On December 18, on the last leg of its long trek to their destination units of the 2d Battalion encountered the last heavy resistance near the village of Ky Phu in Tam Ky District. The Viet Cong allowed Company G, the lead unit of the column pass through Ky Phu before opening up with a heavy volume of small arms fire on the column. Thinking it was an enemy force of snipers, Company F was ordered to advance, as they passed through the eastern edge of the village enemy mortars where heard and began to drop on H&S Company in the open rice paddies.
Two Company's of the Viet Cong's hard-core 80th Battalion attempted to enter the gap created between Company F and H&S Company approaching the village to split the Marine units. The battle between the opposing forces raged on for several hours until the enemy were beaten at their attempt to destroy the Marines and retreated into the darkness of the night, leaving one hundred and four of their dead on the battlefield. Regrouping in a defensive perimeter, the Marines evacuated their dead and wounded comrades.
One of the many Marine casualties was Cpl Porter who died as a result of multiple fragmentation wounds from a hostile device.
Casualties: H&S Company
Melvin Lawrence Frontella
Vernon Edward Holland
Donald Dean Karlin
Joseph Elwin Nimiroski
Jack Shivley Swender
Ernest Felipe Losoya Died of Wounds
William Vance Moss Died of Wounds
Casualties: Company F
Stephen James Lukasiewski
Fred Albert Tryon Jr.
Michael Clay Halstead Died of Wounds
Casualties: Company G
Ronald William Porter
Federico Silva
On December 18, on the last leg of its long trek to their destination units of the 2d Battalion encountered the last heavy resistance near the village of Ky Phu in Tam Ky District. The Viet Cong allowed Company G, the lead unit of the column pass through Ky Phu before opening up with a heavy volume of small arms fire on the column. Thinking it was an enemy force of snipers, Company F was ordered to advance, as they passed through the eastern edge of the village enemy mortars where heard and began to drop on H&S Company in the open rice paddies.
Two Company's of the Viet Cong's hard-core 80th Battalion attempted to enter the gap created between Company F and H&S Company approaching the village to split the Marine units. The battle between the opposing forces raged on for several hours until the enemy were beaten at their attempt to destroy the Marines and retreated into the darkness of the night, leaving one hundred and four of their dead on the battlefield. Regrouping in a defensive perimeter, the Marines evacuated their dead and wounded comrades.
One of the many Marine casualties was Cpl Porter who died as a result of multiple fragmentation wounds from a hostile device.
Casualties: H&S Company
Melvin Lawrence Frontella
Vernon Edward Holland
Donald Dean Karlin
Joseph Elwin Nimiroski
Jack Shivley Swender
Ernest Felipe Losoya Died of Wounds
William Vance Moss Died of Wounds
Casualties: Company F
Stephen James Lukasiewski
Fred Albert Tryon Jr.
Michael Clay Halstead Died of Wounds
Casualties: Company G
Ronald William Porter
Federico Silva
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement