WELCOME TROOPERS AND VISITORS
Who is Charlie Troop 1/9 Cavalry?
The 1st Cavalry Divsion (Airmobile) was officially activated on July 1, 1965. It was made up of resources of the 11th Air Assault Division (Test) and elements of the 2nd Infantry Division as a part of this reorganization, the 3/17th Cavalry Regiment was redesignated 1/9th.
The Squadron left with the Division for Vietnam in August, 65, wearing the Black Cavalry Stetsons to war for the first time since the Horse Soldier days.
On September 15, 1965, the 1st/9th Cav began combat operations in the Republic of Vietnam as the division’s air cavalry squadron. The 1/9th Cav participated in such pivotal battles as the Ia Drang Valley, Khe Sahn, Binh Dinh, and QuangTri. During that time period, troops from the 1/9th Cavalry earned fourteen campaign streamers, three Presidential Unit Citations, five Valorous Unit Citations, and the reputation as one of the finest combat units in Vietnam. Two Troopers from the 1/9th Cavalry earned Medals of Honor in Vietnam. On June 28, 1971, the 1/9th Cavalry (less B Troop) returned from Vietnam, the most decorated Unit of that war, and assumed the role of the Divisional Reconnaissance Squadron.
It is estimated that the 1/9th was responsible for fifty percent of all enemy soldiers killed by the 1st Cavalry Division during the war. It was for this reason the battalion earned its current nickname “The Headhunters.”
Is Charlie Troop Still Active?
“C Troop” has been nicknamed “Cobra Troop,” and is part of the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment (1-9th Cav), and is stationed at Fort Hood, Texas with the rest of the First Cavalry Division.
ATTENTION: The Veteran’s Crisis Hotline is 800-273-8255
Patrick Bieneman
Great going guys. Anything I can do to help let me know.
Dennis Junger
Thank you for your help Patrick. Sifting thru that guestbook is painfully slow and not real accurate. I’m going on their word for the most part. There are some obvious ones like, I was crew chief on an O-16, and I was there form 64 to 65. Are two of my favorites. Thanks again!
Cindy Griffin
My uncle was part of the Charlie Troop and was KIA 21 June 1967. I would love to find out if any one has information about him while serving. Howard Sessoms. He was a door gunner.
J. Hank Thomas, COL(RET)
Excellent data list. I was in Guns for 5 months from Sept 67. No armment training in flight school. Later learned my school trading was marked “YES.” Flew one month with Squadron CDR (LTC Dillard). Got my deal to C TRP after a month with Dillard if it did’t work out. Was a nightmare and told HQ to get a senior WOnwho would do all the flying. Thus, I was Cavalier 35 and had the best skytroopers working with me. I left country on 7 SEP 68.
Do you have the emails or phone numbers of those on the list of C TRP? My CE was Pete “Willie” Wilson. Have been wanting to thank him for making a bad situation far better. He was still in Lift when I left.
The data list is fantastic.
J. Hank Thomas
989-600-2506 mobi
Johnny in Ottumwa, Iowa
When I was going to Walnut High School at Walnut, Iowa there was a photo of a serviceman on the wall and his name was Roger Eugene Carroll. He went to my high school. Does anyone here recall him or his name? I was always curious about that photo. He looked like a real hard charger in his military photo, he had a big bull neck and an all business look about him. That photo had a plaque underneath and I can’t remember what it said. If anyone hears of, has heard of him let me know, not originally on my bucket list, but I was cruising through military history sites and I remembered his name, so I Googled it and I ended up here.
RIP Roger Eugene Carroll.
Peace my brothers.
edd hogeboom
FIRST TEAM!! PULL PITCH, DROP THE NOSE AND HEAD ‘EM OUT!!
This is outstanding Grover!! Email me with your current email address (changed computers & lost my address book) and I’ll send you something that may or may not be of interest. Again Grover, this is great!! God Bless you Brother!!!
Tom Stokesberry
This is great a very good job Megan Brown and you to Grover . I will have more info for you soon.
tom
CTAdmin
Thanks, Tom! Love you! Hope all is going well. See you soon hopefully!
Tin Thurrott
Thank you Pat for putting me in touch with Grover who shared some fond memories of my father Wayne. I appreciate all you have done in the name of our freedom and now by moving onto the second step of preserving this history and providing information to family members of those who served in the 1/9.
Tim Thurrott
Boston, MA
Vince Nelson
This is looking great!
Randy Zahn
Our children do us proud. Great job Megan. Love you…..and the old guy too!!
CTAdmin
Thanks, Randy! Love you too! You both have done well raising us all! 🙂
Dennis Junger
Thank you Megan!!!!!! You’re the best!
CTAdmin
My pleasure, Dennis! Thank you for your service!
JJ Mackel
Great job. The picture section is fantastic. It’s hard to believe we were all once that young and pretty. God Bless the MEN of the Finest Bravest outfit in the US Army.
Armond J Salazar
I love it!! “Charlie Troop never feared and never backed down!”
Phillip (Mike) Askew
Nice!
Robert Forsyth
I’m so glad that you (Megan & Adam) got the site up and running so Grandpa Grover has something to do. He spends too much time playing with Haley as it is, so anything that diverts his attention is good. With Love to all, Bob
CTAdmin
I wish that I had a good come-back, but ya got me good there Bob!! Love ya bro!
Keith Owens
I am so glad to run across this site on Facebook. I had lost Grover’s address and had not talked to Tom Stokesberry in a while. This is a great site and I will be posting once in a while but will watch it daily. Love to photos.
dennis king
Are you familiar with a Sgt. Doug Ginney. If you are can I get an email address so he can get a hold of you. He remembers you from Viet Nam. He was ther 69-70 and was a gunner. also he said he remembers a Richard Torres,some one with the last name Dalton (sleepy) and Cullin McPike. I am a friend of Doug s and was in the Corps. Ech 2/1 bravo squad Hoi An 1971. Please advise me if you know of Doug.
Thanks
Dennis
Walker Jones
Great job Grover. I hope we can transfer a lot of pics to this site.
Cavalier 18, 22
James Boles Sonny Boles
Trying to get in touch with Walker J. Send me your mailing address. I have a few photos for U. Sonny B
Lou Bruchey
Walker
I was a lurp with H Co, 75th rangers, 1st Air Cav 1970-71. You posted a pic of me and my team after an hot extraction. I’m the one on the far left. Let me know if you get this.
Lou
Rob Struck
What a great collection of photos! Keep up the good work…
Larry Pruett
Trying to contact Daniel Walker & Mike Cody. Any Information would be greatly appreciated.How about you Rob , you O K. Let me know!
Randy Sutton
I served with Alpha Company,1st Battalion,7th Cavalry in Vietnam 1968-69. My platoon Sergeant for a while was SFC James Newton who had previously did a tour with C 1/9 “BLUES” in 1965.He is 82 years old now,and has many memories of his early days with the Troop.I’d like to hear from anyone who may remember him.
Best wishes to all. SFC{Ret.} Randy Sutton
Pat
Randy, I don’t know James, however, if it would be possible for you get me a picture of him from Nam and a newer one along with when he was that to from dates, I would appreciate it.
Patrick Bieneman
Randy, Can you give me the contact information I would need to get in touch with him.
Keith Owens
Hope to see everyone at the Branson Reunion.
Walker Jones
Keith and Pat,
Are you in touch with Larry Pruett? Blues, 1969-70?
Walker
TITCH
65/66 went over on the boat. thirsty6 cc
Armond Salazar
Yes but the advanced 1/9th C troop party arrived there in C-130. We cut down trees and made a few pads for helicopters and a metal runway for a C-130 to land. From Ft. Bening we traveled to Robins Air Force Base and loaded in a C-130 and left to Oakland, CA and then left to Vietnam. We stopped for a couple of days in Hawaii and then on another island I don’t remember which one and then the Philippines and then to Nha Trang, Vietnam. After the division arrived Charlie troop left and took off in helicopters to their mission, find and kill and run pissing off the enemy!!
mike kelley
i arrived at charlie troop 1-9 cav on or near 12 dec 65 and assigned to the weapons platoon (red) as a uh-1b huey gunship crew chief-door gunner under plt sgt sfc guadalupe. major billy joe nave was troop commander. ltc john stockton was sqdn cdr. as i recall, 1-9 cav was located on the eastern side of the base perimeter and the “golf course heli pad”. there was a hill on the eastern side we called “officers country” because all the pilots had built hooches out of ammo crates on the hillside. next to us,on the north side of our camp, was the 1-7th cav.they had an enlisted mans club called the “corral”. we used to go there for a few “33” beers when we were in base camp after field ops.just south of 1-9 down perimeter road was the 1st brigade.”airborne all the way”. to get down to the 1-9’s aircraft on the “golf course” helipad, we had to cross the perimeter road, go down into a grassy gully,cross over a rickity wooden plank over a creek-stream, climb up a bank, walk about 1/2 mile passing the 228th chinook heli pads, then arrive at 1-9th avn area. each troop had an assigned area. the place we called “hong kong mountian” was on the far western side of the golf course. in late 65 early 66, the operational airstrip for air force and army fixed wing a-c was outside the base camp on the eastern end of an khe village off of highway 19. by mid 66,the engineers had completed a new airstrip inside the base perimeter,close to “hong kong”. the base camp itself was huge.don’t recall sq miles. the south end faced the main gate which led to highway 19 and the western end of an khe village. along the eastern side of perimeter north of the 1-9 area was the vast 27th Field Maint complex. by late 1966,the engineers had built wooden mess halls with concrete floors, in dec 65, we lived in tent city. in spare time, enlisted men bought materials in an khe and built their own hootches, moving out of tents. at night you could hear rats tearing open the rations in the mess supply tent.we even had rats inside the hootches at night., i bought a few rat traps in the ville and caught a few rats each night. we spent the bulk of our time on field ops in places like bong son, kontum, dak to, lz oasis, the ia drang, along cambodian border etc. not too many four legged rats out there ( lots of two legged nva rats) but lots of creepy insects, phythons, etc. i hope this info was of some help.—mike kelley
Lee M Roberts. Brother of Alton Reese Roberts
Reese was my brother and was killed, as a result of wounds to his knees. He was a door gunner and was transferred to a hospital in Japan, or he died several days later due to a fatty embolism. We don’t know if it went to the heart, lungs, Or the brain. Been trying to locate and contact anyone who flew with Ruiz on his last mission. I served in the Marine Corps from 65 to 68.
David H. Sparkman
Lee,
I have a photograph of your brother Reese and the pilot, LT Bob Lemaster, taken after they were shot down in Cambodia in ’71. This occurred a couple of weeks before he was wounded as I recall.
Give me an email and I will send them to you.
Patrick Bieneman
Semper Fi . I hope you are thinking about coming to our next reunion.
mike kelley
hi pat, i have a new e-mail address. i got a call from walt titchenell a few weeks ago and he said the reunion would be in gettysburg for 2019. my last reunion was down at columbus (ft benning) in 2015 when i brought my old nam buddy pfc pete burbank ( trp c blues) with me. it was his first one and he enjoyed seeing everyone, especially “smoky”. can you give me any details on dates, hotels, etc. thanks pat. keep up the great work.—mike k troop c 65-66.
CTAdmin
Mike!
I will send you the information!
Grover
Bill Wohlwend
Dennis Junger and I were stationed together from Aug 69 to Aug 70. I looking through the photos I found myself in 85,109 & 123. Also, the two Capt’s. in photo 75 (Bachelor and Gruetzemacher) and I were station at Fort Knox after we returned home. Those two and Chris Smith, who lives only about 1/2 hour from me, are the only fellow troops that I have seen since Viet Nam. I have tried and failed to find the where abouts of Sid Dull but would like to make contact if someone has any information. Be Safe
John Strickland
Bill this is the info I have on Sidney Dull.
He is living at 6011 Cheryl,
Rosharon, TX 77583 which is SW Huston.
His wife’s email is adelldull@gmail.com
Phone number is 832-683-0489.
John Strickland
Bill do you know how to contact John N. Batchelor (LT)
He was the asst. Motor Officer in the motor pool.
Chad Tapp
This is a great site!! My dad’s name is Steven Tapp. He died when he was 45 from cancer. I was 19 and my sister was 17. We don’t have much idea where he was over there but found some great pics of him on here that we’ve never seen before. Really amazing! It would be great to hear some more from anybody who knew him, including exactly where he served. Thanks!
clyde leonard
just saw this today ——-go to charlietroopcav.org———–go to photos—scroll down to clyde leonard there is a photo of my old friend steve tapp———is that your steve
Douglas T. Ginney
I woul love to hear from anyone I served with during my time in VN ’69 -’70
B
Anyone know anything about John Gower? Or have any pictures? His grandson would love to hear stories or see photos of his personal hero.
Greg
There is a large write up on the vhpa site
I could provide you with that information .
cheers
Greg
Kent Bickle
Job well done on building the site and all that has been done to keep troopers in touch. I shouldn’t be surprised,after all it is CAV. THANKS AGAIN.
Tracy N. Scott
My Brother Tim Zimmerman was in the 1/9 Charley Co. in 1965 (Door Gunner,Ia drang )He passed on the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of the Ia drang valley. November 18, 2015. He was a good man and is missed.
Charity Bedsole Murphy
Hi,
Please forgive me for posting this here but I am trying to get in touch with some folks who served with my grandfather, William Keneith Bedsole, from 65-66. We attended the reunion at Benning and he introduced me to a few of his fellow service members of which he spoke very highly. I remember, Mr. Walt “Titch” Titchenell, specifically. Again, my grandfather’s name is William Keneith Bedsole. I am messaging to let you all know he isn’t well. As those were some of his most remembered years in service, I know he could use some encouragement from his buddies who got through a rough time then and might be able to encourage him through a rough time now. Thanks.
CTAdmin
I’ve been trying to write this for a long time but could not do it. On Oct 3rd, 2020 I wrote about 3 versions that my wife thought were too graphic for the families and friends. I hope I don’t hurt anyone but I felt I had to write my version to honor all. I’ve been thinking about this every Oct 3rd and it will always be with me. I can assure all that this did happen.
My name is Bill Flora. On October 3rd, 1968 I was a crewchief on a Huey for A/227 at Camp Evans. We were refueling when the radio announced a mid air crash near Camp Evans and called for any available aircraft to get there to help. Myself and another Huey from A/227 were the 1st to arrive. There were bodies strung all over the ground. My gunner and I stood on the skids while hovering around looking for survivors. When we saw a complete body we jumped off to see if he was alive. There were no survivors but we did not know that at that time so continued hovering and jumping off checking for life. After thoroughly checking we started recovering the bodies into our helicopters. We took them to Camp Evans and went back to recover any others. I think we made 2 or 3 trips. I cannot come up with the right words to say to the families and friends of these great Americans so I will just say I’m so sorry and I have thought about them often and I promise I never will forget them. I can’t remember all of our crewmembers that were there but I saw Joe Potvin, Jim Caufman, and Tom Rinehart’s names of above posts so I’m sure they were there. They were some of the great pilots with A/227. I’m sure all the others who were involved remember this day. I’ve been trying to post this for many years. All these men gave the ultimate sacrifice serving the country they loved and they are not forgotten. Thanks to all who served. I am proud to have served with the greatest men in the world. We all did what we were asked to do the best it could be done. WELCOME HOME!
Bill Flora
Tim Millar
On my way back to A 1/21 after R&R at the end of June 69 I stopped by C Troop in Phuoc Vinh to see if I could hitch a ride to Quan Loi. While I was waiting WO Ernie Burns walked in. We’d known each other since Elementary School and Cub Scouts in Bronxville, NY. I told him I’d tell my parents we’d met…and he said he was real short and would go see my parents as soon as he got home. When I heard back from my parents, they sent me Ernie’s obituary from our local paper. He and the CO and crew died in a collision with a LOH on 14 July. Is there an AAR available on that incident? At the time, Ernie was so short he was grounded but volunteered for that mission because it was possible that your Blues may have been heading into contact. Ernie’s brother, Elkanah, was in Vietnam as a Marine pilot and escorted his brother home. He’s buried on Long Island and I’d like to get any additional info before going down there. Thanks for any information on that incident. BTW, I’m in touch with Doc Percy Hipple who also knew Ernie.
charles brian malley
I’m looking for information about WO Bard Davenport/ WO Willian Potter. Crashed March 27, 1969. Would you have details about the circumstances. There is a Incident Report I’m searching for
Dennis Junger
Thanks again Megan !
jordan green
nice site thank you ,c troop 69-70 maint,
Janie Harrell
My uncle, Mike Lanier, served in Vietnam with the 1/9 Calvary. He recently passed away and I would like any information that anyone to may have. He didn’t like to talk about his time in service.
Thank you!!!
Spc 5 Randall young
Best door gunner positions in Nam sneaky snake
2 yrs
charles brian malley
Top of the morning To All:
Looking for a trooper who was in the unit on/about March 1969. I’m doing research for a article about the crash of March 27 killing the crew ( WO Davenport; WO Potter; Sgt Harper; Sp5 Waller) and 1Lt Bell.
Major C. Brian Malley
US Army Retired
cbmalley@aol.com
Cell” 419-277.9968
Christopher H Miller
Larry Krause you out there………Mike Miller you out there…….74 an still ride my HD, an my horse……Please get back to me…..Living on the Reservation, S.D. C-Troop…Still the best job I ever had!!!!!!!!
Christopher H Miller
C-Troop…………..”THE BEST JOB I EVER HAD”
mark stolzoff
C Troop 1/9 Cav OIF , we went by Crazy Horse
HAROLD J SCHIPPER JR
C TRP. 1 SQUAD. / 9 CAV. 1966 – 67 TRP OPS RTO
RAN INTO A FEW PROBLEMS LAST 2 WKS. AND LEFT FIELD AROUND NOV.I OR SO. MUSHIE, THE C.O.s
DOOR GUNNER WAS EVACUATED TO FIELD HOSPITAL.
IF ANYONE REMEMBERS MUSHIE’S NAME OR PHONE
I WOULD LIKE IT. THANK YOU!!!
L. Steven Beene II
My dad was in your unit – 1969-1979 – we share the same name, Larry Steven Beene (I’m the 2nd).
He told me stories of MAJ Rosher, and I met Randy Zahn up here in Alaska.