Robert Jacy Todd

Private
F CO, 2ND BN, 3RD MARINES, 3RD MARDIV
United States Marine Corps
25 May 1948 - 09 May 1967
North Easton, Massachusetts
Panel 19E Line 075

3RD MARDIV

3RD MARINES
Purple Heart, National Defense, Vietnam Service, Vietnam Campaign

The database page for Robert Jacy Todd

17 Jan 1999

I have worn a red cuff bracelet with Robert's name since 1990.

I honor his memory and thank God that my dad, a Huey pilot (65-66 tour) came home.

Claire Augustus
Merrimack, NH
nitrokng@concentric.net

12 Aug 2004

I have worn a bracelet with Robert's name on it since I entered the USAF myself in 1990. If we know so much about where he is, why haven't we gone back to bring him home? This I do not understand.

Anyone with information about Robert, particularly family that wishes to get in touch, please leave a message here.

I'd like to know more about him.

JLG
E-mail address is not available.

15 May 2005

My sisters and I went to school with Bobby and his brothers. He was a great guy, and we still miss him. We would like to get in touch with Bobby's brother, Richard, with whom we lost contact a few years ago.

From a very good friend,
Anna (Chubbuck) Dion
aldion@comcast.net

31 Jul 2005

I was with Foxtrot Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines, and was in that terrible fight on May 9, 1967.

I don't remember Todd but then I can't remember most of the names of the guys way back then, but I can tell that all the Marines fought bravely that day and at the end there were only about 15 of out of the 75 or 80 men who were not dead or wounded.

We were spread out and in the elephant grass and the jungle, there is a chance that a Marine could have been lost or carried off.

I did not hear anything about a missing Marine until just a year ago from a couple of other Marines who were there and asking me if I remembered him.

That day still haunts me.

From a fellow Marine,
Lance Campbell
altalance@aol.com

06 Dec 2005

Hi, my name is former CPL Bruce "Boston" Manns, one of the "7" of Dedham, MA. I grew up with PVT Robert "Toddsey" Todd. Out of the 7 of us he was the joker and if you knew him he kept you in stitches. I was with 1st Antitanks (USMC "ONTOS") and B Co, 1st Tanks 1967-69. Gia Le, Phu Bai, and Quang Tri, where I was wounded twice.

Sgt Jim "Jimmy" Todd, his real brother, was sent home from 5th Amtracs when Toddsey was lost on 9 May 67. One month later another of our bro's was killed in action with Delta 1/5 - PFC Neal Thalin. "Top" Robert "Howey" Howe, another bro, was with the 1st Marine Air Wing in Phu Bai and is now in Manchester N.H. Sgt Robert "Skip" Cutler USAF did two tours and passed away last year. L/Cpl Rick "Ricky" Sorro was with 7th Comm and now lives in California. We all had a reunion three months ago on Veterans Hill where their headstones are. So as you who served with our brother Robert Todd can see we are still tight.

Let me first welcome home those of you who made it, and thank you for trying to locate his [Toddsey's] remains, we never lose hope. Well God bless and Semper Fi.

From a friend and brother-in-arms,
Former Corporal Bruce "Boston" Manns
ONTOS/TANKER USMC
ackie_tankbn@verizon.net

08 Dec 2005

Bobby Todd was a member of a group called the Seven from Dedham, who all considered themselves Brothers. All of us joined the service in succession, and all served at least one tour in Vietnam. I am one of the brothers, and I live in Manchester, NH. My name is Howie.

I have a lot of photos, news articles and other items about Bobby and the Seven, if anybody is interested. My email address is HowieHowe@verizon.net

We do sincerely appreciate the dedication to our brother by those who hold bracelets for him. We will always miss Bobby, one of two brothers killed within thirty days in 1967. Someday we hope to get his remains returned, but he does have a grave marker on Memorial Hill in Dedham along with our lost brother, Neal. Everybody loved Bobby, he was the John Belushi of his day, a real character who could make you laugh even in the most serious of times.

We (two of the brothers) have tried to email the person in charge of this thread, but your email rejected accepting our emails. Please email me.

From a foster brother,
Howie Howe
525 Wilson St, Manchester, NH 03103
howiehowe@verizon.net

27 Feb 2006

I met the man while he was on R&R in Hawaii. He was a very nice person, I liked him right away. I was the person who kept him busy while Bruce (Fang) Manns had duty. We ate, drank, and had long hard talks about his home and life in general. When I saw him he was very skinny (I was told) from running around in the bush. He was a real man to know and it was an honor to escort him around the island. I know some day he will tell us just what really happened. My GOD be with you and keep you.

From a friend,
Michael Wise
mike2531@gmail.com

A Note from The Virtual Wall

The Khe Sanh Combat Base sat in a valley just south of the western end of the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Vietnam, and was overlooked by peaks rising as high as 2500 feet to the north, west, and southwest. The infamous "Hill Fights" in and on the mountains surrounding the combat base began in early 1997 and eventually grew into the siege on the combat base in 1968. The fighting in the spring of 1967 had two diametrically opposed objectives:
  • For the North Vietnamese Army, the objective was to gain control of the hilltops in order to place the defenders under siege and inflict a defeat on the Americans which would stand with the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu fifteen years earlier.

  • For the Allies, the objective was to prevent the NVA from accomplishing their objective while inflicting as much destruction on the NVA as possible.
On 09 May 1967 elements of Fox Company, 2/3 Marines, were patrolling to the west of Khe Sanh, moving from Hill 881N toward Hill 778. As the Marines approached Hill 778, heavy underbrush forced them to divert from their intended track into a gulley. Rather than remain in the lower ground, Fox 2/3 climbed the southern slope toward higher ground, where they were engaged by NVA troops intent on crossing the gulley from south to north.

The meeting engagement on the hillside quickly grew into a full-fledged battle fought in difficult terrain largely covered in six-foot-tall elephant grass. By the time the fight ended, Fox 2/3 had lost 22 Marines and 2 Navy Corpsmen, with many more wounded - and the NVA had withdrawn back into the jungles and tall grasses.

With one exception the Marines of Fox 2/3 brought out their dead and wounded: the body of Private Robert J Todd could not be found in the elephant grass. The dead were

  • LCpl Richard R. Bean, Springfield, OH
  • Cpl Daniel S. Bettencourt, Edgartown, MA
  • Pfc Gary R. Buttenbaum, Spotswood, NJ
  • Pfc Layne F. Clifton, Lakeview, OR
  • LCpl William E. Czarny, Hammond, IN
  • Cpl Morris F. Dixon, Clearwater, FL
  • Cpl David F. Fraley, Cincinnati, OH
  • LCpl Frederick W. Fromme, Vallejo, CA
  • LCpl Danny M. Greene, Mount Gay, WV
  • LCpl Carman K. Hicks, Anderson, IN
  • HM3 Kenneth L. Holder, Mount Wolf, PA
  • Pfc Joseph G. Klemencic, Great Falls, MT
  • LCpl Ronnie R. Landers, Mundelein, IL
  • Cpl Kenneth J. Lecastre, Buffalo, NY
  • Sgt Gregory M. Mc Cook, Atlanta, GA
  • Cpl Ronald E. Niles, Charlotte, NC
  • Cpl James M. Quigley, Hollywood, CA
  • Cpl Ronald M. Stein, Waterloo, IA
  • Cpl Lyle S. Tate, Portland, OR
  • HM2 Gardner Tillson, Salem, MA
  • Pvt Robert J. Todd, North Easton, MA (BNR)
  • LCpl Charles R. Waller, Chillicothe, OH
  • GySgt Tommie J. Whitten, Fort Worth, TX
  • Pfc Robert E. Williams, Rockford, IL




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With all respect
Jim Schueckler, former CW2, US Army
Ken Davis, Commander, United States Navy (Ret)
Last updated 08/10/2009