Dec 16th

[harley hawkins]

Dec. 16th Roy Standridge of D Company heavy weapons was killed in Vietnam he was from OK.


Mick Hawkins

[Randy Smith]

I remember the day Roy died Mick. We had just eaten breakfast and were preparing to move out. Roy picked up a claymore without removing the blasting cap. We didn't know if he pulled the hand generator between two objects sticking up on top of the track or pulled the hand generator off the track landing on its' handle. When the report went off I immediately went to a .50 cal on the nearest track thinking it was in-coming but it did sound muffled. What an enormous price to pay for such a small mistake. Pete Tovar and I wrapped Roy in a poncho and sent him on his journey home in a medivac chopper. Another brother lost.

[rigo-ordaz]

MICK, SMITTY, AND ALL BROTHERS IN ARMS,
There was something bothering me, and my wife noticed and said, “Is it the children that got killed in the school?” I guess so, I said. I had noticed Jim Hawkins post several days before about the young man that got killed on the 16th of Dec. 1967, Roy Standridge. (I WANTED TO POST-MY COMPUTER GAVE OUT THEN I COULDN'T REMEMBER THE PASSWORD)

We had come out from the Battle of Tam Quan on the 14th of the same month. We were still jittery from the battle we had just experienced. In Delta Company, we had a lot of 11C’s mortar men who were interspersed in line platoons and doing Infantryman work. I remember telling someone, a young enlisted man, how to disarm the Claymore mine. I remember telling him disconnect the plunger(hand generator). He disconnected it and took the wire halfway. I explicitly told him to take out the blasting cap, and showed him with another claymore. A few minutes later we heard the explosion. I took the safety from my M16 and tried to get to my APC. At that time I got showered with gray matter and saw a piece of scalp with bone and hair. Roy probably thought the claymore was safe and started wrapping the wire around it. The wire had enough electricity in it and blew the blasting cap and claymore. This is what I remember and still bothers me till now. Yet I don’t know for sure if he was in our squad or the track next to us. But I was close enough and the horror of being showered with parts of a young man who just minutes before had been alive. Six days before, we lost another man from Oklahoma, Lt. Sodowsky. May they rest in peace. The accumulation of battles and incidences like this plays havoc with my PTSD, yet I’ve maintained.

“SKYTROOPERS IN THE SKY
“WHY DID I DIE” BY RIGO ORDAZ
In a faraway land
In a long forgotten war
58,000 souls or more
From the ground they do cry
“Why did I die”

Was it just to make their mom cry
Wife and kids for their father sigh
I know for sure I will never return
For over there my soul has died
And in a rice paddy my buddies lie.

Oh they told me to “Play the Game”
The Game of war and destruction
To kill the enemy everywhere
It was me that was dying right there
The more I killed
The more I died
Oh why did I die? Oh why did I die?

As I looked up a whirlwind stunned my heart
A herd of Choppers spurting flaming hot
thundering by me gave me quite a start
As thy went by I could hear their mournful cry
Why did I die, why did I die?

Like hellish horses in the sky
A hundred gunships they did ride
I strained my eyes ,in the twilight I could see
Twas my dead buddies singing back to me
Why did I die? Why did I die?

There is no coming home for me
My soul is out there in the field
On a dark monsoon sky
I ask you and everybody else
Before I say Goodby
“Why did I die?”
“Why did I die?

[pt9243]

Rigo, I vividly remember this incident as I was sitting on the ramp of our track when we heard the explosion then the dark gray smoke from the blast. As I recall, he was winding/wrapping the wire around the claymore itself which caused an electrical charge. The cap had not been removed and went off. At that point there was nothing I or anyone else could do. This incident still bothers me even today. It was something these guys did almost every morning after collecting the mines for reuse the following night. War sucks.

[rigo-ordaz]

I guess I shouldn't be posting sad things around these times, but I guess you can't control when you're going to feel sad. All and many other rotten things we experienced, but we have to cope with life. One of the things that's helped me is to find hobbies or pastimes. Recently I've started acting, no big projects but it does take my mind away from Nam. I can see where the Medics saw a lot of gruesome stuff over there and on that day Pete Tovar and Randy Smith had to deal with a young American. As I remember we were all pretty young. I agree with pt9243 that war sucks, and there's nothing we can do about what happened over there, and though my feelings are low I want to wish all my brothers and their families a Very Merry Christmas like the ones we yearned for and said we would celebrate once we got back to the "World". Go for it, celebrate as if we just got home from the war, we've earned it and we deserve it.
GOD BLESS ALL VETERANS AND THEIR FAMILIES

[harley hawkins]

Roy was not in your sqaud Rigo He very will could have been next to your APC were we had set up for the night. Roy was a very good weapons person he called everything by its Army service number rather than the name.
As they were picking up caymores that morning as we had done many many times before he just got in a hurry

[Jim Sheppard]

Over the last few years, I have begun compiling data on "D" Company...mainly on the Battle at LZ Litts on March 9, 1968. Everyone also knows of my efforts to collect data on all our men killed in action. These exchanges, such as are ongoing here over Standridge, are priceless. I have heard them all before from "D" Company veterans & they help tell the story of what happened....well beyond just a name carved in a black wall.

One of the many nuances of our "D" Company is that the structure was thrown together in such a hap-hazard way, that many do not recall squad assignments...at least not as well as in the other Line Companies...who spent nearly a year together training at Fort Hood prior to deployment.

I know that Standridge was with the Heavy Weapons Platoon before it was incorporated into "D" Company, but I do NOT know which squad he was with. It seems to be that the men of Heavy Weapons held loyalty to that designation at the Platoon level...and rarely, if ever, referred to any Squad designations.

I have been fairly successful in determining assignments, down to Platoon Level, for all our KIAs. If you see anyone you know on our Memorial Pages and/or lists that does not have a Platoon listed...please fill me in?? Also, if anyone has any Squad information, that would be helpful as well.

I understand that the years sometimes "play tricks" on our memories for many of these designations...so we should all accept that there can be mistakes. Remember that we can "get it right" by collectively being "open-minded" about the fact that battlefield facts are often seen totally differently...even by men who stood side by side. This makes no one "right" nor "wrong"...just that they saw/recall things from different perspectives and remembrances.

Many times, as demonstrated here...a final picture is painted from many parts.

Most sources considered the "Battle of Tam Quan" as being over by this date in 1967...but for many, the battle has never ended. I remind you all who saw battle in any of the various "parts" of Tam Quan throughout that December, that Tom Kjos will be at our next reunion this spring. Tom is doing a masterful job collecting remembrances and documentation on Tam Quan for a book to be released within the next couple of years. I spent a week at the National Archives with Tom and gleaned some 1st Cavalry Division Records that revealed much day-to-day detail about the battle. These documents will be available at the reunion for all to view.

[harley hawkins]

Jim

You are right on and I have never thought of it before that weapons plt. didn,t refer to squads unlike D comany weapons plt. was togethere in fort Hood and went to nam . I think SGT. Ward was very good at trying to keep all squads as stong as he could
so we moved around a lot . Due to KIAs or rotated to another Bat. when we would lose men in a squad Ward would move men around to keep a good mix of veterans and guys new in country or that is the way it seems to me.
You do a great job Jim and don't know what we would do without you. Speaking of Litts I guess you know I found the Commander of the chopper that went down at Litts. When we get closer I,m going to try and get him to come to Benning. He fills in a lot of gaps about that night.


Mick Hawkins

[Ernie Milito]

The Poor Kid,
We were having breakfast on the ramp of the track and I watched him go out to get the claymore. I could not tell if he removed the cap but started rolling the wire around the claymore, when he reached the track he picked up the plunger off the ground and throw it on the track then it was all over. His hair, scalp and bones were in my breakfast, Poor kid.

[rigo-ordaz]

Hello Everyone, Hope you all had agood Christmas.
That person that died on Dec. 16, 1967 was in the 2nd platoon area of D Company, as I said and Ernie Milito (D 2nd Plt.) can attest to that. It was the first time I had seen him. The person who signed in as Pt9243 also mentions him.
Some time back I was pissed off at persons who made the rosters and I meant Non Coms Sergeants,Specialists and Privates not only officers. I thought a long time about it and seeing how often we moved around in the field I'm now more sympathetic towards them.
When D Co. was formed, we got people from other companies and were still being carried in their rosters. Case in point those two soldiers who died on Dec. 10, 1967 at the Battle of Tam Quan still being carried under B Co. until you guys from Mortars straightened it out. Delta Co., like every other company had to form a fourth platoon. This got to be the weapons platoon in every company. Some carried 81mm mortars:however, in Delta Co. it was a different case because we had the HQ. Heavy Weapons (4.2) mortars Platoon also in the company. This actually made it into a 5 platoon company, as I counted 20 tracks just before going into the battle of Tam Quan. So we had the fourth plt.what some would call a weapons plt. and we also had the Heavy Weapns Mortar Plt.
Anyway what I am trying to say is that a trooper could be in a certain roster of a platoon and be physically in another platoon. Like I said, he was new in our platoon. Hell, we even had an 11C that was a squad leader-we both became squad leaders at the same time. His name is Navarra, an Italian guy- Anybody remember him? See my page at--http://www.imdb.me/filmmakerordaz

[Ernie Milito]

Yes, I hve a picture of him (Tony). We were drinking boddies. Some day I will scan in the photos I have.

[Randy Smith]

Rigo and Ernie I read your posts and you mentioned the two men from "B" Co. lost Dec. 10. They were James Wright and Bill Farrell. I also came from "B" Co. and left a damn fine Commander (Capt. Guthrie), but acquired another damn fine Commander in Capt. Braun. Seeing as how there was no DELTA Co. when we arrived, we all came from somewhere else. Jim Sheppard asked about assignments and being a dumb medic I didn't even know where I was half the time but I do know that I personally took James Wright off Sergeant Wards track and he was gone when I received him. I also took Lt. Mel Sodowski off his track that day along with the other men that were wounded then. I am not sure but I think Pete Tovar took Farrell at the time of his fatal wounds and Pete also set up and ran the triage area where the medivac choppers took out the casualties as I remember but memory is not one of my strong suits.

Rigo and Ernie I would love to see you guys at Ft. Benning for the reunion. I know others feel the same and you have so much to offer with your memories and research that I know Rigo has assembled. There may not be that many more reunions for some of us and we have lost too many since returning already. If at all possible please meet me there. Hope to see you soon, your old "DELTA" Co. senior medic Randy "DOC" Smith.

[Jim Sheppard]

Ernie....I am uncertain as to who you are refering to in the photos you mention above? If they are of Standridge or any other KIA, I would love to have them for those individual's KIA folders.

I am particularly looking forward to seeing RIgo at our next reunion. I can't wait to show off our files and archives! He will be impressed! I am also going to be visiting with former CPT Herb Randall in Vegas in March...and I think he might be at this one as well. Too many others I would like to see to try to list here.

[rigo-ordaz]

HELLO - HAVE A GRET AND HAPPY NEW YEAR FULL OF PROSPERITY!

JIM, I THINK MILITO WAS REFERRING TO TONY NAVARRA AN ITALIAN GUY (SQUAD LEADER) IN SECOND PLT OF DELTA. THE GUY WAS BUILT LIKE RAMBO. HE IS IN ONE OF PICS IN D CO. WHERE THERE IS A VIETNAMESE ON THE GROUND AND PETE TOVAR IS TREATING HER. NAVARRA IS WITH THE 60, BUT YOU CAN'T HIS FACE. HE BECAME SL IN D 2ND PLT ALTHOUGH HE WAS AN 11C. ALL OF A SUDDEN I DIDN'T SEE HIM ANYMORE -SOMEONE TOLD ME HE HAD BEEN WOUNDED-BUT DON'T KNOW FOR SURE. I'LL ASK MILITO

.RIGOBERTO ORDAZ
http://www.imdb.me/filmakerordaz

[George Borges]

Hello gentlemen, I hope everyone is well.on Tony's name it's not Navarra it's Navarro.and that's not Tony in the pic. with Pete Tovar .he didn't carry a m60. He was i n the 3rd sq.2nd. plt. and got wia. by a short round. that's all I have for now. see you guy's at the reunion. George B.

[rigo-ordaz]

I USED TO KID HIM ABOUT HIS LAST NAME. I USED TO TELL HIM "iT'S NAVARRO" LIKE THE SPANISH LAST NAME, HE USED TO GET MAD AND CORRECT ME"IT'S NAVARRA FROM ITALY. ANOTHER ITALIAN GUY IN MY SQUAD WAS SELONIA.
FOR A SHORT WHILE HE DID CARRY A SIXTY- THAT'S HIM IN THE PIC- MAYBE PETE TOVAR REMEMBERS HIM. THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT IHEARD, THAT HE GOT WOUNDED BY A SHORT ROUND AS HE WAS MOVED BACK TO THE MORTARS.

TAKE CARE AND HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR-
http://www.imdb.me/filmmakerordaz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAQPzi9En-g

http://www.jasonrjohnston.com/archive/rigo/

[Jim Sheppard]

Rigo's got it right. I checked through the General Orders and found the Air Medal orders. Coincidently...the same orders where one Harley M. Hawkins received his Air Medal ~grin~ 1st Cav GO#1136 dated 23 Feb 1968. His name is Anthony Navarra.

[George Borges]

OK I was wrong , I always called him Navarro . but he never corrected me must have been my New York accent. George

[Ernie Milito]

I just sent some pictures to Jim and George.

[rigo-ordaz]

THAT'S GREAT- WOULD LIKE TO SEE THOSE PICTURES IF AT ALL POSSIBLE. HOPE YOU ALL HAD A GREAT TIME DURING THE HOLIDAYS. TAKE CARE. RIGOBERTO (RIGO) ORDAZ
http://www.imdb.me/filmmakerordaz