the next time i saw him within the middle of the worst the bloodiest battle, of the entire vietnam war. He sure looked good. Joe, if i live through this, i am going home by christmas. Vince, go by and see my mom and dad, but do not tell them where we met. I came to be on the battlefield frome engraved invitation the battalion commander. I had marched with his battalion three days before the battle began. Toong, hot walk in the sun the east of a special forces camp. I spent the night with him, coldest night i ever spend anywhere in vietnam. In the Central Highlands at 4000 feet, we were all soaking wet from fording a river. I was trying desperately to get into this battle. There were five other reporters nemesis,cluding my also trying to get in. But i have the edge on him because i recognized colonel matt. S i said i need to get in there. He said we are going in with two helicopters full of ammo, but i cannot take you unless the colonel said so. I said, get him on the horn. He got him on the radio, made , youeport to the colonel could hear the battle raging in the background. He said by the way, i have that reporter galloway who wants to come in with me. And i am listening real close in the colonel said, if he is crazy enough to want to come in here and you have room, bring him. He believed that the American People had a right to know what were doing, and what the army was doing with it there their sons. And that was how he conducted his operations, the press was always welcome. All i had to do then was hide from the other guys until he got near dark and they all flew back to get a hot meal and a cold bunk. Into the pagese of history, so here we are. Bruce crandall, tell your story. Mr. Crandall i made the mistake of taking them back out of there. [laughter] he took me in. Mr. Crandall that was the First Experience we had had with the helicopters. Had a lot of experience with helicopters. We were just learning our role. I dont know why we had to wait until dark, i prefer to see who is shooting at me. [laughter] but evidently, the infantry had some sort of disagreement with that and we went in after dark dark. We brought in 71 people that survived. We got in ammo and water and medical supplies, and those people survives. It was a very exciting time, to say the least. Up, we would get shot would switch aircraft and start flying another one. And i would call in to the base with a helicopters were and say, i am coming, i am shot up. I think we had five different aircraft during the day. But we flew the same aircraft a number of times. Duct tape works. [laughter] we knew what we were doing, i wanted to make it sound that we didnt have a good idea of what we were doing. We knew. But we also knew we had to do what we were doing or else the infantry would not survive on the battlefield. They were ours to make sure they survived. Freeman, wased tall, in the movie he was played by sam elliott. Anyway, ed was at one one hell of a good pilot. Commanders that were in junior officers. Engineer officers. We knew each other and trusted each other. We trusted the infantry. Different types of infantry. A relationship with and they were able to take the heaviest load, i think they knew custer personally. [laughter] freeman, we saved the medal of honor first, and that was right. He was only one who volunteered to go when i asked for volunteers. He stayed with me all day and until wehe night brought them in, and that was the last flight. Mr. Galloway do you want to take over . This is one of my personal heroes. A private of the infantry, shot to ribbons on the battlefield, spending a an eye, year and an army hospital, decided that the doctors were his heroes, and the army helped him become a doctor. Reservist, a a reserve officer. Then he became a National Guard officer. Was of theur of duty Surgeon General of the texas 36 National Guard division. And he still Practices Medicine today in corpus christi. It is amazing the stories that come off a battlefield. And some of it is true. If you can believe the craziest you wouldt i know, say i guess part of it is true. Myself, whenstake i was 17, coming to the end of my 17th birthday. Board for the the army. And i went there and the lady said to me, what is your name . Said,looked at her and tone johnson. Me,said no,ed at that is not your name. And i said, yes it is. She said no, that is not your name. And then she said i will give you one more chance, what is your name . Johnson. D junior and she said no, that is not your name. She said, your name is tone, and for that, i am going to send you in today. Andnt outside and sat down got up and walked out and said, im going to go sign up myself. I signed up as a volunteer to get into the army. Day thatn and on that theere asked to support gosh, i looked at it as, we going to go out with our mortars, the infantry, and we will just support them. Will lay down fire for them, that is what we are going to do. And i alwayshere, call those helicopter pilots theyrecrazy because going out and ducking around treetops and then we get to a in, and he just came in really low and said boys, get your tails off the plane, off the chopper. Higher than his podium here. He is flying higher than that. And he said, go ahead and jump out. Get out now, because i am taking fire and need you to get out so i can take off. Out, andped nevertheless, we were in a rice patty. There is a lot of water, plus, a lot of things that we dont want to talk about. [laughter] were taking and we heavy fire, so i told the guys at the time, i think we were sent here to take the fire off the others. And everybody was saying, what are we going to do . So we headed for the wood line and started to lay down fire. When is a tough day stood there looking through the elephant grass and pulled the elephant grass back, and right before me there was a guy who looked about my age or younger. And he was looking right at me, and i was looking right at him. And neither one of us was firing. We were just steering at each other. , a then all of a sudden large noise out of nowhere. Hoursen i woke up, five later, i thought it was dead. Anduld not see anything, then all i could think of, heaven certainly is dark because i cant see a thing. So i laid there for a wild, and something told me to reach up and check myself. And started feeling thinking, i am all right. I felt my face, felt like somebody take mud all over my fit caked mud all over my face. And i could not open my eyes. Once i got the mud off, i could see. That i am here and i am here alone. I could hear firing from the distance. I would go to try to find others and we would get together and try to develop a circle of fire. We did that, and fought throughout the evening and through the night into the next day. We were laying down as much fire as we could. Night, we were there and the vietnamese were coming, and we saw them coming. One of the guys said, what are we going to do . Buti said, sorry to say, the hell if i know, i am just a private. [laughter] dr. Johnson and everybody looked around, and said, you are the rankingest private. [laughter] ok, letsn i said, try to find something to eat because this is the middle of the night and we have not had anything to eat since we have been at this, since about 9 00 a. M. In the morning. So we did that and we were foring down and waiting things to clear down and settle down a little bit. And we noticed that the vietnamese started coming again. And i said, nobody fights at night. This is silly. [laughter] i could see was the tracer ammo. And we had tracer ammo, but i did not think the trace the had tracerviet cong ammo. I was on my back, watching this tracer ammo come across my face. Said, i think somebody from our side is shooting our way. So we start hollering a little bit, and finally they say, who is there . Our company. Is we are here, but we have no ammo. Well, you better stay down, because the viet cong is right up on you. We stay down for a little bit and then decided, well, we have to get back into fight. So we decided to move out and doing what we could. Night, and we went through that and part of the day, the next day. When i first knew joe, he came , he lived out on the day, wered me one going to have a meeting in the town, and we are going to discuss something. So we went up there and then he told me he had written a book. I had already seen the movie. He asked me to come and look at it and everything. Then he said gosh, it your name is in the book. Said, well,it and my name is in the book. [laughter] something for the rankingest private. Dr. Johnson i looked through everything, and as joe said, i and thek to school, army was nice enough to let me join their Health Professional program and go to school. And i went to school and decided i would pay them back by going back into the army. I went back into the army to out, andd then i got went into Public Health service. And i served as a commander in the Public Health service for so many years, and then i got out. And said, gosh, what am i going to do. I went into the guard. And i served in the texas guard for about 30 years. And when i got out, governor rick perry was the governor, and youre such a good fellow, we will not make you a brigadier, but we can make you an admiral in the texas state navy. [laughter] dr. Johnson what is this . I am an army officer. Mr. Galloway lets move along. Vince cantu, tell us your story. Joe, i should not have been there in the first place. [laughter] me, too. At the time i was married and had a little girl so i felt safe. But, i gathered all my papers, took them to victoria, where the recruiting station was, and i put all the information in front of them. I was sure i was not going to pass. Three guys went, when guided not make it because of intelligence, and the other was too fat, so i was let in. [laughter] who was the one who had no intelligence . I shouldve said that. But anyway, they took me in. , my platoonant joe descent,was of german the squad leader. Is a big old tree behind said what you doing . I have a daughter, and i have not seen her. I said that sergeant cant function, so we sent them to the back area. Montgomery said, cantu, those squad is yours. Send them to pick up the dead in the chopper. Said, this is and years together. I needed 10 days left in the army. I made up my mind. The chopper followed me, but the dead body in. Nicene then i saw joe, i did not know it was him. He was taking a picture, but i thought he was going to shoot me. [laughter] intoantu so i dove down the elephant grass, which was really tall. I looked up and then was wondering why he did not have a rifle. In my mind i said, i know that guy. It was real hot, at the time i had a lot of freckles. Said, yes, him and that is joe galloway. He looked up, said vince cantu, remember me . Big old grin. We walked toward each other, what are you doing . We are going to get you a rifle. [laughter] they took a picture of me that has been all over the place. And that has opened up my world. A group called the saints and sinners, 10 members and their wives, 40 years since i we had a big crowd. So after the dance and the music, we went to the cafe. It was a popular cafe, it is mentioned in a lot of books and everybody goes there. So here we are, about 35 of us, we all eat after the deal. Of course, i dont have that kind of money to pay for all of those guys. So i said, well, whatever we eat, we divide it into ten and go pay it. So i went to dale moya, the owner of the restaurant and i said, dale, i need the bill. She said, vince, it has already been taken care of. And i said, who . She said, they want to stay anonymous. So that is the way my life has been going. Thank you. Im playing with my hearing aids. Vince, you earned more than a free meal at moyas. [applause] did you hear that . Because i couldnt. There was too many chopper days. Joe marm, colonel marm, tell us your story. It is an honor for me to be here. There is in Vietnam Veterans out there so i cant tell any lies. Never stopped us. [laughter] i would have been drafted. They had a draft back in the 60s. So i enlisted under the college option and went through basic training, advanced video training and ocs. And we can kp and guard duty which they dont do now but it made me appreciate being a soldier. And i graduated from ocs and went into the Rangers School and that was my best preparation for vietnam. Nine straight weeks of intensive training up in the mountains of north georgia and down in the everglades of florida. And we had a big formation before we graduated and they called out about 50 names of our classmates and said your order is now changed. You could make one phone call home. You are going to ft. Benning. I was supposed to go to ft. Jackson in South Carolina and that was for basic trainees. But i went in and signed in and we were there just a month and we headed to vietnam. My first sea voyage, went over on the uss marie rose. We took a bus from ft. Benning to charlestopn and boarded the rose and headed west, up the panama canal up california and through the pacific and went through a typhoon. The only division had to get over there. Soldiers and helicopters had to get over there. And the helicopters were on aircraft carriers. They took a mule. Colonel stockton, they gave him a mule during the testing phase of the 11th air assault when they were testing the helicopters to see if this would work and it proved to be a very Successful Division and a Good Division but it was very expensive. They were able to outmaneuver the 82nd and the 101st during the war games they were participating in. But the colonel wasnt supposed to do it but he took his mule. They gave him they gave it to him as a gag gift. And he called his mule after his wifes name, maggie. [laughter] he got to vietnam and maggie the generals told stockton, i dont want maggie on my chinook helicopter. And so he had to sling load maggie under his command helicopter to our base camp up in the Central Highlands. Maggie came to a bad end. Yeah. She was killed one night by a century from the 7th calvary and Sergeant Major plumlee reported this fact to colonel moore who held his hands over his head and said, what did you do . And he said, well, sar, i loaded maggie aboard the chow truck and they delivered her back to the ninth. And he said why did we kill her. And he said she was challenged and didnt know the countersign. You and i, we were on the same we went out on the same time. The uss marie rose. Yes, sir. Rode that same mule. Go ahead. Sorry to interrupt. But we were in the seventh calvary whose lineage goes back to custer. But we had assets custer didnt have. We had the entire Division Ready to give us support so that was very, very very, very fortunate that we had that. That was my first job right out of my army training. And as a rifle platoon leader in a. Company, we were the Second Company in. Bravo company came in first and started looking for the enemy and our company, a. Company, came in 10 30 on sunday morning, the 14