16 April 2002 Claudie Fowler died in the assault on Hill 996. Claudie was a good friend of mine who was right behind me when we left the Night Defensive Position that morning and was killed right beside me while I was yelling at him to get down. I was working on one wounded man and Claudie got up to go after another wounded soldier. From a comrade-in-arms, Richard "Doc" Daniels Ashau1@aol.com

 

18 April 2002 I'm proud to call Claudie my friend. He died while performing one of the most heroic acts I ever saw. After helping "Doc" Daniels move a badly wounded man to cover he tried to reach another man who was wounded and stranded alone and get him to cover also. His country should honor him, not just because of his actions on July 11th 1969, for he was one of the finest men I ever met. From a fellow member of Delta Company, Bill "Frisbee" Farnie frisbee1506@aol.com

 

20 April 2002 Claudie died helping others so they may live. On July 11, 1969 while assaulting Hill 996 in the A Shau Valley, Thua Thien Province, RVN, against NVA regulars our company came under heavy fire from the enemy who were dug in and under camouflage. Claudie left his relative safe position and exposed himself to hostile fire to come to the aid of a wounded fellow soldier. That last courageous act cost Claudie his own life. One need not have personally known Claudie to understand what love he had for life to give his own so that another should live. God bless you, Claudie, may you rest in peace! From a fellow veteran, Salvador L. Gonzalez slg2k@optonline.net

 

10 May 2002 The night before Claudie was killed, he, my assistant machinegunner Vance Wimberly and I spent the night dug in at my M-60 site. He talked about his love for his family, wife Josephine and young son, and we all shared plans for the future. The next day, July 11, 1969, while assaulting "Hill 996" I was severely wounded, Vance was knocked unconscious, and both of us were unable to move. Somehow, through the intense gunfire and grenades, Claudie got to me and pulled me down the hill to our Medic and cover. It is my belief that he was killed while trying to return up the hill to help Vance. When I am with my wife and son, I often think just how much Claudie was willing to risk losing that July day so many years ago. If our country never honored him, it should have, for he was a true hero, a loving husband and father, and someone I am so proud, and humbled, to have known. Brian R. Rapp 3rd Plt., D Co. 1/506, 101 Abn. jrapp@netsync.net

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall On 11 July 1969 twenty men from the 506th Infantry died on Hill 996: A Co, 1st Bn, 506th Inf Rgt, 101 Abn Div, USARV SGT Norman H. Bloomfield, Ramah, NM B Co, 1st Bn, 506th Inf Rgt, 101 Abn Div, USARV PFC Alan G. Geissinger, Newark, DE SP4 Joe R. Glassburn, Kokomo, IN SSG Byron D. Stewart, Charleston, WV D Co, 1st Bn, 506th Inf Rgt, 101 Abn Div, USARV CPL Elbert J. Baker, Quitman, GA PFC Mark L. Bruner, Rio Dell, CA CPL Richard T. Corriveau, Fort Kent, ME CPL Thomas P. Fenush, Grassflat, PA PFC Claudie Fowler, New London, CT SP4 George H. Fry, Pavilion, NY CPL Marvin K. Richardson, Hudson, MI PFC Michael F. Rogers, San Bernardino, CA 2LT Dan B. Yarbrough, Tooele, UT HHC, 1st Bn, 506th Inf Rgt, 101 Abn Div, USARV CPL Curtiss Fernhoff, Flushing, NY LTC Arnold C. Hayward, Trenton, NJ PFC Larry K. Motley, French Camp, CA C Co, 2nd Bn, 506th Inf Rgt, 101 Abn Div, USARV PFC Bradley W. Klukas, Winthrop, MN PFC George B. Tear, Wyandotte, MI PFC Allan C. Thibou, New York, NY PFC Russell C. Yost, Flat Rock, MI

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