Robert Sherman Prieser

Specialist Four
DET A-104 (HA THANH), E CO, 5TH SF GRP, USARV
Army of the United States
06 August 1948 - 08 September 1968
Toledo, Ohio
Panel 44W Line 005

USARV 5TH SF GRP
Combat Infantry

Purple Heart, National Defense, Vietnam Service, Vietnam Campaign

Airborne!

The database page for Robert Sherman Prieser

15 Dec 2000

A FATHER'S TRIBUTE TO HIS FALLEN WARRIOR

Military service as a family tradition has been handed down from regiments forever. There is no greater pride enjoyed by a father and mother, nor a higher calling to patriotism, than to have a son answer the summons to serve his countrymen in time of war. Conversely, no pain, no anguish and no suffering can be as great, as deep nor as long lasting, as to have that son lost in combat.

Robert, born in Sidney, Ohio on August 6, 1948, entered active service on June 20, 1966. After completing Airborne and Special Forces Training, he was assigned to the Army's elite 5th Special Forces Group Airborne, 1st Special Forces, Republic of Vietnam. On September 8, 1968, Robert was killed in action while leading a reinforcing element of Strike Force soldiers on the beleaguered Ha Thanh Special Forces Camp, I Corps, Republic of Vietnam.

Robert's father, Dale, composed a poem and mailed it to his grieving wife, Barbara, while he was serving his second tour in-country, in the Que Son Mountain region of Vietnam.

Dale and Barbara now reside in San Antonio, Texas.

He was tall, handsome,
And very straight,
He kidded the girls
On every date.

And then he was grown,
Yet only a teen,
He went to Vietnam
To help fulfill a dream.

He wore his beret
And wings so proud,
The patch on his shoulder
He was even more proud.

He fought in the valleys
And mountains so high,
And walked the trails
Where many had died.

And when Ha Thanh
Was under siege,
He led the fight
For what he believed.

And when he died
That September day,
God said, "Give me your hand,
I will show you the way."

Dale Prieser
Colonel, United States Army (Ret)
prieser@gateway.net

A Note from The Virtual Wall

The unofficial Special Forces site's memorial page says that two men from Det A-104 were killed in action on 30 Aug 1968 when a 75mm recoilless rifle round fired from Hill 223 hit the Teamhouse: MSG Tadeusz Sosniak and PFC Richard E Traster. The casualty files agree with that. However, a few lines later the memorial shows SP4 Prieser's name - and says that Preiser was wounded in the 30 August incident and died of his injuries ten days later:
19680908 E4 SP4 Robert S Prieser 05B2S KIA, DOW
WIA 30 Aug 1968
SVN; A-104, Ha Thanh, Quang Ngai Prov
75mm RR from Hill 223 hit the Teamhouse
The Army and DoD casualty files dispute that, stating SP Preiser was killed outright on 08 September ... and perhaps more importantly his father agrees with that statement.




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With all respect
Jim Schueckler, former CW2, US Army
Ken Davis, Commander, United States Navy (Ret)
Memorial first published on 15 Dec 2000
Last updated 08/10/2009