A Note from The Virtual Wall
On the night of 27/28 March 1971 Fire Support Base (FSB) Mary Ann was occupied by 209 Americans from several units of the Americal Division:
- HHC 1/46th Infantry;
- C Co 1/46th Infantry;
- a Recon Platoon;
- elements of a Mortar Platoon;
- two 155mm howitzer sections, 3/16th Arty; and
- twenty ARVN artillerymen.
At approximately 0230 hours, 28 March 1971, the VC mounted a coordinated mortar and sapper attack. Almost simultaneously with the mortar attack, sappers employed satchel charges and rocket propelled grenades (RPG) to penetrate the FSB's perimeter. Americans in the perimeter bunkers hunkered down until the explosions from the mortar rounds, satchel charges, and RPGs had subsided, but by then the sappers had breached the trench line and were inside the base. Once inside FSB Mary Ann, the sappers struck over half the bunkers. By the time the VC withdrew, 30 American soldiers were dead and 76 wounded.
The dead were
- B Btry, 1st Bn, 14th Arty Rgt (FO w/ C/1/46 Inf)
- C Btry, 3rd Bn, 16th Arty Rgt
- SGT Clifford W. Corr, Viola, KS
- SP4 Larry D. Austin, Des Moines, IA
- CPL Donald C. Bennett, New Lexington, OH
- CPL William W. Kirkpatrick, Torrance, CA
- SP4 Roger D. Whirlow, Odessa, TX
- A Co, 1st Bn, 46th Inf Rgt
- C Co, 1st Bn, 46th Inf Rgt
- CPT Richard V. Knight, Ormond Beach, FL
- 1LT Carl B. McGee, Detroit, MI
- SSG Terry H. Price, Salt Lake City, UT
- SSG Warren P. Ritsema, Fremont, MI
- SGT Ronald J. Becksted, Cleveland, OH
- SGT Richard J. Boehm, Mandan, ND
- SGT Richard R. Carson, Tuscola, IL
- SGT Michael L. Crossley, Houston, TX
- SGT Myron B. Johnson, Mandaree, ND
- SGT Robert J. Schumacher, Lebanon, OR
- SP4 Victor R. Bennett, Haskins, OH
- SP4 James E. Edgemon, Bellevue, TX
- CPL Druey L. Hatfield, Lorado, WV
- CPL Michael S. Holloway, Wyoming, MI
- CPL Dallas D. Robinson, Trade, TN
- CPL Paul A. Sheer, Lakeview, OR
- SP4 Donald M. Stotts, Fenton, MI
- PFC Laymon Palmer, Little Rock, AR
- PFC Clark V. Shawnee, Lawton, OK
- PVT Steven D. Plath, St Louis Park, MN
- HHC, 1st Bn, 46th Inf Rgt
- SP5 Kyle S. Hamilton, St Paul, VA
- PFC Wilbert S. Dupree, Jamaica, NY
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