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WASHINGTON (Army News Service, May 17, 2012) -- On the day after
President Barack Obama
presented Rose Mary Sabo-Brown, Spc. 4 Leslie Sabo's widow, with the
Medal of Honor, Jim Waybright and other Soldiers who had fought
alongside Sabo the day he was killed, sat down to remember the
battle, their friend, and how the boys of Bravo Company have come
together to be a family once again.
Soldiers from
the U.S. Army Bravo Company during the Vietnam War. Courtesy of the family of Medal of Honor Recipient, Leslie Sabo |
There are 18 bricks in the veteran's wall in Marietta,
Ohio, hometown of Capt. Jim Waybright, the Bravo Company
commander. Those bricks honor the 18 Soldiers of Bravo
Company, 3rd Battalion, 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne
Division, who lost their lives between January and May of
1970. Some of those old Soldiers who once fought together
during the Vietnam War gathered in Washington, D.C., to
remember one of their own in particular.
Spc. 4
Leslie H. Sabo Jr. was killed in action in Cambodia during
the Vietnam War. For his action there, a proposed citation
for the Medal of Honor had been written for him. But that
citation had fallen through the cracks. More than 42 years
later, that proposed citation became a Medal of Honor, the
nation's highest medal for valor in combat. It was presented
to Sabo's widow, Rose Marie, by President Obama, during a
May 16 ceremony at the White House.
Sabo is credited
with saving the lives of several of his comrades when his
platoon was ambushed, May 10, 1970, near the Se San River in
eastern Cambodia. Shielding a comrade from an enemy grenade,
Sabo went on to silence a machine-gun bunker before he was
killed.
THE BATTLE
"The Se San Valley battle
occurred on the fifth day after entering Cambodia," said
Richard Rios, a former Army specialist and buddy of Leslie
Sabo.
"We were inserted May 5, 1970, by a Huey with
Battalion Combat Assault," Rios said. "As soon as we landed,
we made contact with two enemies on bicycles with radios. We
captured those two individuals and we went on and created a
perimeter and went about our business to search and destroy
the enemy's resources: food, ammunition and other supplies.
That was our mission; to weaken or destroy the enemy that
had been using the Ho Chi Minh Trail for years, to resupply
their forces in South Vietnam."
The Ho Chi Minh Trail
was a logistical system that ran from the north of Vietnam
to the south, through Laos and Cambodia.
Even though
the boys of Bravo Company had air support, B-52s had been
pounding the area at least 30 days before they arrived, the
resistance was determined to stop them.
"We saw
mountains of green trees with white smoke just bellowing up
to the skies," Rios said. "It was a strange, eerie looking
situation. But that's the top of support we had, even before
we landed."
Capt. Jim Waybright, commanding officer,
also remembered their air support.
"Each morning, the
B-52s would fly in from the Philippines and Okinawa, and we
could feel the earth shake," Waybright said. "Being infantry
people on the ground, we wanted to make sure they knew where
we were. We couldn't see the planes, we couldn't see the
bombs, but we could feel things shake. When you're in the
infantry, that makes you nervous."
Waybright said
there was also support from numerous other aircraft.
"We had gunship support from the helicopters; we had F-4
support, so air superiority was definitely ours," he said.
"In the night we were encircled by the battalion of North
Vietnamese. There was a C-47 which they called 'Spooky',
with many guns and, I believe, even a 105 artillery piece on
board, in a small scale. But the air support was very
strong."
A company commander, Waybright said
leadership can sometimes weigh heavily on the heart.
"As a company commander, or a platoon leader, you never
forget when you lose people," Waybright said. "You always
second guess: could I have done it better? But it is
something that you live every day of your life. And I think
these men live it every day themselves."
A fire fight
usually lasts just a few minutes and then the enemy backs
off, Waybright said. But the battle on May 10, 1970, had
gone on for hours, and the enemy did not back off.
"Most of our fire fights were short," added Clanton. "We
pretty much gained superiority in most cases by calling in
our gunships and air support. Most of our combat was against
Viet Cong. (The) Viet Cong is a guerrilla force and much
like our countrymen did in the Revolutionary War, they would
hit and then run, trying to inflict casualties as quickly as
possible and be gone."
In Cambodia, Clanton said,
things were different.
"It was a huge enemy force and
it was probably the only time we were outmanned and
outgunned," Clanton said.
Richard Rios said he
suspected the 502th was outmanned at least two to one.
"Keep in mind that when we made the combat assault, we
made contact immediately with the enemy and we made contact
every day thereafter, up to May 10," Rios said. "We burned
hooches, we killed pigs. Cambodia was a haven for the North
Vietnamese Army, they were a formidable force, no question."
REMEMBERING THEIR FALLEN BUDDY
"Les was a funny
guy and he enjoyed people," Rios said. "He was very fond of
his squad mates and platoon mates, but Les was a Soldier.
The easiest description I can give of him: he was fun and
crazy until the time hit when he needed to be a Soldier, and
he became a Soldier."
As a Soldier, Rios said, Sabo
was somebody that other Soldiers could depend on.
"Not just on May 10, but every other time we were in
trouble, we really looked up to his support in those gun
fights and various other activities," Rios said. "He has
been missed and thought of all these 42 years. We have never
forgotten him and we have never stopped trying to get (the
presentation of the Medal of Honor) accomplished. I am so
thankful that we did get it accomplished, because he
deserved it."
AFTER 33 YEARS, THEIR FAMILY IS REBORN
"Rick Clanton started looking for some buddies that
could help him and they could share the healing experience,"
Waybright said.
Clanton said that the Internet was
instrumental in bringing the Soldiers from Bravo Company
back together.
"I started the website in 2001, and it
was pretty evident after some of us started reconnecting
over the Internet that we needed to see each other, and we
set the first reunion in Washington (D.C.) during the week
of May 10, so that we could all go to the (Vietnam) Wall
together," Clanton said.
Just two years after the
website went up, there was a sizable reunion in Washington,
D.C., for the former comrades, Clanton said.
"In
2003, we had 26 people in attendance," Clanton said. "It was
a very moving and very wonderful weekend. Even though we
hadn't seen each other in 33 years, it was like we had been
apart (only) three months. We all just fell right back into
character with who we were then."
Family members of
Soldiers who had been killed in action were also part of the
reunion, Clanton said. Those family members have found some
closure in the fact that their loved ones have not been
forgotten by the Soldiers they fought alongside.
"That's been the most gratifying, as far as I am concerned,"
Clanton said.
SOLDIERS MUST STAY CONNECTED
Bruce Dancesia, another member of the company, had more to
say on how today is different than during Vietnam.
"Just last night, we had a couple of sergeants that were
sitting with us and we were talking about our old times and
they were talking about their time in Afghanistan and Iraq
and everything like that, and they were hoping that they
could have even half of what we had," Dancesia said.
In particular, Dancesia said, those Soldiers had been
admiring the continued friendship that the Soldiers from
Vietnam have maintained.
"So I really pushed the
idea: stay in touch with your buddies, because you'll never
have a family like this again," Dancesia said. "They both
agreed, and what it was, one guy was active service now and
the other guy had since gotten out of the service, and he
said, 'you know, that's the greatest idea that somebody has
told us.'"
Dancesia said that Soldiers of today have
at their fingertips the tool to stay in touch for a long
time: the Internet. That's something that Vietnam-era
Soldiers didn't have until long after the war ended.
"We didn't have the web page until Rick got us on the web,"
Dancesia said. "I mean, most of us are computer dinosaurs. I
mean we're not into that era, except for now, I think every
one of us looks at the computer every day just to see what
somebody has said."
Now, Dancesia said, there's no
excuse for today's Soldiers to not build the important
contacts with their fellow Soldiers that will last their
entire lives.
"In today's atmosphere, these guys are
used to that, and there is no reason to not stay in touch,"
Dancesia said. "So I think they are learning that it's a
good thing to stay in touch. It helps an awful lot for the
combat stress and everything like that, eventually, down the
road."
WHITE HOUSE CEREMONY
"I have never seen
anything like that where people stood up and applauded us,"
Dancesia said. "It was something that overcame me instantly
when the President of the United States said, 'I want to
thank you, gentlemen, for what you did.'"
 Today,
Americans make a habit of remembering the Soldiers that
fight for freedom on their behalf. That wasn't so for the
Soldiers who fought in Vietnam.
"That was one of the
few times I've ever heard that in 43 years," Dancesia said.
"Now people are saying welcome home and everything, but it's
normally ... another Vietnam veteran saying it. But when
this room stood up and did this, it was ... I don't know how
to explain it ... but I'll never have a better day in my
life, I don't think."
The experience was bittersweet
for some of the Soldiers.
Emotionally, it was a
roller coaster, to say the least," Clanton said. "It had
highs and lows because it brings back the memories of others
we've lost. But it was the high that we've seen something
we've worked for, for so long, come to fruition."
The
highlight, Clanton said, was seeing Sabo's widow presented
with the Medal of Honor her husband had earned.
"To
see Rose and the Sabo family receive this honor on behalf of
Leslie, it was just beyond gratifying to us," Clanton said.
"It was extremely memorable, I'll never forget it."
The men say they call their former unit "Bravo Family" now,
and that back in Vietnam, 18 Soldiers from the family were
lost. Those Soldiers too will always be remembered, Rios
said.
"We lost 18 people in 100 days, from January
28th to May 10th," Rios said. "And we feel like this Medal
of Honor is not for Leslie Sabo, exclusively. But we
recognize the other 17 young men who didn't get to come home
and grow old. So when the President said, 'I'd like the men
of Bravo Company to stand,' that was very emotional."
By Rob McIlvaine
Army News Service
Copyright 2012
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