Page Author: John McCoy Date: 1/20/01

Mike Gormley was a Black Lion with Bravo Company from Dec of 1966 to late August, 1967. Mike always wanted to fly in helicopters as a door gunner. He interviewed for, and was transferred to the "Long Horns," the chopper company that provided airmobile exclusively for Generals and Colonels of the 1st Infantry Division. Mike generally flew as a gunner for Colonel Newman, 3rd Brigade Commander. Operating in this capacity on 17 October, 1967, Mike was door gunner on the helicopter that flew Colonel Newman and Major Holleder to the Battalion NDP that morning. Mike probably heard and saw things from a little different perspective than those on the ground, Making his letter home a unique document. Having been a former member of the 2/28 probably added some extra strain to him that day. Mike wrote this letter home in response to a newsclipping about the battle of Ong Thanh that his parents had sent him in their most recent letter. Here then, is Mike's letter home:

Oct 25, 1967

Hi Mom, Dad,

Thanks for the letter and the newsclippings. All very interesting, especially the clipping about my old unit. I've been flying from seven to nine hours a day for two solid weeks because of Operation Shenandoah II. This one is taking place about five miles N.E. of Lai Khe in a very high, double canopied jungle. The 9th V.C. Division is in the area and the purpose is to push them back north and destroy their supply bases. A couple of big battles were fought along with a lot of smaller skirmishes.

My old unit, 2/28, was in the biggest to date which the clipping so stated, and that was the only facts that were true. The truth is my unit was mauled so badly they had to be taken out of the field. "D" Company and "A" Company were ambushed by 400 - 500 V.C. Our casualities were 20 some killed and 101 wounded out of a force of 250 men. Why military minds purposely distort the facts, I don't know, but to go on, I was flying for 3rd brigade, Colonel Newman, and we had just landed at the 2/28th NDP (night defensive position) when the battle started about 800 meters in the jungle, just after the two companies had left for day patrol. There was a heck of a lot of firing, claymore mines being blown and small arms fire. We immediately went airborne and flew above the fighting so the Colonel could direct artillery and air support. The Battalion commander, battalion sergeant-major, and one of the company commmanders were killed [web master's note: No company commander was killed, but there was a Captain killed, and that lead many of us, myself included, to believe that a company commander had been killed. I did not find out until 33 years later that a company commander was not killed]. The jungle was so thick that troops had to cut out an opening to get the casualties out. A friend of mine was the last to be evacuated, and he didn't get out until seven that night - eight hours! We dropped off Colonel Newman and his aide so that he could take over the leaderless battalion. About two minutes after we went up again [I found out] the major [Holleder] was killed. [Note: Mike and the Long Horns had flown Col. Newman and Major Holleder to the NDP. Major Holleder, more or less under his own initiative, had requested Lt. Col. Allen's OH-13 pilot to fly him on to the scene of the battle. Major Holleder was extremely concerned for the wounded men that had been isolated from the main group. You can find links to pages that describe Major Holleder's actions and last minutes on the main Bravo Company page.] It was all quite a happening and could have been worse, the jungle being so thick and people seperated from their units. Jim Campbell is O.K., he came down with malaria two days before. How about that for timing?

For my own actions in the battle, I'm pretty damn disgusted. After we dropped off the Colonel, we set down in the NDP to wait. And wait we did. There were dozens of wounded lying on the ground and we just sat there! "Because we don't have authorization," so said Major Jones [the chopper pilot]. He tried to call in once for permissioin, couldn't get through, so he gave up. I can not stand a person who in a situation doesn't do anything. Usually in a bad happening any reaction is better than doing nothing. Right? I told him it'd be a cold day in hell before I flew with him again. while we sat there a guy I knew died of loss of blood.

Well, the battle is over, except in the minds of those who survived, and the operation continues, with lots of rice and arms caches being found. The V.C. main force has moved out and the supply bases are being found and destroyed.

I'm tired. Dead tired, and it's a big day tomorrow, so good night and see y'all soon, only forty days.

Love,
Michael

Thanks, Mike, for sharing your letter home with us. And I thank your mom, who saved all your letters home. A bit of history has been preserved due to her efforts.