I never met Frank Patton who grew up in Upper Darby, PA, was drafted into the US Army, and would later die of combat wounds sustained in a vicious firefight in Vietnam.
While researching over 3,000 entries in the 196th Light Infantry Brigade (LIB) guestbook for a friend making inquiries about her father’s Vietnam service, I answered a request from a Kathy Patton inquiring about her uncle Francis (Frank) Patton killed in action on May 13, 1969, at the Battle of Tam Ky while serving with the C/3/21 Infantry Regiment unit.
The actual battle occurred at Nui Yon Hill just south of Tam Ky the capital of Quang Nam province. Tam Ky is midway between Danang and Chu Lai. Thomas Pozdol was a squad leader with the ‘Charlie Tigers’ of Company C, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment (C/3/21) assigned to the ill-fated AMERICAL Division and recounted the three-day battle in his 2009 book Tam Ky – The Battle for Nui Yon Hill.
The helicopter combat assault flown by the 71st Assault Helicopter Company (AHC) began at 1030 hours on May 13 – I was flying the lead Firebirds helicopter gunship team escorting the troop carrying ‘slicks’ into the landing zone (LZ). PFC Frank Patton was an infantry rifleman riding aboard one of the Rattler slicks. He would be mortally wounded and die thirsting for water that same afternoon. He was twenty-three and had been ‘in-country’ four months.
The ensuing battle continued throughout the day – my fire team would log 7.4 flight hours that day providing suppressive aerial fire support to the Charlie Tigers engaged in a ferocious ground fight against an aggressive and determined enemy force. Both sides remained locked in brutal combat for the next three days with thirteen dead and thirty wounded U.S. soldiers.
My private anguish was the failure to prevent the death of Frank and the other five KIA Charlie Tigers while flying above them that day.
But the true tragedy is that these men died with frustration – the battle site was abandoned with no positive benefit in either territory gain or enemy annihilation. Tam Ky was a battle zone in 1968, 1969, and 1970 – our military ‘leaders’ learned nothing. Vietnam was a political poker game – the ‘house’ (VC and NVA) held and dealt all the cards. The American commanders kept betting blindly, eventually losing, then folding and departing empty handed from the war zone casino.
Finally shutting down that evening at LZ Baldy, my gunship had been damaged beyond flyable condition and was ‘hooked’ out the next morning back to base camp. My realization over the next few days of this battle told me that we could not and would not ‘win this war.’ We held on until that magic date to return Home, some made it; many didn’t.
Frank was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star for combat service.
(c) Copyright – 2023 Vic Bandini