Ronald Alphonse Krebsbach

The database page for Ronald Alphonse Krebsbach

22 Feb 2001 NOT FORGOTTEN by a friend, Ronald Pitlick rpitlick@usfamily.net

21 Mar 2005 Sp4 Krebsbach, Doc, although I did not know you in-country, we became bonded on 28 May 70. I was the one you were helping when you gave your all for me and 2nd platoon, D Company. You were pinned down lying next to the CO, Lt. Smith, when I crawled to you after receiving a gunshot wound to the lower jaw. I have thought about you all these years, but for many years I did not know your name. We all called you "Doc". Last year, 2004, I found a memorial on the Manchu web page put there by your daughter, Angela. I contacted her, and have had the privilege of answering many of her questions surrounding your death. She was born approximately one month after your sacrifice for our country. I told her of your bravery that day, and your commitment to help me with no regard for your safety under intense small arms fire. Since I received a face wound, I think of you and Lt. Smith every morning when I brush my teeth. At times I can almost hear the enemy fire as I picture that day in Cambodia. I will never forget you. From a Blood Brother in arms, Charles Gordon Wofford MEMORIAL DAY 2006 This memorial day two thousand and six. Thirty six years, I remember, but why the tears? I remember the morning fog. The clean smell of a new day. The visions remain, along with the pain. Awakened in Cambodia, AMBUSH! was the shout! A resounding blast, of claymores going out. May day... two lives lost. No greater love has man for his brother, our lives forever changed, to sorrow and pain. Instant death, step and a half. Others wounded, that day in May. Survivors, never the same. Our youth we lost. Young lives the cost. Intense pain, but no gain! The images, the sounds, embedded in our souls. A day has not passed. The Horrors! Forever last. Lt. Smith, five steps in front. Seventeen rounds he took. I watched him fall. Instant death, that's all. Doc and I forever bonded, wounded in his arms, two rounds he took. Never again will he look. Sgt. Gilbertson screaming, among the dead and dying. We were all MANCHUS. Intense fire! I remember, do you? Gods knows. I wonder why? I was chosen to survive. My choice was to die. I did nothing to survive. My guilt remains. My life to reclaim. America must not forget. A nation's regret. May twenty eight, nineteen seventy. All MANCHUS. Heros all. In memory of Sp 4 "Doc" Krebsbach and 1st Lt. Smith KIA I remember D Co, 4th Bn, 9th Inf Rgt. (Manchu), 25th Inf. Div. Written by Sgt. C. G. Wofford, US Army (Retired) From a Blood Brother in Arms., Charles Gordon Wofford pswflash@dellmail.com

A Note from The Virtual Wall Delta 4/9 Infantry lost two men killed during a firefight in Cambodia on 28 May 1970: Company Commander 1LT Andrew D. Smith, Wakefield, RI, and SP4 Ronald A. Krebsbach, St Paul, MN. Although officially assigned to the HQ Company, SP4 Krebsbach was in the field with Delta Company. Visit John Dennison's Medics on the Wall memorial which honors the Army Medics and Navy Corpsmen who died in Vietnam.

The point-of-contact for this memorial is a friend, Ronald Pitlick rpitlick@usfamily.net

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With all respect
Jim Schueckler, former CW2, US Army
Ken Davis, Commander, United States Navy (Ret)
Memorial first published on 22 Feb 2001
Last updated 05/14/2006