The earnest looking black soldier kneeling in front is the much liked and aptly named squad leader Larry Hunter. The black grunt second row on the left, right fist raised in the Black Power salute, is the much disliked militant Brother Al. Understandably pissed at being drafted to fight a white man’s war 10,000 miles from home, Al griped about everything. As a form of protest he once dragged the machine gun ammo behind him while on patrol. He pissed everyone off. He was not well-liked.
The burly head peeking out next to Brother Al is Jim Brown, from New York city. “I’m from Tirty Tird and Tird,” he said told me. In 1998 third platoon grunt Frank “Frenchy” Rodriguez told me that during a ‘mad minute’ on LZ Compton, when the cannons roared and the mortars thumped, and the grunts of Delta 1/7 Cav pulling perimeter guard fired their weapons in a show of force, another squad leader, and Worm, the barest-chested grunt in the photo, took revenge on a sergeant by shooting him with a pistol in the back of the head.
The handsome black grunt slightly behind Worm is Glenn Williams. During an ambush Glenn was accidentally shot by Bill Williams after Bill was accidentally shot by an FNG. I believe the man to the left of Pete is Kenneth Perry. I believe he was an FO. Forward Observer’s risked their lives calling in artillery. In bad years FOs life spans were measured in minutes. Compared to Tet ’68, or the Ia Drang Valley, or the siege of Khe Sanh, except for Cambodia 1970 was more or less light year for Delta Company. As Frenchy told me, in ’69 the company was called Dying Delta. The grunt to the left of Worm, giving the peace sign, is squad leader Pete Della Bella. Pete, from Connecticut, was one of the most confident and easygoing grunts I ever met. Unlike Billings, second to the left, second row, also a good squad leader, but always on edge.
The head to the left of Pete’s peace sign is RTO Mike Wilson. Mike earned several Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart. He was last on the pile of men who threw themselves on me when the second Chicom grenade exploded. In 1998 I spent a week at his place in Monroe, Michigan. Among the sites we visited was the Monroe County Historical Museum. It’s second floor holds one of the nation’s largest public exhibitions about General George Armstrong Custer. Born in Ohio, Custer attended school in Monroe and married Elizabeth “Libbie’ Bacon, the only daughter of a prominent local judge. The arrogant Indian hater led the 1/7 First Cavalry into the famous Battle of the Little Big Horn, which did not end well for George or most of his men.
Gary Williams, from Kingsport, Tennessee (third platoon had three grunts named Williams) stands to the right of Pete’s peace sign. A good soldier, but a shamer too, always looking for a way to leave the bush. In 1999 I sent Gary a video cassette of The Real Deal. This short film I wrote about my time in combat has many photos of third platoon. After watching the video Gary walked out to his backyard and cried.
The fellow on the right holding two one quart canteens attached to a D ring is respected squad leader Lloyd “Butch” Edge. Butch and I once shared a somewhat useless two layers of sandbags culvert bunker waiting out a mortar attack on LZ Francis in Tay Ninh. The rounds soared over us, hitting a bunker down the line, wounding Gene Locklear, from Lumberton, North Carolina. Butch, from Wisconsin, died in 1984. I’ve wondered about his cause of death.
For all these years I believed the rifles Worm and the grunt to his right hold high are captured AKs. But look close. They’re M16s. Bao Ninh told me, and it’s well known, that the NVA and VC dismissed the light weight plastic stock rifle as inferior. Unlike the easy to care for wood stock AK47, reliable be it submerged in water, covered in mud or coated with dust, the M16 jammed, required constant cleaning, its short stubby bayonet no match for the AKs fifteen inch three-sided spear.
The group photo of Delta Company’s all American boys was taken on New Year’s Day 1970. On the first day of the new year we are celebrating. We had just some killed people.
Portrait of New Year’s 1970
The burly head peeking out next to Brother Al is Jim Brown, from New York city. “I’m from Tirty
Tird and Tird,” he said told me. In 1998 third platoon grunt Frank “Frenchy” Rodriguez told me that during a ‘mad minute’ on LZ Compton, when the cannons roared and the mortars thumped, and the grunts of Delta 1/7 Cav pulling perimeter guard fired their weapons in a show of force, another squad leader, and Worm, the barest-chested grunt in the photo, took revenge on a sergeant by shooting him with a pistol in the back of the head.
Gary Williams, from Kingsport, Tennessee (third platoon had three grunts
named Williams) stands to the right of Pete’s peace sign. A good soldier, but a shamer too, always looking for a way to leave the bush. In 1999 I sent Gary a video cassette of The Real Deal. This short film I wrote about my time in combat has many photos of third platoon. After watching the video Gary walked out to his backyard and cried.
The fellow on the right holding two one quart canteens attached to a D ring is respected squad leader Lloyd “Butch” Edge. Butch and I once shared a somewhat useless two layers of sandbags culvert bunker waiting out a mortar attack on LZ Francis in Tay Ninh. The rounds soared over us, hitting a bunker down the line, wounding Gene Locklear, from Lumberton, North Carolina. Butch, from Wisconsin, died in 1984. I’ve wondered about his cause of death.
The group photo of Delta Company’s all American boys was taken on New Year’s Day 1970. On the first day of the new year we are celebrating. We had just some killed people.