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Team 6 Memorial Service - Oct 5, 2011 (Page 1)
Narrative:
From 29 March through 25 April, 1969, Project Delta
was OPCON to the 101st Airborne Division on Operation Cass Park. The
mission was to locate and identify NVA units in the Ashau Valley,
perhaps the most difficult and dangerous piece of ground in all of
South Vietnam. During Operation Cass Park, ten recon teams were
inserted. All ten teams were in contact with superior enemy forces
within hours of insertion. Team 6, led by Charles Prevedel, with
Charles Newton, Douglas Dahill and three Vietnamese LLDB was
inserted on14 April. They reported enemy contact on each of the
first two days, but elected to continue the mission. On 17 April ,
Recon Team 6s third day in the hole, the team made a frantic radio
communication that was limited to a shouted, not whispered, callfor
the FAC and identification of the team by their call sign. Attempts
to raise the team on the radios resulted in no further contact with
the team. Low cloud cover quickly engulfed the valley and further
flight could not be conducted that day. With two Ranger Companies
and the Nung BDA platoon engaged in ground searches for missing team
members elsewhere, immediate search efforts were limited to air
searches conducted at low treetop level until 19 April when 2nd
Ranger Company and the BDA platoon were inserted along with several
Recon men to search for the missing team. The Rangers would conduct
a search lasting days and punctuated by frequent enemy sightings and
contacts. The Rangers followed a trail near the battle site and
encountered two enemy wearing tiger fatigues and carrying M-16s.
Both were killed in the ensuing fire fight, effectively ending any
further intelligence value they might have had. Charles Prevedel,
Charles Newton and Douglas Dahill were listed as Missing in Action.
Over the ensuing years their status was changed to Killed Body Not
Recovered, as were virtually all nearly 2000 still missing in
Southeast Asia. Reports of possible live sightings kept hopes alive
for many years. The United States has continually searched battle
and loss sites since the 1970s in an attempt to repatriate all of
the missing from that war. In 1991 the Team 6 battle site produced
some artifacts and small pieces of human remains that were
identified in 1995 as belonging to Charles Prevedel. In 2007, after
several more visits to the battle site, remains of both Charles
Newton and Douglass Dahill were identified. On 5 October, 2011, Team
6 was awarded the honor and respect due true American heroes at
Arlington National Cemetery. |
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