20 Feb 2007 We went through boot camp together. That was platoon 2059 at MCRD, San Diego the summer of 1966. He was our right guide the whole time we were there. We looked up to him because he had been a sergeant in the Army before joining the Marine Corps. He was well respected and would always guide us and be there for us. We could tell that the Drill Instructors liked him too. From a fellow Marine, Ron Taylor rtnmsp@aol.com

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall On 07 June 1968 the 1st Bn, 26th Marines were conducting a sweep along the Bon Song River. Alpha 1/26 was providing a screening force along the river while Delta 1/26 was moving through the hills along the river. Charlie 1/26 was in echelon behind Delta, with the Command Group and H&S Company bringing up the rear. As Delta 1/26 crested a ridgeline they took fire from a trenchline. The company established a base of fire, flanked the trenchline, and forced the NVA to withdraw - but they didn't withdraw far; a second set of fortifications lay only 50 yards behind the first. Charlie 1/26 sent help and Delta buckled down to assaulting the second trench line - and once again forced the NVA from their lines. This action, though costly, was only a prelude. The NVA troops engaged by Delta 1/26 were a covering force for the NVA main body, which withdrew into the Alpha 1/26 position - and were engaged by the Alpha 1/26 Marines in a bloody fight. By the time the NVA escaped through the gap between Alpha's flank and the oncoming Delta Marines, 20 Marines and 2 sailors were dead: A Company: 2ndLt Paul M. McGrath, Rye, NY SSgt Donald M. Cuff, Wilmington, DE Cpl George A. Essary, Chattanooga, TN Cpl Jerome D. Kupperschmidt, Sandwich, IL Cpl Gregory A. Shelley, Palisades Park, NJ LCpl Edward L. Bradford, Westville, OK LCpl Kevin M. Coyne, Silver Spring, MD LCpl Michael W. Travis, Sweetser, IN Pfc Michael P. Becker, Omaha, NE Pfc Jerry N. Christman, Williams, AZ Pfc Carl M. Middlebrooks, Baltimore, MD Pfc Alton L. Staples, Cincinnati, OH Pfc Ernest L. Wesley, Stockbridge, GA C Company: Cpl David E. Dixon, Miami, FL D Company: 2ndLt Samuel J. Hannah, Reily, OH (Silver Star) Sgt Thomas R. Cores, Del Rio, TX Cpl Normand C. Deschaine, Lewiston, ME Cpl Johnnie B. Espy, Montclair, NJ LCpl David O. Auen, Blairsville, PA LCpl John A. Scarpinato, La Puente, CA H&S Company: HM3 Ramon Leyba, Albuquerque, NM (H&S Co, w/ Alpha 1/26) HN Ronald E. Rockefeller, Tivoli, NY In a tragic coincidence, Lance Corporal Michael Travis's elder brother, Corporal Edmund B. Travis, an artilleryman with Alpha 1/13 Marines, had been killed in action on 27 June 1967 while serving on a Forward Observer team with the 1/26 Marines at Khe Sanh.

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