10 Mar 2006 Lance Corporal Bradley was in 3rd Platoon, Lima 3/1. He was quiet and always ready to give a hand when needed. We sailed from Okinawa on the USS PAUL REVERE. L/Cpl Bradley made the beach landing on Operation Double Eagle with us. It was a really bad day. We came ashore in Nam on January 28, 1966. It was forty (40) years ago, but it seems like yesterday. He met his fate 37 days later and paid the ultimate sacrifice on OPERATION UTAH. It was our first major encounter with a highly trained and combat ready NVA force. May he Rest In Peace. I am honored to have shared the field of battle with him. We lost a lot of good men on that day in Quang Ngai Province. Arturo Garza sgteseusmc@yahoo.com

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall On 05 March 1966 the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, engaged elements of the 21st NVA Regiment in an 8 hour battle near Chau Ngai. Quoting from the 3/1 Command Chronology for March 1966, the NVA troops "occupied classic defensive positions, were well-armed and equipped, and defended occupied positions in strength." Enemy resistance slackened with nightfall and when the Marines began again after daybreak they found the NVA had withdrawn. The position turned out to be an extensive tunnel and underground bunker complex for the NVA 21st Regiment. The operation cost the Marines 42 dead; the NVA left 102 bodies on the field and appeared to have carried as many more with them as they retreated. Lima 3/1 had nine of the Americans killed in the action: SSgt Leonard A. Hultquist, Ogallala, NE Sgt David Shields, Rutherford, NJ Cpl Jimmy P. Sanchez, Los Angeles, CA (Silver Star) LCpl James J. Bradley, New York, NY LCpl Philip Fitch, Cincinnati, OH Pfc Thomas W. Edwards, Binghamton, NY Pfc Rickey D. Garner, Dallas, TX (Silver Star) Pfc Jose E. Laguer, New York, NY Pfc Jerry E. Parks, Grand Rapids, MI

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