11 Jan 2001 REMEMBERED BY HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS Placed by his nephew, Hank Treadwell E-Mail address no longer valid

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall One of the primary VC objectives in their 1968 TET offensive was the ancient Imperial capital, Hue City. The VC were very successful in infiltrating troops into the city and in capturing key points during the first two days of the offensive - but holding the city depended upon their ability to bring more troops and supplies into Hue. While the ARVN and US Marines were tasked with recapturing Hue, elements of the US Army's 1st Cavalry and 101st Airborne Divisions were charged with preventing enemy reinforcements from influencing the battle for Hue City. The 2nd Bn, 12th Cavalry was positioned as a blocking force in the vicinity of Thon La Chu, a hamlet 4 kilometers west-northwest of Hue. On 03 Feb 1968 the cavalrymen engaged an NVA battalion moving toward Hue and fought them to a stand-still in a battle that lasted most of the day. Nine US soldiers were killed in the fighting: A Company: PFC Frank A. Azzarito, Brookfield, CT C Company: SP4 Michael B. Cervera, Bloomfield, NJ PFC Harold L. Gray, St Louis, MO PFC Harold S. Higginbotham, Coral Gables, FL PFC Edward W. Hughey, Sprott, AL PFC David Quinones, New York, NY HQ Company: SGT Eugene D. Treadwell, Essex Center, VT PFC Hoi T. Lau, Pasadena, CA (Silver Star) PFC Edward Manowski, Rowland Heights, CA 04 Feb was essentially a replay of the 3rd - the enemy trying to go through or around the 2/12 Cav and the 2/12 Cav trying to prevent it. Neither side was entirely successful and 12 more cavalrymen were dead. The Commanding Officer, 2/12 Cav, realized that he could not remain where he was; enemy strength was increasing while he had been advised that he could not expect reinforcements or even replacements for his dead and wounded. He decided on a truly audacious move - a night march on 04/05 Feb took the battalion through the VC/NVA forces to higher ground to the southwest, ground where a strong defensive position could be established and held and from which the valley below could be denied to the VC by direct and indirect fires. The tactic worked; the battalion maintained its new position without undue difficulty - and enemy forces approaching Hue from the northwest were unable to either hold their positions or breach the cordon of fire. The remnants of two enemy regiments broke up into smaller elements and withdrew to the west.

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