01 May 2001 I was wounded the day that Craig McDaniel was killed. He was the other fire team leader in our squad, first squad, first platoon, Company "C". On September 29, 1967 this was still a parachute infantry unit with all the discipline and esprit de corps that such units are famous for. This company had been CPT. William Carpenter's Company in June 1966 at Dak To, when he called napalm on friendly positions to "take (the enemy) with us." Neither Sgt. McDaniel or I were there at that time, of course. Our platoon was moving to assist another platoon which had become engaged with NVA troops dug into bunkers. Another platoon had gone around to flank the bunkers. Two sergeants in that other maneuvering platoon, one of whom was SGT. Michael D. Perry and the other of whom was a Staff Sergeant whose first name is Larry (can't remember the last name, sorry) and who is in the Ranger hall of fame now, won Distinguished Service Crosses attacking the bunkers. Our platoon had to go across about sixty yards of open field, under fire, to get into where the pinned down platoon was. We ran across by threes and fours, with me, the Squad Leader, Cruz, our point man, and maybe Sgt. McDaniel in the first group. I was wounded almost as soon as we got to the other platoon. The rest of the squad went on. Pretty soon the Squad Leader and Cruz came back carrying Craig, who had been shot in the chest. He was unconscious. When I asked how he was the Squad Leader shook his head, like he wasn't going to make it. He went out on the first medevac ship. When I got to the hospital myself several hours later I was asking about him, and a nurse came over to tell me that Sgt. McDaniel didn't make it. When I was operated on a couple of weeks later I can remember coming out from the morphine crying and saying "Sgt. Mac is dead, Sgt. Mac is dead." There were two guys from the 173d Airborne Brigade standing at the foot of my bed to carry me back to my ward, and I thought they were kind of sneering at me because I was crying. I stopped right away. People in infantry units are SO close that they feel like they are among family. We would have fought for each other, and did fight for each other. No soldier there died alone. They died among friends who mourned them. I'll bet it was the same for the men on the other side, too. If his family ever reads this, you would have been proud of the kind of man and soldier he was, especially when he saw Vietnamese children. I still think about him and the others sometime and I will never forget them. John Yeager, Jr. john.yeager@comcast.net Craig McDaniel was KIA on 9/29/67. This photo is from his company's website. It was brought home by Frank McCloskey, the machine gunner in the middle.

 

25 Jan 2007 Just pausing here to remember and honor Craig McDaniel, a former classmate at Rim of the World High School in Lake Arrowhead, California. From a high school classmate, Jim Newman Class of 1966 jdnewman@flash.net

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall On 29 September 1967 elements of 2nd Bn, 327th Infantry and 2nd Bn, 502nd Infantry encircled an NVA unit at Hiep Duc City in Quang Tin Province. Fifteen US soldiers were killed in the ensuing fight, five of them from Charlie Company, 2/502nd Infantry: SFC James B. Fields, Tulsa, OK SSG Craig A. McDaniel, Lake Arrowhead, CA SGT William E. Wilson, Euclid, OH CPL George E. Overshine, Lufkin, TX CPL George H. Ulrich, Merrick, NY The other men mentioned by name are Captain William S. Carpenter, Jr., Charlie 2/502, Distinguished Service Cross 09-11 Jun 66 Staff Sergeant Larry A. Fletcher, Charlie 2/502, Distinguished Service Cross 29 Sep67 Sergeant Michael P. Perry, Charlie 2/502, Distinguished Service Cross 29 Sep67 All three survived their tours of duty in Vietnam.

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