Bob Leroy Gregory – Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army

Full Name: BOB LEROY GREGORY
Date of Birth: 5/6/1927
Date of Casualty: 1/7/1968
Home of Record: OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA
Branch of Service: ARMY
Rank: LTC
Casualty Country: SOUTH VIETNAM
Casualty Province: QUANG NAM

Killed in a large battle on 7 January 68 in the Que Son valley, only a few kilometers west of LZ Ross. A & C 2/12 Cav and B 1/1 Cav were also involved. The unit in contact was the 3rd NVA Regiment.

Major Lawrence Malone was killed-in-action on 7 January 68 while aboard the Command & Control Huey of Battalion Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Bob Leroy Gregory. The ship was being flown by Chief Warrant Officer Marshall H. Ford and Robert Francis Bahl, Jr.  Also on board were Sergeant First Class Richard Keefe, Specialist 5 Arthur Leon Lauderdale and Private First Class Lloyd E. Knake.  All were killed in the shoot-down.

By Direction
of the
President of the United States
the
Distinguished Service Cross
Is Awarded
to
Bob L. Gregory
(Posthumously)

Rank and Organization:  Lieutenant Colonel, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile)
Date and Place:  2 January 1968, Republic of Vietnam

Reason:  For extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations involving conflict with an armed hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam:

Lieutenant Colonel Gregory distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions on 2 and 3 January 1968 as commanding officer of an airmobile cavalry battalion conducting operations against a North Vietnamese Army division in the Que Sons Valley.

During the afternoon of 2 January, one of his companies on a search and destroy mission became heavily engaged with an enemy force of undetermined size. Colonel Gregory immediately boarded his command and control helicopter and flew to the battle site.  Disregarding a hail of hostile ground fire tracking his aircraft, he remained over the raging firefight and directed gunship fire and aerial rocket artillery on enemy positions.  When the ground commander attempted to move his main force to relieve one platoon that was surrounded by the North Vietnamese, Colonel Gregory instructed his pilot to descend, leaped from the helicopter amid intense automatic weapons fire and rallied the troops in their maneuver. As darkness approached, he directed the helicopter evacuation of wounded and supervised the extraction of the beleaguered company.

During the early morning hours of 3 January, the battalion fire base was attacked by two North Vietnamese Army regiments.  Braving savage rocket, mortar and automatic weapons fire, Colonel Gregory unhesitantly moved from the relative safety of his bunker to the tactical operations center, where he quickly organized his defenses to repel the attack.  He repeatedly exposed himself to the hostile fusillade as he moved among his troops and encouraged their fierce fight against the determined attackers.  His fearless and inspiring leadership was responsible for the successful defense of the base and over two hundred North Vietnamese killed.

Lieutenant Colonel Gregory’s extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.

GREGORY, BOB L
LTC ARM 2ND BN 12TH CAV 1ST CAV DIV USA

• DATE OF BIRTH: 05/06/1927
• DATE OF DEATH: 01/07/1968
• BURIED AT: SECTION 3  SITE 1787-A
  ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard