57 years ago, Jamie Creed lost his father in the Vietnam battle at Ia Drang; this weekend he talked to the men who were in the fight

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) — Friday morning a, sporting a Harris County ball cap, stood out at a reunion of troopers who fought within the famed 1965 Vietnam battle within the Ia Drang valley.

Jamie Creed didn’t combat within the intense three-day battle, however his life was eternally modified by what occurred there on November 17, 1965. 

“I keep in mind my brother waking me up, telling me my father was lifeless,” Creed mentioned. “I didn’t imagine him. I advised him to return to sleep. However then, in a while, my mom got here into the room. And we discovered.” 

Sgt. Bernard J. Creed was killed on November 17^th, 1965 at Touchdown Zone Albany within the Ia Drang valley. 

That shot echoed all the way in which to Columbus the place Jamie Creed and his 5 siblings and his mom had been ready out their father’s deployment. 

“It was the midnight,” Creed mentioned. “I don’t know, 1 or 2 within the morning when that occurred.” 

The information was delivered by a cab driver.

“Awakened my mom,” Creed mentioned. “I don’t know if she was up or not. And gave the telegram to her.” Sgt. Creed survived battles in World Battle II and Korea earlier than being killed in Vietnam. 

Jamie Creed was at this weekend’s reunion simply speaking to the boys who additionally fought over these three days in Ia Drang. 

“I at all times wished to know what occurred,” he mentioned. “The way it occurred. When it occurred. I’ve been learning it, the ebook. I’ve been going to those reunions. I heard Joe Galloway converse one time at an engagement. I’ve tried to fulfill as many of those guys as I can.” 

He talked to Joe Marm on Friday. 

Marm obtained the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest navy ornament, for his actions two days earlier than Creed’s father was killed. 

“We’re the best nation on this planet due to our navy and our veterans,” Marm mentioned. “And so for us to have misplaced in our battle 79 of the 257 that went into the battle and in his battle they misplaced extra at LZ Albany. As they had been heading out, they wre had an engagement with the enemy and his father was killed, I imagine it was on the 17^th. So, it’s very robust.” 

That loss was troublesome for Creed. 

“If you find yourself rising up with youngsters, that don’t know you, they at all times ask you, what does your Dad do?” he mentioned. “And it was at all times so arduous to say, effectively, ‘my Dad is lifeless. Another person had a father who went to the ballgames, the weddings and stuff like that. It was arduous. It was robust.”