New Honors for the Fallen of Khe Sanh
We posted a blog in June of this year that pondered, among other things, a firefight that occurred northwest of Hill 881 South on June 7, 1967. Two platoons of Bravo Company, 1/26, were involved in that battle. Before the acrid scent of gunpowder had disappeared, it was clear that Bravo had taken a significant number of casualties.
One of the men killed in that action was HN (Corpsman) Gregory Vercruysse. Last month I heard from Gregory’s younger brother, Dean. Dean and I have traded e-mails about that day, about Gregory, about memory and honor.
In November of this year, Gregory is to be posthumously honored by the city of Liberty Lake, Washington. Greg (as his brother Dean refers to him) will be memorialized at the City of Liberty Lake’s Fallen Heroes Circuit Course by having a circuit station named after him. First dedicated in September 2013, the course’s stations will all be designated in the name of one of Liberty Lake’s fallen.
This isn’t the first time that a blog we have written about one of the men who served at Khe Sanh has given rise to a member of the family contacting us. We receive queries about loved ones who were killed in action or who were wounded or who managed to get home in one piece but who are now gone.
Sometimes all this blogging and filmmaking and creating art and recording history about the events centered around the Khe Sanh locale gets to be a heavy load. Yet, when it starts to feel like we are spitting into the wind, someone like Dean Vercruysse contacts us about his brother or a cousin and suddenly the importance of what we are doing becomes clear again.
If you are interested in seeking out more about the City of Liberty Lake’s Fallen Heroes Circuit Course, you can find information HERE.
On the screening front, BRAVO! will be shown in Nampa, Idaho, on September 25, 2014 at the Elks Lodge. Doors will open at 6:00 PM with the screening of the film at 6:30, followed by a Q & A session. Suggested donation, $10.00 to benefit the Wyakin Warrior Foundation. http://www.wyakin.org.
If you would like to host a screening of BRAVO! in your town this fall or winter, please contact us immediately.
DVDs of BRAVO! are available. For more information go to https://bravotheproject.com/buy-the-dvd/.
BRAVO! has a page on Facebook. Please “like” us and “share” the page at https://www.facebook.com/Bravotheproject/. It’s another way you can help us reach more people like Dean Vercruysse.
I recently sent you a detailed account(via email) of the experiences of Alpha Battery 1-13’s forward observer Sgt Michael Crowely on the June 7, 1967 patrol. In that account I corrected the record: Crowely’s two radio operators who were killed that day were of course from our A-1-13 battery. Pfc.Phillip VanDeusen and Gale Gotti were killed in the first seconds of the ambush. Stubbe’s “Battalion of Kings” lists VanDeusen as a member of Bravo 1-26. For the record VanDeusen was a member of A-1-13 the primary supporting arm of 1st Bn 26th Marines. Alpha Battery 1st Bn 13th Marines proudly supported 1-26 from the RLT26, SLF26 and Blt 1-26 from June 1966 until the 13th and 26th Marines were deactivated April 1970. At Khe Sanh A-1-13 lost 13 KIA and over 65 WIA out of a complement of 115 men and officers. Our most beloved officer 1st Lt. Hank Norman was killed March 30, 1968 as an FO for then Capt Ken Pipes. Norman had done an interview with CBS News three days before while directing fire at the eastern end of the airstrip.(You Tube) The newsman asked, “What do you do?” LT Norman replied, “He shoots at us and we shoot at him.” 1st Bn 13th Marines fired over 700,000 thousand rounds in Vietnam (CC:11:13) and Alpha Battery 1-13 fired between 1/3 and 1/2 of those rounds in support of 1-26. In fact,”A” Battery had the last enemy kills recorded in Vietnam.(CC: 1-13) Col David Lownds told the battery commanders at Khe Sahn how important a role the 13th Marines artillery and mortar fire had played in the defense of Khe Sanh. What the men of Alpha battery never got a chance to say was how proud they were to have supported our Brothers the Marines of 1st Bn 26th Marine Regiment.
Thank you, Dennis for this correction and for the information about Alpha 1-13. The Marines of 1/26 would most likely not survived as they did had it not been for the artillery Alpha 1-13 and the other batteries of the 13th Marines provided.