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(John Olson/Stars and Stripes)

Landing Zone Ross, South Vietnam, Jan. 14, 1968: Spc. 4 Robert Iverson (Decatur, Iowa) from B Troop, 1st Squad, 1st Cavalry Regiment covers his crew members Sgt. Kenneth Bouche (Anaheim, Calif.) and Spc. 4 Steve Turner (St. Petersburg, Fla.) as they get ready to run through enemy fire to retrieve the M16s and M60s still inside their disabled Armored Personnel Carrier. The crew’s APC was disabled earlier by North Vietnamese Army fire. After having to abandon the track vehicle initially, the three returned twice to retrieve the M16s and M60s still inside, both times under heavy enemy fire. All three were put in by their commanding officers for “high” medals, according to the Stars and Stripes article published about the action.

They and the other members of their B Troop, as well as the men from C company, 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment; and the men from A and D squads, 1st Platoon, B Company, 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, got pinned down by the NVA for hours. The men had been moving 1,000 meters west along a road leading through the Khe Sanh valley with the objective to take a hill some 500 meters away when a tank hit a 500-pound mine, causing two to be injured, one seriously. In a subsequent firefight, the NVA managed to disable a second tank as well as an Armored Personnel Carrier, pinning the units down in the cross fire. After three hours of air strikes — some hitting as close as 50 meter from the men — the order to withdraw was given. A total of 22 NVA were killed. Three tanks and one APC were destroyed and the Americans suffered five wounded during the action.

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