MORELAND, JAMES LESLIE "Les"
Name: James Leslie Moreland
Rank/Branch: E4/US Army Special Forces
Unit: Company C, Detachment A-101, 12th Mobile Strike Force, 5th Special
Forces
MOS: 91B4S
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
98/99 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
Recommended for promotion 05 FEB 68.
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 beginning.
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. In his post-captivity debriefing after
his release in 1973, Dennis Thompson stated "Moreland was alive and fighting
attackers at Lang Vei Special Forces Camp on 07 FEB 68 when seen last."
Several personnel, including Capt. Willoughby, assistant platoon leader 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
Five investigations have been undertaken SINCE 1992, none prior to that
time. The first, interviewd witnesses and concluded all five missing had
died in the incident. An investigation and excavation of a bunker in '93
concluded it was the wrong site. Another witness interview and another site
were excavated in '94. A portion of a human skull was found. Uncertainty
caused 3 more new areas to be excavated in '95. "One human, and one possibly
human bone fragment" were found.
=================================
From: Willing, Will
Sent: Friday, March 17, 2000 09:54 AM
Subject: I'm confused
Can you help clarify someting for me please?
When I checked on the bio for James L. Moreland - the name I've been
associated with since Oct '73 - I found the incident report in which it was
mentioned that a Capt. Willoughby (I believe that's who it was was the last
one to see James and that he appeared to be dead and buried under some
rubble. There was also mention of Jaqmes' being wounded by some shrapnel
and then becoming delerious from a head wound caused by a collapsing bunker.
Here's where I get confused - James is also listed in the "Last Known Alive"
section as "being on the ground and unwounded". Can you help me understand?
Will Willing
============================
The answer came from friends....
James "Les" Moreland was indeed wounded. In fact -- all the men in the
bunker were wounded. How he was wounded is not certain. The original bio
seems to indicate he received his wounds from the satchel charges. Actually
the NVA dug down beside the bunker wall, all night, to place a shaped charge
to breach the 8 inch concrete walls. William Phillips, (Cousin to Daniel
Phillips) in his book, "Night of the Silver Stars" indicates that Moreland
was wounded in the Bunker's gun tower retrieving an M60, 30-caliber machine
gun. Phillips claims a PT-76 fired its main cannon at the gun tower.
Moreland was given Morphine, which is contraindicated for a head-wound.
Apparently he had the Team Sergeant pinned under his own rifle. Those who
played football with Moreland knew him to have exceptional strength. They
had to hit him with Morphine multiple times to get off.
Moreland was last seen by an Engineer who was in camp named 1LT Thomas D.
Todd. Todd, who remained hidden during the battle, passed through
the bunker hurriedly, as he was almost left by the waiting choppers. He
made the statement that he saw Moreland and he appeared dead. But he
did not check him. Was he dead? Or, out on Morphine?
The "last seen alive" comes from the debriefing of former POW, Dennis
Leroy Thompson - Captured - released POW in 1973. When Thompson last saw
Moreland, he was alive and fighting.
When Lang Vei was returned to friendly control, Moreland's body was not
found. On 23 FEB 68, SFC Gilbert Secor of the C&C detachment gave a sworn
statement to a Board of Officers that the only body found at Lang Vei was
that of SFC Eugene Ashley, still on the jeep, where he had been left in the
haste to evacuate.
The Photo is Moreland's senior year photo from Western High School, Anaheim
CA. Moreland is survived by his Mother who lives in Washington State. I
wrote to her recently, but she did not reply.
For more photos of James "Les" Moreland, see --
http://home.earthlink.net/~rbtjacobs/Moreland.html
Regards,
Bob Jacobs
Pasadena CA
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