Comments:
Hi folks, I put most of this information up on the Guestbook 0n June 14, 2015 before I was a Member. I feel that after my 100's of hours of research, mainly through the information on the 11ACVVC website that the results are miraculous. I could not figure out why there was not more of a reaction. Hopefully it is because it was not posted on the Members Bulletin Board. I hope it will now be, because I have added quite a few additional questions and bits of information. It's much longer than all the others I've read so I hope you don't mind. Here goes: Over the last year I have been doing hundreds of hours of research to bring some resolution to questions regarding my last month in Viet Nam and thought you might be able to help.
Here is the information I've gleaned so far: I have spoken with George Red Elk who remembers lifting a KIA out of his Tank D31 on August 13, 1969 in a Firefight at Loc Ninh. He does not remember the man's name but that he had only been on D31 a few days. "Chief", as I heard him called that day" was TC, but said he was loader that day and had given Sgt Charles Crockett Matthews Command of the tank. Matthews had been on D33 with 3rd Platoon and Ken Hendricks before, but D33 had been blown up. Hendricks died a few months later of a disease.
Red Elk remembers that all 3 Platoons were out together that day. Matthews was the only KIA in 11ACR that day. He had just sent his wife Mary a letter that morning marked Noon August 13, 1969. I discovered that the 1st Platoon leader Lt. Richard Wallach was also horribly wounded in that Firefight. I have spoken with him on the telephone as I have Red Elk. He was shot through one lung and his arm. He was dusted off on the same chopper as Sgt Matthews and laid out upon his corpse. There was a Medic Wallach remembers as Stephans.
The only Stephans I can find in any of the Unit Rosters is Ronald E. Stephens of HHT 1st Squadron. I do not know if he was a Medic. Perhaps it was a Medic on a Medivac chopper from another unit. I am in communication with Charles Crockett Matthews's widow Mrs Mary Matthews Singleton and she has been most grateful to receive more details surrounding the circumstances of her husband's death. They were childhood sweethearts and married for four years since the age of 18.
As I mentioned before, the Loader on the Tank D31 that I rode on with Lt Steven Linthwaite, was wounded in the legs from the shrapnel caused by an RPG that went through the front of our tank. I would like to know his name too. It might have been John Klinepeter or Larry Parks.
I am still looking for the Afro American Medic I spoke to the day after the big Firefight on the 13th where Matthews was killed. You can see a picture of him with Lt Steven H.Linthwaite at an October 69 Stand Down in Quan Loi in a picture in Quinton and Avery's D Company Website in the 1969 Photo Gallery by Ron Pineau.
Please forgive me for all these long drawn out inquiries, but I have let all this lie for 45 years and need to resolve things a little. I'll repeat: I was only in Heavy Combat 3 days and nights and home in about 10 days at the end of my 12 month Tour of Duty and in serious shock for about 6 months after. I have suffered with PTSD every since and any names will help. I do not expect miracles, but I have made tremendous progress so far over the last year thanks to this wonderful website, Whitepages and talking with and exchanging emails with 11th ACR Tankers: contacting and discovering the 3rd Platoon Leader I was with that fatal day(Steven H. Linthwaite), the name of the KIA that day(Charles Crockett Matthews), where I was(Loc Ninh NDP), the unit I was with (3rd Platoon D Company, 1st Squadron), and the man who lifted Charles Crockett Matthews, 22 years old and In Country only 55 days out from a large puddle of blood in the bottom of tank D31 I was called to attend: George Red Elk.
I have exchanged emails and Facebook Messages with the single KIA that day, Charles Crockett Matthews' widow Mary Matthews Singleton of Clyde, North Carolina. She has been extremely grateful to have received any of this information I could provide her. She had received scant information from the Army and some incorrect information from a soldier who claimed that her husband had been shot in the face and was still alive on the Medivac. She could not understand this, because she saw his corpse when it was returned to her and "his face was perfect". I know he was KIA. I spent minutes trying to find signs of life. He was beyond help.
She had made several inquiries through the ACVVC Guestbook regarding her late husband over the last several years, had attended a 11th ACR reunion and gave someone the last photo she had taken of him who said he would publish it in the Thunder Run. It was never published and she never received it back; although she had made a couple inquiries regarding it in the Guest book.Mrs Singleton noticed my initial searches in this last year and contacted me.
During my hundreds of hours of cross referencing, research and reading I have also learned a great deal about how a squadron is structured, operates and how a crew functions. This has all been informative and helpful in my search. I knew nothing about the structure of an armoured regiment having been trained as an Operating Room Technician and having being flung into The Field for such a short time I had no time to learn or adjust.
I have also discovered that, in spite, of how "tight" certain tank crews were, not many people knew others outside of it and sometimes they did not even get to know the names of fellow crew members, because people were shifted about so often to fulfill vacancies, dusted off, replaced, and killed. I spent most of my time in fairly secure rear areas helping to run the Aid Station at Regimental Headquarters in Bien Hoa, at the 37th Medical Company Emergency Unit at Blackhorse Camp, working in the Vietnamese Hospital at Xuan Loc and at Quan Loi.
Yes; I treated the severely wounded, processed a couple of KIA's, experienced a few rocket attacks, had to lay low for about two days to avoid small arms fire during an NVA assault in which 200 plus NVA were killed around the perimeter by airpower and which resulted in one Trooper being shot in the head. He was raced to the 93rd Evac in Long Binh from Bien Hoa in a Loach with Colonel Patton keeping the WIA and my good Sergeant, who kept the patient alive, from slipping out of the Chopper.
I also drove the ambulance with the severely wounded and KIA's through tracers at night from Bien Hoa to the Hospital at Long Binh, went out on MEDCAPS in dangerous areas, but my 3 days and nights with D Company 20 days before I was to go home, because a cruel sergeant did not like me and an inept cruel commanding officer, the Regimental Surgeon, who would not rescind the sergeant's orders, were Hell on Earth. I am actually glad I experienced it, even though it has caused me years of depression and, at times, inability to cope. I lived for 3 days only in what 1 out of 12 guys went through for months on end. Absolute terror, loneliness and a harsh reality. Big respect!
Any help is appreciated. I am also hoping to find the name of the Medic from this picture that I met the day after the firefight in which Matthews was KIA. He was in 1st Squadron 11ACR. Here is his photo.
I also hope to find the name of the doctor at the end of the airstrip at Loc Ninh who pulled the shrapnel out of my face on the 15th and sent me out of The Field.
It's a Long Shot; I know, but I have no proof I was In The Field those 3 days, no record of the wound in my Medical Records, received no Purple Heart or Combat Medic's Badge. I began applying for compensation for PTSD 3 years and five months ago and may need proof of my being in combat; even though I had been fired upon and rocketed at Bien Hoa. One of the VA's first denials regarding the hearing loss was that because I was an Operating Room Technician, that I wouldn't have been exposed to loud noises. I signed on an extra year as an Operating Room Technician because the Army said it would guarantee that I would not be in combat. I was a fool to believe them.
I ended up as a Field Medic riding on the outside of 50 ton tank. I was sitting next to the barrel of the 90mm cannon when it was fired without warning me. It was mighty loud.
I sent for my army records, but their are no details of my movements in Viet Nam. Do you know of any means of finding them; perhaps by me contacting the 11ACR directly.
Sorry; I didn't intend to go into all that, but you never know your luck.
Thanks.
"Doc" Hurst Palfey Rinehart AKA Palfi
Hi folks, I put most of this information up on the Guestbook 0n June 14, 2015 before I was a Member. I feel that after my 100's of hours of research, mainly through the information on the 11ACVVC website that the results are miraculous. I could not figure out why there was not more of a reaction. Hopefully it is because it was not posted on the Members Bulletin Board. I hope it will now be, because I have added quite a few additional questions and bits of information. It's much longer than all the others I've read so I hope you don't mind. Here goes: Over the last year I have been doing hundreds of hours of research to bring some resolution to questions regarding my last month in Viet Nam and thought you might be able to help.
Here is the information I've gleaned so far: I have spoken with George Red Elk who remembers lifting a KIA out of his Tank D31 on August 13, 1969 in a Firefight at Loc Ninh. He does not remember the man's name but that he had only been on D31 a few days. "Chief", as I heard him called that day" was TC, but said he was loader that day and had given Sgt Charles Crockett Matthews Command of the tank. Matthews had been on D33 with 3rd Platoon and Ken Hendricks before, but D33 had been blown up. Hendricks died a few months later of a disease.
Red Elk remembers that all 3 Platoons were out together that day. Matthews was the only KIA in 11ACR that day. He had just sent his wife Mary a letter that morning marked Noon August 13, 1969. I discovered that the 1st Platoon leader Lt. Richard Wallach was also horribly wounded in that Firefight. I have spoken with him on the telephone as I have Red Elk. He was shot through one lung and his arm. He was dusted off on the same chopper as Sgt Matthews and laid out upon his corpse. There was a Medic Wallach remembers as Stephans.
The only Stephans I can find in any of the Unit Rosters is Ronald E. Stephens of HHT 1st Squadron. I do not know if he was a Medic. Perhaps it was a Medic on a Medivac chopper from another unit. I am in communication with Charles Crockett Matthews's widow Mrs Mary Matthews Singleton and she has been most grateful to receive more details surrounding the circumstances of her husband's death. They were childhood sweethearts and married for four years since the age of 18.
As I mentioned before, the Loader on the Tank D31 that I rode on with Lt Steven Linthwaite, was wounded in the legs from the shrapnel caused by an RPG that went through the front of our tank. I would like to know his name too. It might have been John Klinepeter or Larry Parks.
I am still looking for the Afro American Medic I spoke to the day after the big Firefight on the 13th where Matthews was killed. You can see a picture of him with Lt Steven H.Linthwaite at an October 69 Stand Down in Quan Loi in a picture in Quinton and Avery's D Company Website in the 1969 Photo Gallery by Ron Pineau.
Please forgive me for all these long drawn out inquiries, but I have let all this lie for 45 years and need to resolve things a little. I'll repeat: I was only in Heavy Combat 3 days and nights and home in about 10 days at the end of my 12 month Tour of Duty and in serious shock for about 6 months after. I have suffered with PTSD every since and any names will help. I do not expect miracles, but I have made tremendous progress so far over the last year thanks to this wonderful website, Whitepages and talking with and exchanging emails with 11th ACR Tankers: contacting and discovering the 3rd Platoon Leader I was with that fatal day(Steven H. Linthwaite), the name of the KIA that day(Charles Crockett Matthews), where I was(Loc Ninh NDP), the unit I was with (3rd Platoon D Company, 1st Squadron), and the man who lifted Charles Crockett Matthews, 22 years old and In Country only 55 days out from a large puddle of blood in the bottom of tank D31 I was called to attend: George Red Elk.
I have exchanged emails and Facebook Messages with the single KIA that day, Charles Crockett Matthews' widow Mary Matthews Singleton of Clyde, North Carolina. She has been extremely grateful to have received any of this information I could provide her. She had received scant information from the Army and some incorrect information from a soldier who claimed that her husband had been shot in the face and was still alive on the Medivac. She could not understand this, because she saw his corpse when it was returned to her and "his face was perfect". I know he was KIA. I spent minutes trying to find signs of life. He was beyond help.
She had made several inquiries through the ACVVC Guestbook regarding her late husband over the last several years, had attended a 11th ACR reunion and gave someone the last photo she had taken of him who said he would publish it in the Thunder Run. It was never published and she never received it back; although she had made a couple inquiries regarding it in the Guest book.Mrs Singleton noticed my initial searches in this last year and contacted me.
During my hundreds of hours of cross referencing, research and reading I have also learned a great deal about how a squadron is structured, operates and how a crew functions. This has all been informative and helpful in my search. I knew nothing about the structure of an armoured regiment having been trained as an Operating Room Technician and having being flung into The Field for such a short time I had no time to learn or adjust.
I have also discovered that, in spite, of how "tight" certain tank crews were, not many people knew others outside of it and sometimes they did not even get to know the names of fellow crew members, because people were shifted about so often to fulfill vacancies, dusted off, replaced, and killed. I spent most of my time in fairly secure rear areas helping to run the Aid Station at Regimental Headquarters in Bien Hoa, at the 37th Medical Company Emergency Unit at Blackhorse Camp, working in the Vietnamese Hospital at Xuan Loc and at Quan Loi.
Yes; I treated the severely wounded, processed a couple of KIA's, experienced a few rocket attacks, had to lay low for about two days to avoid small arms fire during an NVA assault in which 200 plus NVA were killed around the perimeter by airpower and which resulted in one Trooper being shot in the head. He was raced to the 93rd Evac in Long Binh from Bien Hoa in a Loach with Colonel Patton keeping the WIA and my good Sergeant, who kept the patient alive, from slipping out of the Chopper.
I also drove the ambulance with the severely wounded and KIA's through tracers at night from Bien Hoa to the Hospital at Long Binh, went out on MEDCAPS in dangerous areas, but my 3 days and nights with D Company 20 days before I was to go home, because a cruel sergeant did not like me and an inept cruel commanding officer, the Regimental Surgeon, who would not rescind the sergeant's orders, were Hell on Earth. I am actually glad I experienced it, even though it has caused me years of depression and, at times, inability to cope. I lived for 3 days only in what 1 out of 12 guys went through for months on end. Absolute terror, loneliness and a harsh reality. Big respect!
Any help is appreciated. I am also hoping to find the name of the Medic from this picture that I met the day after the firefight in which Matthews was KIA. He was in 1st Squadron 11ACR. Here is his photo.
I also hope to find the name of the doctor at the end of the airstrip at Loc Ninh who pulled the shrapnel out of my face on the 15th and sent me out of The Field.
It's a Long Shot; I know, but I have no proof I was In The Field those 3 days, no record of the wound in my Medical Records, received no Purple Heart or Combat Medic's Badge. I began applying for compensation for PTSD 3 years and five months ago and may need proof of my being in combat; even though I had been fired upon and rocketed at Bien Hoa. One of the VA's first denials regarding the hearing loss was that because I was an Operating Room Technician, that I wouldn't have been exposed to loud noises. I signed on an extra year as an Operating Room Technician because the Army said it would guarantee that I would not be in combat. I was a fool to believe them.
I ended up as a Field Medic riding on the outside of 50 ton tank. I was sitting next to the barrel of the 90mm cannon when it was fired without warning me. It was mighty loud.
I sent for my army records, but their are no details of my movements in Viet Nam. Do you know of any means of finding them; perhaps by me contacting the 11ACR directly.
Sorry; I didn't intend to go into all that, but you never know your luck.
Thanks.
"Doc" Hurst Palfey Rinehart AKA Palfi
Added: February 13, 2016
Name: Hurst Palfey Rinehart
From: UK
Website: http://drpalfi.co.uk
E-mail: Contact
Major Correction from yesterday. Matthews was KIA on D13 not D31. Here; I have rewritten the whole thing.
Hi folks, I put most of this information up on the Guestbook 0n June 14, 2015 before I was a Member. I feel that after my 100's of hours of research, mainly through the information on the 11ACVVC website that the results are miraculous. I could not figure out why there was not more of a reaction. Hopefully it is because it was not posted on the Members Bulletin Board. I hope it will there will be now be, because I have added quite a few additional questions and bits of information. It's much longer than all the others I've read so I hope you don't mind.
Over the last year I have been doing hundreds of hours of research to bring some resolution to questions regarding my last month in Viet Nam and thought you might be able to help.
Here is the information I've gleaned so far: I have spoken with George Red Elk who remembers lifting a KIA out of his Tank D13 on August 13, 1969 in a Firefight at Loc Ninh. He does not remember the man's name but that the new trooper had only been on a few days. "Chief", as I heard him called that day" was TC, but said he was loader that day and had given Sgt Charles Crockett Matthews Command of the tank. I found out his name after 100’s of hours of research looking at unit rosters, the dates of KIA’s during my last 10 days in Viet Nam, Find a Friend and cross referencing them. Matthews had been on D33 with 3rd Platoon and Ken Hendricks before and had been in country only 55 days, but D33 had been blown up and eventually ended up in 3rd Platoon on D13 in the 1st Platoon. Hendricks died 5 months later on January 19 1969 of a disease.
Red Elk remembers that all 3 Platoons were out together that day. Matthews was the only KIA in 11ACR that day. He had just sent his wife Mary a letter that morning marked Noon August 13, 1969. I discovered that the 1st Platoon leader Lt. Richard Wallach was also horribly wounded in that Firefight. I have spoken with him on the telephone as I have Red Elk. He was shot through one lung and his arm. He was dusted off on the same chopper as Sgt Matthews and laid out upon his corpse. There was a Medic Wallach remembers as Stephans.
The only Stephans I can find in any of the Unit Rosters is Ronald E. Stephens of HHT 1st Squadron. I do not know if he was a Medic. Perhaps it was a Medic on a Medivac chopper from another unit. I have found out that he might have been a Medic with the 715th Medical Battalion that did the MEDIVACS for the 1st Cav, which the 11ACR was by then under the Direct Operational Control of. I am still trying to establish contact with the 715th Medical Battalion as you can see below.
I am in communication with Charles Crockett Matthews's widow Mrs Mary Matthews Singleton and she has been most grateful to receive more details surrounding the circumstances of her husband's death. They were childhood sweethearts and married for four years since the age of 18. When I first discovered the 11acvvc website I looked at every picture there was, every individual Companies websites that existed, read every message on the Bulletin Board and Guestbook. I started May 2015. I noticed that there were several messages from Mary Matthew Singleton requesting information about her 1st husband Charles Crockett Matthews(She had kept his last name as a middle name). I began to narrow the date down of my 1st day in heavy combat as the 13th of August 1969 and that the only 11ACR fatality in that day was Charles Crockett Matthews. I posted something to that effect on the Guestbook in late May and on June 4th I saw a message from Mary Matthews Singleton stating that she would like to contact me. People seldom leave contact information in their messages. I responded immediately leaving my Facebook address. We have been in contact since then.
As I mentioned before, the Loader on the Tank D31 that I rode on with Lt Steven Linthwaite, was wounded in the legs from the shrapnel caused by an RPG that went through the front of our tank and set fire to the engine room. I would like to know his name too. It might have been John Klinepeter or Larry Parks. I have been in communication with Steven Linthwaite, but he cannot remember his driver or loader that day. It is no surprise he cannot remember me. I was only there 3 days. I had replaced his Medic who lost his finger. Steven cannot remember his name either.
I am still looking for the Afro American Medic I spoke to the day after the big Firefight on the 13th where Matthews was killed. You can see a picture of him with Lt Steven H. Linthwaite at an October 69 Stand Down in Quan Loi in a picture in Quinton and Avery's D Company Website in the 1969 Photo Gallery by Ron Pineau.
Please forgive me for all of these long drawn out inquiries, but I have let all this lie for 45 years and need to resolve things a little. I'll repeat: I was only in Heavy Combat 3 days and nights and home in about 10 days at the end of my 12 month Tour of Duty and in serious shock for about 6 months after. I have suffered with PTSD ever since and any names will help. I do not expect miracles, but I have made tremendous progress so far over the last year thanks to this wonderful website, Whitepages and talking with and exchanging emails with 11th ACR Tankers: contacting and discovering the 3rd Platoon Leader I was with that fatal day(Steven H. Linthwaite), the name of the KIA that day(Charles Crockett Matthews), where I was(Loc Ninh NDP), the unit I was with (3rd Platoon D Company, 1st Squadron), and the man who lifted Charles Crockett Matthews, 22 years old and In Country only 55 days out from a large puddle of blood in the bottom of tank D13 1st Platoon D Company I was called to attend: George Red Elk.
I have exchanged emails and Facebook Messages with the widow of the single 11ACR KIA that day, Charles Crockett Matthews' widow Mary Matthews Singleton of Clyde, North Carolina. She has been extremely grateful to have received any of this information I could provide her. She had received scant information from the Army and some incorrect information from a soldier who claimed in a letter she received 2 months after his death that her husband had been shot in the face and was still alive on the Medivac. She could not understand this, because she saw his corpse when it was returned to her and "his face was perfect". I know he was KIA. I spent minutes trying to find signs of life. He was beyond help. She also had to struggle with the Army to find out basic information that should have been provided.
She had made several inquiries through the ACVVC Guestbook regarding her late husband over the last several years, had attended a 11th ACR reunion and gave someone the last photo she had taken of him who said he would publish it in the Thunder Run. It was never published and she never received it back; although she had made a couple inquiries regarding it in the Guest book. Mrs Singleton noticed my initial searches in this last year and contacted me through Facebook initially.
During my hundreds of hours of cross referencing, research and reading I have also learned a great deal about how a squadron is structured, operates and how a crew functions. This has all been informative and helpful in my search. I knew nothing about the structure of an armoured regiment having been trained as an Operating Room Technician and having being flung into The Field for such a short time I had no time to learn or adjust.
I have also discovered that, in spite, of how "tight" certain tank crews were, not many people knew others outside of it and sometimes they did not even get to know the names of fellow crew members, because people were shifted about so often to fulfil vacancies, dusted off, replaced, and killed. I spent most of my time in fairly secure rear areas helping to run the Aid Station at Regimental Headquarters in Bien Hoa, at the 37th Medical Company Emergency Unit at Blackhorse Camp, working in the Vietnamese Hospital at Xuan Loc and at a few days in Quan Loi.
Yes; during that time I did treat the severely wounded, processed a couple of KIA's, experienced a few rocket attacks, had to lay low for about two days to avoid small arms fire during an NVA assault on Bien Hoa in which 200 plus NVA were killed around the perimeter by airpower and which resulted in one Trooper being shot in the head. He was raced to the 93rd Evac in Long Binh from Bien Hoa in a Loach with Colonel Patton keeping the WIA and my good Sergeant, who kept the patient alive, from slipping out of the Chopper. I even treated Colonel Patton’s belly and wrist wounds.
I also drove the ambulance several times with only a jeep with an M60 mounted on it as an escort and with the severely wounded and KIA's through tracers at night from Bien Hoa to the Hospital at Long Binh, went out on MEDCAPS in dangerous areas, but my 3 days and nights with D Company 20 days before I was to go home, because a cruel sergeant did not like me and an inept cruel commanding officer, the Regimental Surgeon, who would not rescind the sergeant's orders, were Hell on Earth. I am actually glad I experienced it, even though it has caused me years of depression and, at times, inability to cope. I lived for 3 days only in what 1 out of 12 guys went through for months on end. Absolute terror, loneliness and a harsh reality. Big respect!
Any help is appreciated. I am also hoping to find the name of the Medic from the above mentioned picture that I met the day after the firefight in which Matthews was KIA. He was in 1st Squadron 11ACR. I wish I could post it and many others on “The Medics” site, but they don’t seem able even to add me as a member.
I also hope to find the name of the doctor at the end of the airstrip at Loc Ninh who pulled the shrapnel out of my face on the 15th and sent me out of The Field.
It's a Long Shot; I know, but I have no proof I was In The Field those 3 days, no record of the wound in my Medical Records, received no Purple Heart or Combat Medic's Badge. I began applying for compensation for PTSD 3 years and five months ago and may need proof of my being in combat; even though I had been fired upon and rocketed at Bien Hoa. One of the VA's first denials regarding the hearing loss was that because I was an Operating Room Technician, that I wouldn't have been exposed to loud noises. I signed on an extra year as an Operating Room Technician because the Army said it would guarantee that I would not be in combat. I was a fool to believe them.
I ended up as a Field Medic riding on the outside of 50 ton tank. I was sitting next to the barrel of the 90mm cannon when it was fired without warning me. It was mighty loud.
I sent for my army records, but there are no details of my movements in Viet Nam. Does anyone know of any means of finding them; perhaps by me contacting the 11ACR directly.
Sorry; I didn't intend to go into all that, but you never know your luck.
Thanks.
"Doc" Hurst Palfey Rinehart AKA Palfi