October 17, 1967

Thanks to the following for their great contributions in putting together this account of October 17, 1967:

Santiago Griego, David Laub, Paul Scott, Jimmy Scott, Jim Kasik, Clark Welch, Clarence "Bud" Barrow, Jim Shelton, Mike Gormley, Larry McDevitt, Dave Berry, Tom Hinger,Michael Arias, Joe Platosz, Douglas Cron, Gregory Landon, Peter Miller, Faustin Sena, Mike Troyer, Roy Key, Gerald Thompson, Joe Devine, Ronald Gore, Thomas Waldron, Mike Kotowski, John Fowler, Larry Beckwith, Robert Burbridge, Thomas Colburn, Robert Gomez, Bill McGath, Frank McMeel, Donnie Hodges, Ray Phillips, George Smith, Michael Taylor, Frank Wilhelm, Doug Ikerd, Thomas Howard, Harold Wactor, Johnny Rupert, David Probst, Randy Brown, Jose Valdez, James "Mike" Stubbs, and a very special thanks to my good buddy Mike Dinkins who spent thousands of dollars and months of his time on this important project
- Thanks To All Of You from Fred Kirkpatrick! -

- Battle of Ong Thanh -
During this little known battle of the Vietnam War, 155 soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division, were ambushed by 1200-1400 VC's hiding in tall trees and lodged inside well-fortified bunkers.
The overwhelming assault included rifle fire and RPGs from trees, machine-gun fire from the ground and explosions from claymore mines.

- For the Record -
I developed the Black Lion website in 1986 and posted the first writtings about my experiences with Charlie & Delta companies called Pointman under my personal website.
(Pointman is the lead soldier for a company. In other words, there is no one in front of you.)

On October 8, 1967, I was Delta's Pointman. I was interviewed by the lady in the black jumpsuit, Jurate Kazickas,
Wartorn , that was later shown on TV back in CaLIFORNIA.
on October 17, 1967, SIX MEMBERS of my squad (Reece, Wilson, Schroder, Megiveron, Jones, and Lincoln) were killed. Three other close friends from Charlie company (Gilbert, Tizzio, and Willie C. Johnson) would also die.

In 1988, Mike Dinkins (Charlie & HHC 2/28th 1967) as a graduating student at the Evergreen State College, began writting his thesis on the ambush of the 2/28th on October 17, 1967.
Mike spent many, many, hours researching the Battle of Ong Thanh. Mike contacted many of the officers involved, developed the ambush list, secured the Combat After Action Interview Report, the morning reports, and Jim Kasik's handwritten notes.
I later expanded and corrected the ambush list and contacted, and was contacted, by many Black Lions who provided much more information and photos from that time frame.
In the year 2000, David Maraniss contacted me from my writtings on my personal website and interviewed many survivors and family members that were Killed in Action.

Alpha Company - (64 Men - 22 KIA)||- Delta Company - (81 Men - 27 KIA)|| - Command Group - (10 Men - 10 KIA)||