Rickey Robertson
It has now been 60 years since the United States began to send large numbers of troops to the Republic of South Vietnam. In an attempt to assist the South Vietnam and its government from being over ran by Communist forces from North Vietnam. In 1964 American advisors arrived to help the Army of the Republic of South Vietnam (ARVN) and by 1965 the U.S. Marines landed and several Army divisions arrived to combat the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong guerilla’s. One of the divisions that arrived was the 1st Cavalry Division, known as the “Air Cav” for their use of helicopters in moving large numbers of soldiers both into and from battle sites.
One of the 1st Cavalry units was the 1st Battalion 7th Cavalry Regiment. We all remember the 7th Cavalry as being General Custer’s old unit that was wiped out at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. The 1st of the 7th was commanded by Lt. Colonel Hal Moore, a hard charging unit commander and veteran of the Korean War and his Command Sergeant Major Basil Plumley, a World War II and Korean War veteran. Lt. Colonel Moore overflew the Ia Drang Valley in a helicopter and picked out the landing zone his unit would use. It was named Landing Zone (LZ) X Ray.
On November 14, 1965 the 1st of the 7th Cavalry landed on LZ X Ray. Little did they know but they were landing right in the midst of hundreds and hundreds of North Vietnamese Army troops. And landing with C Company 1st Battalion 7th Cavalry Regiment was S/Sgt. Thomas J. Barrett Jr. a Sabine Parish native from Many, La. The American units were placed around the landing zone to keep it open for helicopter re-supply and to bring in additional troops. Fighting took place all around the perimeter as the NVA probed the lines looking for a weak spot to break through.
On Day 2 November 15, 1965 the North Vietnamese commander sent the 7th Battalion 66th NVA Regiment and the H-15 Main Force Viet Cong Battalion to hit the lines of C Company where S/ Sgt. Barrett was dug in. C Company was hit terribly hard by this assault and the fighting was so intense that it was hand to hand. D Company is also hit and Lt. Colonel Moore has his radio operator send the message “Broken Arrow” meaning that an American unit is about to be overran. Every officer of Company C is either dead or wounded and only 49 soldiers are left uninjured. Soon every available fighter bombers fly in to provide close air support to the embattled American units. In this terrible assault S/Sgt. Barrett is hit and killed by NVA small arms fire. The first native son of Sabine Parish, La. to be killed in action in Vietnam was S/Sgt. Barrett who was killed on Day 2 of the battle. The fight at LZ X Ray was the largest battle the U.S. Army had fought in Vietnam to that date. Over the 2 ½ day battle the 1st Battalion 7th Cavalry lost 79 men killed in action with 121 wounded. North Vietnamese and VC units lost over 3500 men in this battle.
S/Sgt. Barrett was the first killed in action casualty from Sabine Parish but sadly would not be the last killed in the Vietnam War. S/Sgt. Barrett was a career Army man, 34 years of age, having served 14 years in the Army when he was assigned to Vietnam. He had served in Korea and now in Vietnam and his name is listed on the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington D.C. with over 58,000 of his comrades. S/Sgt. Barrett’s remains were escorted from Vietnam and he is buried at the Baton Rouge National Cemetery in Section 19 and Row 10. We honor and salute S/Sgt. Thomas J. Barrett Jr. for his service to our nation, for his devotion to duty, and for his courage on the field of battle on Memorial Day 2025. Rest Easy S/ Sgt. Barrett.