"Ranger Williams" (Harold D. Williams) was one our most respected and well-liked team-leaders in C Co., 75th Rangers. He was smart, serious, and a natural leader. Everyone wanted to be on his team.
Late on July 31, 1969, I vectored his 5-man team (Team 25) to a mountaintop in the Central Highlands north of Song Mao. The landing zone was a flat bare rock (center left in the photo above) but the team melted quickly into the bush. The team settled in for the night and I returned to base.
I was back on station early the next morning. When I checked in with the team, the RTO (Frank Walthers), reported that the team spent the night listening to loud-speakers addressing NVA soldiers down in the valley. This was incredible beyond belief. The platoon's Kit Carson scout (Hoa) told me that there were "beaucoup VC"--meaning a lot of Viet Cong. I scrambled the helicopter gunships and put a reaction force on standby. As I flew overhead Williams told me he was moving his team down into the valley (center). As they closed in to people talking, they saw picnic-type tables set up and NVA soldiers milling about. The team engaged them.
No one knew at the time but they got into a firefight with an NVA battalion. During the ferocious fight, Walthers was killed and every team member wounded (Ranger Williams, John Leppleman, Gary Frye and Hoa). Most of the battalion escaped into the triple canopy jungle--having been discovered, they knew what was coming.
Though wounded, Williams directed supporting fire from helicopter gunships. At great risk, he called them extremely close to his position--again and again. Concurrently, a platoon-sized reaction force landed on the same mountaintop and fought their way down to the team. They tended to the wounded and called for a Medivac helicopter. Hovering overhead, the helicopter got shot up and had to leave. A larger company-sized ARVN force landed further down the valley but couldn't (or didn't want to) get to them. The platoon and Ranger Team 25 spent the night--alone. The Platoon leader (who had broken his ankle) told me that Walthers was KIA but said nothing about Williams.
The next morning, August 2, the team was extracted and I met their helicopter on the tarmac at Phan Thiet. But there were only three Rangers--Frye, Leppleman and Hoa. Through the noise of the helicopters, I screamed at Frye: "Where's Williams?"
"He's dead, sir."
I was stunned. He was with Walthers on the chopper that came in next.
Today, the names of Frank Walthers and Harold Williams are side by side on the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. I visit them (and others I knew or served with) from time-to-time whenever I'm in the area.
Late on July 31, 1969, I vectored his 5-man team (Team 25) to a mountaintop in the Central Highlands north of Song Mao. The landing zone was a flat bare rock (center left in the photo above) but the team melted quickly into the bush. The team settled in for the night and I returned to base.
I was back on station early the next morning. When I checked in with the team, the RTO (Frank Walthers), reported that the team spent the night listening to loud-speakers addressing NVA soldiers down in the valley. This was incredible beyond belief. The platoon's Kit Carson scout (Hoa) told me that there were "beaucoup VC"--meaning a lot of Viet Cong. I scrambled the helicopter gunships and put a reaction force on standby. As I flew overhead Williams told me he was moving his team down into the valley (center). As they closed in to people talking, they saw picnic-type tables set up and NVA soldiers milling about. The team engaged them.
No one knew at the time but they got into a firefight with an NVA battalion. During the ferocious fight, Walthers was killed and every team member wounded (Ranger Williams, John Leppleman, Gary Frye and Hoa). Most of the battalion escaped into the triple canopy jungle--having been discovered, they knew what was coming.
Though wounded, Williams directed supporting fire from helicopter gunships. At great risk, he called them extremely close to his position--again and again. Concurrently, a platoon-sized reaction force landed on the same mountaintop and fought their way down to the team. They tended to the wounded and called for a Medivac helicopter. Hovering overhead, the helicopter got shot up and had to leave. A larger company-sized ARVN force landed further down the valley but couldn't (or didn't want to) get to them. The platoon and Ranger Team 25 spent the night--alone. The Platoon leader (who had broken his ankle) told me that Walthers was KIA but said nothing about Williams.
The next morning, August 2, the team was extracted and I met their helicopter on the tarmac at Phan Thiet. But there were only three Rangers--Frye, Leppleman and Hoa. Through the noise of the helicopters, I screamed at Frye: "Where's Williams?"
"He's dead, sir."
I was stunned. He was with Walthers on the chopper that came in next.
Today, the names of Frank Walthers and Harold Williams are side by side on the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. I visit them (and others I knew or served with) from time-to-time whenever I'm in the area.
