Private First Class
A TRP, 1ST SQDN, 9TH CAVALRY, 1 CAV DIV
Army of the United States
Larry Moore volunteered to go to Vietnam because his older brother was there.
On March 13, 1968, PFC Moore and 9 other soldiers were on board a helicopter that crashed due to enemy fire. All 10 survived the crash. For some reason, the Lieutenant in command decided to split the group in two: five men, led by the Lieutenant, left for Camp Evans while the other 5 (who included Moore) stayed with the downed helicopter.
Moore and the other four soldiers in the helicopter were attacked by a local militia led by a village chief. After exchanging fire, the soldiers were forced out of the helicopter where Moore and another soldier were killed. The other three continued to fight but were eventually killed too. Once the Lieutenant and the other four soldiers reached Camp Evans, a search operation was launched to find the five men left at the helicopter. No one was found.
The 1st Calvary Division recovered Moore and one other soldier on March 28, 1968, buried in a shallow grave. The remaining three soldiers who were left with the helicopter have never been recovered. In 1997, contact was made with the village who killed the young soldiers. Three militiamen who participated in the killing were still alive and told the same story of the events of that day. However, they could not locate the graves of the three missing men.
Larry is buried next to his older brother who returned from Vietnam and passed in 1995.