Name: James Leslie Moreland
Rank/Branch: E4/US Army Special Forces
Unit: Company C, Detachment A-101, 12th Mobile
Strike Force, 5th Special Forces
Date of Birth: 29 September 1945 (Bessemer AL)
Home City of Record: Anaheim CA,
Joined Service October 1, 1965
Started Vietnam tour Oct 1, 1967
Loss Date: 07 February 1968
Parents notified of MIA status 13FEB68
On 23 FEB 68 a recommendation was made
that his status be changed to KIA.
Parent's notified their Son is not on the
list of POWs from Paris
28JAN73.
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 163602N 1064058E (XD795360)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 1
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Refno: 1040
Note: All County Running Back, class of
1963, Western High School, Anaheim,
CA. Attended Fullerton Junior College, Fullerton
CA for 2 years. (1964-1965 school years)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project
from one or more of the following:
raw data from U.S. Government agency sources,
correspondence with POW/MIA
families, published sources, interviews. Updated
by the P.O.W. NETWORK in
1998 with information from B. Jacobs.
Personnel In Incident: Dennis L. Thompson;
William G. McMurry; Harvey G.
Brande; (all released 1973). Kenneth Hanna;
Daniel R. Phillips; James W.
Holt; James Moreland; Charles Lindewald; (all
missing); Eugene Ashley Jr.
(killed)
REMARKS: OVERRUN AT SF CAMP
Prior Military Assignments:
01 OCT 65 - 26 NOV 65, Co D, 4th Bn, 1st Tng
Bde, Ft Polk, LA: Trainee
11 DEC 65 - 03 FEB 66, Co A, 2d Bn, 3rd Bde, Ft
Jackson, SC; AIT
04 FEB 66 - 01 MAR 66, 45th Co, 4th Stu Bn, TSB,
Ft Benning, GA; Basic Abn Tng
02 MAR 66 - 17 JUL 66, Co B, USA, SFTG (Abn), Ft
Bragg, NC; Med Spec
18 JUL 66 - 09 SEP 66, Co I, USA, SFTG (Abn), Ft
Bragg, NC; Med Spec
17 OCT 66 - 20 NOV 66, Hl MFSS (3410-02) BAMC, Ft
Sam Houston, TX; Special
Forces Aidman
21 NOV 66 - 20 JAN 67, SF, USAFG, Ft Bragg, NC,
atch USAH, Ft Rucker, AL;
Medical Corps Tng
22 JAN 67 - 19 MAY 67, Co D, USAF SFTG (Abn), Ft
Bragg, NC; Med Spec (SF)
04 JUL 67 - 07 FEB 68, Co C, 5th SFG (Abn), 1st
SF (atch); Med Spec
SYNOPSIS: The Lang Vei Special Forces camp
in the northwestern corner of
South Vietnam along Route 9, a mile and a half
from the Laotian border.had
been established in late December 1966 as a
result of the Special Forces
Detachment A101 having been moved out of its
former Khe Sanh location. It
seemed ill fated from the Gning.
In March 1967, one of the worst tragedies to
befall the Special Forces CIDG
program during the war occurred. U.S. Air Force
released napalm ordnance on
the nearby village which spewed exploding fire
over the camp, landing zone,
minefield and village. 135 CIDG and native
civilians were killed, and 213
were horribly wounded, burned or
disfigured.
Only two months later, on May 4, a Viet Cong
night attack on the camp wiped
out the Special Forces command group, all in one
bunker, and killed the
detachment commander and his executive officer,
as well as seriously
wounding the team sergeant. This attack was a
prelude to the larger siege of
Khe Sanh, and was a grim reminder of the
dangerous neighborhood Special
Forces had moved into.
By January 1968, several North Vietnamese
Army divisions had encircled the
Marine combat base at Khe Sanh, placing the more
westerly Lang Vei Special
Forces frontier surveillance camp in imminent
danger. The camp was occupied
by Detachment A101 commanded by Capt. Frank C.
Willoughby. Willoughby was
rebuilding and reinforcing the camp at the time,
while soldiers and
dependants from the Kha tribal 33rd Laotian
Volunteer Battalion streamed
into the camp after being overrun by NVA tanks
across the border.
On the evening of January 24, the camp was
pounded by mortars in conjunction
with a heavy shelling of the Marine Khe Sanh
base, which prevented any
effective artillery support for Lang Vei. 1Lt.
Paul R. Longgrear had only
recently arrived with his Hre tribal 12th Mobile
Strike Force Company to
help shore up defensive firepower.
The influx of the Laotians caused some
problems. For example, the Lao
battalion commander refused to take orders from
the American captain,
forcing the Company C commander, LtCol. Daniel F.
Schungel, to come to Lang
Vei on his first Special Forces assignment on
February 6 to provide an
officer of equal rank.
Camp strength on February 6 totalled 24
Special Forces, 14 LLDB, 161 mobile
strike force, 282 CIDG (Bru and Vietnamese), 6
interpreters and 520 Laotian
soldiers, plus a number of civilians.
Shortly after midnight on February 7, 1968,
a combined NVA infantry-tank
assault drove into Lang Vei. Two PT-76 tanks
threatened the outer perimeter
of the camp as infantry rushed behind them. SFC
James W. Holt destroyed both
tanks with shots from his 106mm recoilless rifle.
More tanks came around the
burning hulks of the first two tanks and began to
roll over the 104th CIDG
Company's defensive positions. SSgt. Peter
Tiroch, the assistant
intelligence sergeant, ran over to Holt's
position and helped load the
weapon. Holt quickly lined up a third tank in his
sights and destroyed it
with a direct hit. After a second shot at the
tank, Holt and Tiroch left the
weapons pit just before it was demolished by
return cannon fire. Tiroch
watched Holt run over to the ammunition bunker to
look for some hand-held
Light Anti-tank Weapons (LAWs). It was the last
time Holt was ever seen.
LtCol. Schungel, 1Lt. Longgrear, SSgt.
Arthur Brooks, Sgt. Nikolas Fragos,
SP4 William G. McMurry, Jr., and LLDB Lt. Quy
desperately tried to stop the
tanks with LAWs and grenades. They even climbed
on the plated engine decks,
trying to pry open hatches to blast out the
crews. NVA infantrymen followed
the vehicles closely, dusting their sides with
automatic rifle fire. One
tank was stopped by five direct hits, and the
crew killed as they tried to
abandon the vehicle. 1Lt. Miles R. Wilkins, the
detachment executive
officer, left the mortar pit with several LAWs
and fought a running
engagement with one tank beside the team house
without much success.
Along the outer perimeters, the mobile
strike force outpost was receiving
fire. Both Kenneth Hanna, a heavy weapons
specialist, and Charles W.
Lindewald, 12th Mobile Strike Force platoon
leader, were wounded. Hanna,
wounded in the scalp, left shoulder and arm tried
to administer first aid to
Lindewald. The two were last seen just before
their position was overrun.
Harvey Brande spoke with them by radio and Hanna
indicated that Lindewald
was then dead, and that he himself was badly
wounded. Daniel R. Phillips, a
demolitions specialist, was wounded in the face
and was last seen trying to
evade North Vietnamese armor by going through the
northern perimeter wire. .
NVA sappers armed with satchel charges, tear gas
grenades and flamethrowers
fought through the 101st, 102nd and 103rd CIDG
perimeter trenches and
captured both ends of the compound by 2:30 a.m.
Spearheaded by tanks, they
stormed the inner compound. LtCol. Schungel and
his tank-killer personnel
moved back to the command bunker for more LAWs.
They were pinned behind a
row of dirt and rock filled drums by a tank that
had just destroyed one of
the mortar pits. A LAW was fired against the tank
with no effect. The cannon
swung around and blasted the barrels in front of
the bunker entrance. The
explosion temporarily blinded McMurry and mangled
his hands, pitched a heavy
drum on top of Lt. Wilkins and knocked Schungel
flat. Lt. Quy managed to
escape to another section of the camp, but the
approach of yet another tank
prevented Schungel and Wilkins from following. At
some point during this
period, McMurry, a radioman, disappeared.
The tank, which was shooting at the camp
observation post, was destroyed
with a LAW. Schungel helped Wilkins over to the
team house, where he left
both doors ajar and watched for approaching NVA
soldiers. Wilkins was
incapacitated and weaponless, and Schungel had
only two grenades and two
magazines of ammunition left. He used one
magazine to kill a closely huddled
five-man sapper squad coming toward the building.
He fed his last magazine
into his rifle as the team house was rocked with
explosions and bullets. The
two limped over to the dispensary, which was
occupied by NVA soldiers, and
hid underneath it, behind a wall of
sandbags.
At some point, Brande, Thompson and at least
one Vietnamese interpreter were
captured by the North Vietnamese. Thompson was
uninjured, but Brande had
taken shrapnel in his leg. Brande and Thompson
were held separately for a
week, then rejoined in Laos. Joined with them was
McMurry, who had also been
captured from the camp. The three were moved up
the Ho Chi Minh trail to
North Vietnam and held until 1973. The U.S. did
not immediately realize they
had been captured, and carried them in Missing in
Action status thoughout
the rest of the war, although Brande's photo was
positively identified by a
defector in April 1969 as being a Prisoner of
War. A Vietnamese interpreter
captured from the camp told Brande later that he
had seen both Lindewald and
Hanna, and that they both were dead.
Several personnel, including Capt.
Willoughby, SP4 James L. Moreland, the
medic for the mobile strike force, and Lt. Quan,
the LLDB camp commander,
were trapped in the underground level of the
command bunker. Lt. Longgrear
had also retreated to the command bunker. Satchel
charges, thermite grenades
and gas grenades were shoved down the bunker air
vents, and breathing was
very difficult. Some soldiers had gas masks, but
others had only
handkerchiefs or gauze from their first aid
packets.
The NVA announced they were going to blow up
the bunker, and the LLDB
personnel walked up the stairs to surrender, and
were summarily executed. At
dawn, two large charges were put down the vent
shaft and detonated,
partially demolishing the north wall and creating
a large hole through which
grenades were pitched. The bunker defenders used
upturned furniture and
debris to shield themselves. Willoughby was badly
wounded by grenade
fragments and passed out at 8:30 a.m. Moreland
had been wounded and became
delirious after receiving a head injury in the
final bunker explosion.
Incredibly, the battle was still going on in
other parts of the camp.
Even in her grief, Les Moreland's
mother wanted to thank a soldier
who had aided him.
THE ARMY TO The Moreland
family:
"I regret that I cannot provide
you the name and address of the
individual who aided your son at Lang
Vei. It is Department of the
Army policy not to release the names of
other personnel involved in
military actions. I have, however,
forwarded a copy of your letter
to the individual so that he will know of
your appreciation of his
efforts to help your son." --
Kenneth G. Wickham, Major General,
USA.
"According to the statements of
those who were with your son, he was
critically wounded....James was given
medication to help ease the
pain... Kenneth G. Wickham, Major
General, USA.
Aircraft had been strafing the ravines and
roads since 1:00 a.m. Throughout
the battle, the Laotians refused to participate,
saying they would attack at
first light. Sfc. Eugene Ashley, Jr., the
intelligence sergeant, led two
assistant medical specialists, Sgt. Richard H.
Allen and SP4 Joel Johnson as
they mustered 60 of the Laotian soldiers and
counterattacked into Lang Vei.
The Laotians bolted when a NVA machine gun crew
opened fire on them, forcing
the three Americans to withdraw.
Team Sfc. William T. Craig and SSgt. Tiroch
had chased tanks throughout the
night with everything from M-79 grenade launchers
to a .50 caliber machine
gun. After it had become apparent that the camp
had been overrun, they
escaped outside the wire and took temporary
refuge in a creek bed. After
daylight, they saw Ashley's counterattack force
and joined him. The Special
Forces sergeants persuaded more defenders fleeing
down Route 9 to assist
them and tried second, third and fourth assaults.
Between each assault,
Ashley directed airstrikes on the NVA defensive
line, while the other
Special Forces soldiers gathered tribal warriors
for yet another attempt. On
the fifth counterattack, Ashley was mortally
wounded only thirty yards from
the command bunker.
Capt. Willoughby had regained consciousness
in the bunker about 10:00 a.m.
and established radio contact with the
counterattacking Americans. The
continual American airstrikes had forced the
North Vietnamese to begin
withdrawing from the camp. Col. Schungel and Lt.
Wilkins emerged from under
the dispensary after it was vacated by the North
Vietnamese and hobbled out
of the camp.
The personnel in the bunker also left in
response to orders to immediately
evacuate the camp. They carried Sgt. John D.
Early, who had been badly
wounded by shrapnel while manning the tower, but
were forced to leave SP4
Moreland inside the bunker. 1Lt. Thomas D. Todd,
an engineer officer in
charge of upgrading Lang Vei's airstrip, held out
in the medical bunker
throughout the battle. That afternoon, he was the
last American to pass
through the ruined command bunker. He saw
Moreland, who appeared to be dead,
covered with debris.
Maj. George Quamo gathered a few dozen
Special Forces commando volunteers
from the MACV-SOG base at Khe Sanh (FOB #3) and
led a heroic reinforcing
mission into Lang Vei. His arrival enabled the
Lang Vei defenders to
evacuate the area, many by Marine helicopters in
the late afternoon.
"Enemy troops occupied the Lang
Vei area for several days
afterwards. However, the base camp was
later retaken by our forces
A complete search has been made of the
ruins of the area, but no
evidence of your son's fate or
whereabouts has been found....
Kenneth G. Wickham, Major General, USA.
Sgt. Richard H. Allen - Survivor
Sfc Eugene Ashley, Jr. - Awarded the
Congressional Medal of Honor for Lang
Vei
Harvey Gordon Brande - Captured - released POW in
1973
SSgt. Arthur Brooks - Survivor
Sfc. William T. Craig - Survivor
Sgt. John D. Early - Survivor
Sgt. Nikolas Fragos - Survivor
Kenneth Hanna - Missing In Action
James William Holt - Missing In Action
SP4 Joel Johnson - Survivor
Charles Wesley Lindewald, Jr. - Missing In Action
1Lt. Paul R. Longgrear - Survivor
SP4 William G. McMurry - Captured - released POW
in 1973
James Leslie Moreland - Missing In Action
Daniel Raymond Phillips - Missing In Action
Maj. George Quamo - Killed in Action April 14,
1968
Lt. Quy - Survivor
LtCol. Daniel F. Schungel - appointed deputy
commander of the 5th Special
Forces
Dennis L. Thompson - Captured - released POW in
1973
SSgt. Peter Tiroch - Survivor
1Lt. Thomas D. Todd - Survivor
1Lt. Miles R. Wilkins - Survivor
Capt. Frank C. Willoughby - Survivor
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