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Bruce Gordon Howerter
Sergeant
CRIP PLT, HHC, 2ND BN, 27TH INFANTRY, 25TH INF DIV, USARV Army of the United States Canton, Illinois June 01, 1948 to February 12, 1968 BRUCE G HOWERTER is on the Wall at Panel 39E, Line 6 |
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SGT BRUCE GORDON HOWERTER
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12 Feb 2004It was the greatest honor for me and the men of CRIP to know you and to serve with you. You and the 9 other men will live in our hearts forever and you will never be forgotten. We love you and we miss you. Thank you for being our brother. We will always remember the "MIGHTY 10". Wolfhounds Forever!8 Feb 2005The courage, strength, valor, and love for your fellow soldiers displayed by you on the battle field that day that our Lord called you to your heavenly home will be embedded in our hearts eternally. Our memories of you will always be in our minds and hearts each and and every day. You are truely loved and missed. Your "CRIP" BrothersWOLFHOUNDS FOREVER !!! From a CRIP Platoon Brother, Len Brooks 1 Feb 2007It has been 39 years since that horrible day on the battlefield when you gallantly fought by our sides and paid the ultimate price of giving you life which allowed many of your fellow platoon members to survive. Your courage will be remembered by us for the rest of our days. We all have the greatest of love, respect,and admiration for you and the other men of The Mighty 10. You are the shining light in each of our hearts every day. We salute you, miss you, and never will forget you. Wolfhounds Forever !!! Your Brothers of CRIP |
17 Feb 2005To Bruce, You will never be forgotten. You made it through once, and were lucky enough to get out alive. When you came back we argued over it, with me asking you why, for I felt once was enough. Just three short weeks later your life was taken. Our argument has haunted me all these years, for you had so much to offer besides losing your life over a war that made no sense. I will forever miss you. - CRIP Forever - |
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Tay Ninh was an un-secured region, according to Army Intelligence, for a staging and resupplying of NVA (North Vietnamese Army) and VC (Vietcong) guerrilla fighters. In the spring of 1967, the 2nd Battalion of the 27th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division formed a group of specialized soldiers hand selected by key intelligence officers. They renamed the Reconnaisance Platoon of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, to become the Combined Reconnaissance and Intelligence Platoon (CRIP). Read more about the "Mighty 10" here and at another site here. Ten men from the Combined Recon and Intelligence Platoon (CRIP), 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry, were listed by the Army as having died in action on 12 Feb 1968 - they were:
SGT Howerter died in the line of duty on 2-12-1968 while serving in the Hau Nghia Province of South Vietnam with the 2nd Battalion of the 27th Infantry Regiment of the 25th Infantry Division. Sgt. Howerter started his tour in Vietnam on January 1, 1967. SGT Howerter is the son of Mr. Glen Howerter of Sunnyland, Illinois, & Mrs. Katherine Howerter Rawley of Canton, Illinois, and he is a 1966 graduate of Canton High School. SGT Howerter is buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Canton, Fulton County, Illinois. 
Feb. 13, 1993, Various Newspapers in US and Overseas Stars & Stripes SHREVEPORT, LA. SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) - A quarter-century after 23-year-old Gene Youngblood died in Vietnam, a stranger came forward to tell his parents the details. Gordon and Emma Lou Youngblood learned that their son died in an ambush a day earlier than they had believed, after they found a memorial to him on the obituary page of The Times in Shreveport. It read: ''Charles E. Youngblood. Nov. 1944-11 Feb. 1968. ''It has been 25 years since that day that you and the other nine men courageously fought by our sides and were called to the service of our Lord. You will live forever in our hearts and we will always love you. All the men of 'C.R.I.P.' 2nd Bn. 27th Inf. (Wolfhounds) 25th Inf. Div.'' The Youngbloods found that Leonard N. Brooks, 46, of Austin, Texas, placed the ad. He was the medic of the Combined Reconnaissance Intelligence Platoon when it lost more than one-third of its 28 soldiers outside a hamlet called Boa Trai. Brooks, a security officer at Austin Community College, said he also placed his memorial in seven other newspapers. ''I wanted someone out there, some of the folks who knew them to give a thought of them,'' he said. He said his unit was based at Chu Chi and worked with a similar Vietnamese unit. Twenty-eight Americans and two Vietnamese went to Bao Trai to check out a report that a few Viet Cong were collecting taxes there. They found themselves facing about 200 enemy soldiers. ''They were probably passing through the area and our paths crossed,'' Brooks said. ''We got hit from the front and the left and right.'' After several hours, helicopter gunships showed up, but it wasn't until after dark when another unit arrived that they were rescued, he said. The combined force was able to secure the area and get the bodies on Feb. 12, Brooks said, adding that that may have caused part of the confusion about the day Youngblood and the others died. ''We didn't know until now how they got killed,'' Gordon Youngblood said. ''He told us they were a select group of soldiers.'' Read more about the "Mighty 10" here and at another site here. Map of Location of the Village of Bao Thai
Near the 'Dog's Head' (west) between South Vietnam and Cambodia - a 'hot spot' throughout the war.  |
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