Vietnam War: A Company held them off, but at the cost of 24 killed and 54 wounded

Soldiers' valor lauded 45 years later
A citation is awarded to nine vets for their efforts during a 1966 gunbattle in Vietnam

By Lynn Nakagawa
Jul 09, 2011

Howard Lavy remembers the day in 1966 when waves of North Vietnamese army soldiers attacked his Hawaii-based Army company in Ho Bo Woods.

"If it hadn't been for the aviation company (airlifting the soldiers out), we would have been overrun finally because we had run out of ammunition," said Lavy, a retired lieutenant colonel.

Nearly 45 years after that battle, Lavy and eight fellow soldiers returned to Schofield Barracks Friday to receive a Presidential Unit Citation for their actions that day.

The soldiers were members of Schofield's A Company, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment. A larger NVA force charged their position three times on July 19, 1966, pouring machine gun and mortar fire on the Americans during a 3-hour battle. A Company held them off, but at the cost of 24 killed and 54 wounded, Lavy said.

A recommendation for a Presidential Unit Citation was prepared in September 1966, but a platoon leader inadvertently packed it with his belongings and shipped it to his father in California, Lavy said. The paperwork was discovered in 2004 when a family member opened the long-forgotten box.
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Soldiers valor lauded 45 years later