Specialist Fourth Class Alfonza Watson
This grainy black and white photo has always bothered me. It was the only known photo of SP4 Alfonza Watson, an Alpha Company, 3-12 Infantry soldier who was killed in action on May 1st, 1967. It’s obviously a government photo, probably from his draft board appearance or induction day. Either way, it’s not right that […]
Finding Captain Jones
In the amazing book, Nine Days In May (Warren Wilkins), he begins the section involving the 3-12 Infantry by briefly covering the action of May 1st, 1967. On that morning, Alpha Company was hit at their night defensive position by a large NVA force. The perimeter held, the NVA was repulsed, and Alpha was eventually […]
3-12 Infantry operational summary, April 25th thru April 30th, 1967
US Army’s 3rd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division operational summary for the period of April 25th-30th, 1967. II Corps, Pleiku Province. The 3-12 Inf HQ is moved to LZ Jackson Hole. Alpha & Bravo Companies continue company patrols. Charlie Company secures the perimeter at Jackson Hole. The Braves enter the mountains A looming […]
History Blog Post #7 – March 1967 – Part 1 – the 101st Airborne at Hill 86, a prelude to March 9th, 1967
1967 – MARCH From September of 1966 to February of 1967, the Braves of the 3-12 had become acclimated to this new style of guerrilla warfare. Hard lessons had been learned. The M-113 incident in February caused a stand down at the 10th Cav, and all drivers and commanders received retraining on the proper use […]
History Blog Post #6 – 1967 – January & February – The Pond.
1967 – JANUARY & FEBRUARY 1967 started for the battalion much as 1966 had ended. Operation Adams continued, moving into the fifth and final phase of the operation, dubbed “Operation Rice Bowl”. The mission was simple, secure the rice paddies in the lowland coastal basin and let the civilian farmers harvest the crops free of […]
Gravesite Visit #42 – PFC Roy L Edelstein – Superior, Wisconsin
Minneapolis, Minnesota In October of 2022 I found myself in Minneapolis, Minnesota for work. On Monday the 17th I had visited the gravesites of three men who were serving in the 3rd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment in Vietnam when they were killed in action. Once I finished up at the cemeteries, I picked up a […]
Gravesite Visit #39 – Specialist Fourth Class John Forman Lobsinger – Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota, October 17, 2022 In the fall of 2022, my employer gave me the opportunity to travel to Minneapolis-St. Paul for a planning session. After looking at the proposed schedule, I realized I could easily fit in a visit to a few gravesite visits located in and around the area. I compiled a list of […]
Gravesite Visit #3 – Sergeant Duane Johnson – Kerrville, Texas
October 4th, 2020 My son Micah and I left Petersburg at 3:00 PM, headed south on Alaska Airlines flight #64 to Wrangell, Ketchikan and finally Seattle, Washington, where we would stay the night before catching our next flight to San Antonio, Texas. This trip was the much anticipated beginning of a mission I gave myself […]
History Blog Post #5 – Phu Yen Province – December 1966
The soldiers of the 3-12 Infantry were also encountering an enemy that was the master of the booby trap. Punji stake traps, filled with wooden stakes sharpened and smeared with human excrement were common, and landmines and explosive devices littered the battlefield. But for Bravo Company, 3-12, and one soldier in particular, a peculiar and […]
History Blog Post #3 – Arrival to Vietnam – Tuy Hoa – September thru November 1966
ARRIVAL – TUY HOA – A SEASON OF FIRSTS As the Gordon pulled into port in Nha Trang on Wednesday, October 5th, the men aboard began to get their first glimpse of the lush green landscape that would be their battleground. Quickly moved off the ship, they experienced their first convoy of the war, and […]