Welcome Home Warriors — RIP
There have been three announcements by the Department of Defense about the recovery and identification of First Team Troopers.
1. On 11 July they announced that the remains of SGT John H. White, H Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment had been identified and returned for his family for burial on 12 July in Bryant, Alabama. SGT White was originally from Long Island, Alabama. In November 1950, the 2-8th CAV was occupying defensive positions near
Unsan, North Korea, north of a bend in the Kuryong River known as the Camel’s Head. On 1 November two Chinese Communist divisions struck the 1st Cavalry Division’s lines, collapsing the perimeter and forcing a withdrawal. SGT White was reported missing on 2 November, 1950.
2. On 17 July they announced the identification of CWO Bobby L. McKain of Garden City, Kansas and WO Arthur F. Chaney of Vienna, Virginia, who were assigned to A Troop, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry when their AH-1G Cobra gunship was hit by enemy fire and exploded in mid-air on 3 May 1968. They were on an armed escort mission to support a reconnaissance team operating west of Khe Sanh, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam. Both men will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. CWO McKain on 11 August and WO Chaney on 16 August.
3. On 23 July they announced that MSG Cirildo Valencio, of Carrizo Springs, Texas had been identified and returned to his family for burial in Arlington National Cemetery on 4 August. MSG Valencio was assigned to L Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment then occupying a defensive position near Unsan, North Korea in an area known as the Camel’s Head. On 1 November the 3rd Battalion was surrounded and effectively ceased to exist as a fighting unit when parts of two Chinese Communist divisions struck the 1st Cavalry Division’s lines, collapsing the perimeter and forcing a withdrawal. MSG Valencio was one of the more than
350 Soldiers unaccounted for from the battle at Unsan.
A side note: The 8th Cavalry Regiment's 3rd BN really took a beating at
Unsan, NK!
Here is a link to that story:
http://www.first-team.us/journals/8t.../3d_unsan.html
Linear Mode
