In Country with the 201st Light Infantry Brigade

Date: 3 April 1968

All,

Here's yet another campaign roster...  Does it seem like a have a lot of these going on?  Well, I'm having fun anyways.  So, it's late 1966, and LBJ is in the midst of throwing more US troops into the Republic of Vietnam.  The problem is, where are all these bodies going to come from.  The Army looked at Fort Hood, with all its tankers sitting around with nothing to do.  First the Army took three mechanized infantry battalions and banded them together as the 198th Infantry Brigade and shipped them off (summer 1967), joining the 1st Armored Division's 1st Cav already in country.  But more bodies were needed, and this is where things got a bit sticky.

With pretty much all the Division's infantry spoken for (either in Vietnam already or as a small, strategic reserve for unit), one battalion of grunts (or 11 Bravos, as the Army calls them) was pulled from the Division's 3rd Brigade and used as a cadre to raise two more battalions of infantry from men drawn from all parts of the Division: cooks, admin personnel, mechanics, drivers, artillerymen, supply, maintenance, etc...  The grunts were thrown into various exercises and tactical problems to separate the wheat from the chaff: promising troopers were thrown into 'shake and bake' officer and NCO courses to provide leadership, while the sick, lame, and lazy were processed out of the Brigade.  While this was going on, every new trooper reporting into the Division from his 'A-school' was being grabbed and redesignated infantry to fill out the ranks.  Thus was born the 201st Light Infantry Brigade.  The Brigade boarded C-141s at SETAC and arrived in country on September 20, 1967 (so we're clear, this whole paragraph is made up), ultimately arriving at Dak To in the Central Highlands for a one-year tour.

1st Squad, 1st Platoon, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 201st Light Infantry Brigade.

Billet                 Name                                   DEROS      
                        Status                                   Skill Level
                        Notes                

Squad Leader: Sgt Mark Malone (G)                                            19690105
Field                                                                                              S&D 4

1st Fireteam:
Team Leader: Sgt Jack Ham (S1)                                               19680920
Field                                                                                             S&D 4
Converted to Corporal (19671023); PH (19671024; 19680107); Promoted to Sgt (19671201);

Machine Gunner: Cpl Ed Bradley (B1)                                       19681022
Field                                                                                              S&D 4
PH (19671024, 19680110); Reprimanded for Cowardice (19671114); Demoted to PFC (19671115); Promoted to Corporal (19680110)

A-Gunner: PFC Merrill Hoge (B2)                                               19690110
Field                                                                                              S&D 3

Promoted to PFC (19680201)

Grenadier: Pvt Hardy Nickerson (B3)                                         19690110
Field                                                                                              S&D 3
Reprimanded for Cowardice (19680112);

Rifleman: PFC Jim Clack (B4)                                                      19681204
Field                                                                                                S&D 3
PH (19680107); Promoted to PFC (19680301);

2nd Fireteam:
Team Leader: Sgt Frank Harris (B1)                                           19680920
Field                                                                                             S&D 3
Reprimanded for Cowardice (19671009); PH (19671013, 19680104); Promoted to Sgt (19671201);

Grenadier: Spec4 JT Thomas (R1)                                                19681022
Field                                                                                                S&D 3
PH (19671024; 19671125; 19680109); Promoted to PFC (19671201); Promoted to Specialist 4  (19689201);

Rifleman: PFC Walter Abercrombie (R2)                                    19690104
Field                                                                                              S&D 3
PH (19680108); Promoted to PFC (19680301);

Rifleman: Spec4 Dwight White (R3)                                            19680920
Field                                                                                              S&D 3
Rec BS w/V (19670925); Rec BS w/V (19671013); Promoted to PFC (19671023); rec BS w/V (19671023); PH (19671024, 19680104); Promoted to Spec4 (19671201);

Rifleman: Pvt Jon Kolb (R4)                                                           19681022
Field                                                                                                 S&D 3
PH (19671024; 19680108); Reprimanded for Cowardice (19671114);

Convalescent:


Off the rolls:
Sgt Joe Greene, KIA (19670925), PH
PFC Melvin Blount, Transferred to Brigade Laundry, PH (3)
Pvt Leonard Greenwood, WIA, Evacuated to US, PH (2)
PFC Ernie Holmes, KIA (19671024), PH (2)
Pvt Mike Wagner, WIA, Evacuated to US, PH
Pvt Mike Webster, KIA (19671024), Rec BS w/V (19671024),
Pvt Ray Mansfield, WIA, Evacuated to US, PH (2)
Spec4 Donnie Shell, MIA (19671113), Reprimanded for Cowardice (2)

Pvt John Fuqua, MIA (19671113); PH; Reprimanded for Cowardice
Spec4 Ron Stallworth KIA (19671125), PH (2) Rec BS w/V (19671024)

PFC Len Swann, Transferred to Brigade Ordnance Company, PH (3); Reprimanded for Cowardice (2)

Sgt Andy Russell, KIA (19671207); PH (5)
Pvt Randy Grossman, KIA (19671207), PH
PFC Dave Brown, WIA, Evacuated to US, PH (3); Reprimanded for Cowardice
SSgt John Banaszak, WIA, Evacuated to US, PH, Rec for SS (19671024); Rec for CMH (19671024)
Pvt Terry Bradshaw, WIA, Evacuated to US, PH (2)
Pvt Bobby Brister, KIA (19680110), PH
Pvt Mike Kruczek, WIA, Evacuated to US, PH, Reprimanded for Cowardice
Pvt Tim Worley, WIA, Evacuated to US, PH
Pvt Lewis Lipps, WIA, Evacuated to US, PH
SFC Rocky Bleier, Transferred to Battalion Staff (19680113); PH (2)

Here goes another one...

V/R,
Jack