28 Jan 2005 Operation Lamar Plain began on 15 May 1969 when the 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile) sent a brigade task force south to Quang Tin Province in order to reinforce the Americal Division. John Vollmerhausen was among the first men to die during the operation. His platoon and another from Charlie Company were assaulting a small hill north of LZ Professional when an NVA soldier popped up from a spider hole and shot Vollmerhausen. Note that John died on 18 May 1969, not during the period of 28 May to 3 June as stated in the Life magazine article in which his photo appears. Nearly three dozen men killed during Operation Lamar Plain before or after those dates are mentioned in the misleading article. From a Screaming Eagle researcher, Roger Ables redleg101@charter.net

 

9 Feb 2005 Thank you for serving our country. You are a true hero. I want to know more about him and his family, and I would like to get in touch with relatives I don't know. If anyone could e-mail me more about him I would appreciate it very much. From a distant relative, Jessie Vollmerhausen boz09warsh@yahoo.com

 

Notes from The Virtual Wall A total of seven men were killed in action at Hill 187 where Bravo Company was positioned and at a nearby fortified hill taken by Charlie Company- four infantrymen and three medics: B Company: CPT John C. Pape, West Babylon, NY SP4 Lincoln E. Bundy, Redding, CA C Company: PFC Rudolph Rossi, Howard Beach, NY PFC John M. Vollmerhausen, Wilton Manors, FL HQ Company: SP5 Hans L. Mills, Sterling, IL, medic w/ B/1/501 CPL Paul H. Ga Nun, Asbury Park, NJ, medic w/ C/1/501 SP4 Russell L. Jett, Hornbeck, LA, medic w/ B/1/501 With respect to Mr. Ables' comment regarding "Vietnam: One Week's Dead":        At the time LIFE Magazine published "Vietnam: One Week's Dead" the clear implication was that the men portrayed had died in Vietnam during a specific seven-day period (28 May-03 June 1969). Within days objections arose from friends and families of the men whose photographs appeared in the article, stating that the men had died outside the stated period. LIFE published a clarification, stating in effect that they were unable to obtain photos for all the men listed by DoD for the period given but that the article accurately portrayed the number - if not the actual people - who died during the specified period. It later developed that only men killed in action were portrayed; those who died due to illness, accident, and other non-hostile causes were ignored.

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