FACES FROM THE WALL

VIETNAM WAR

PEND OREILLE WASHINGTON

PICTURES
for
Newport

William W. W. STUBBS SSGT Army 04JAN77 Laos HOSTILE,DIED-MISSING BNR

OBITUARIES

Missing In Action
A Tribute to a Fallen American Hero
William Wentworth Wilbur “Bill” Stubbs: Rank: Sergeant; Branch of Service: U.S. Army Special Forces; Born: 6 August 1946 in Oak Harbor, Washington; and Home of Record: Newport, Washington. During the Vietnam War, Sergeant Stubbs served with the Special Operations Augmentation-Command and Control Central (SOA-CCC), 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), which supported covert operations conducted by the Military Assistance Command-Vietnam, Studies and Observation Group (MAC-V SOG), most often referred to, although incorrectly, as Special Operations Group. CCC was stationed at a forward operations base designated FOB # 2, a Special Forces compound about a mile south of the bridge heading into Kontum City in the Republic of Vietnam (RVN, a.k.a. South Vietnam). The compound was split into two sections because it straddled the main highway leading to Plieku. The FOB’s Tactical Operations Center (TOC), the Reconnaissance Company and motor pool were located in the eastern section and the Hatchet Companies, mess hall and main club were in the western section.
RT California:
Bill was assigned to the Reconnaissance Company as an Assistant Team Leader (One-One) on Reconnaissance Team (RT) “California.” The other United States Army Special Forces (USSF) soldiers on the RT at the time of the fateful mission were Sergeant First Class Richard “Dick” Gross, the Team Leader (One-Zero), and Staff Sergeant Robert “Bob” Mohs, Radio Operator (One-Two). In addition to the USSF members, ten Vietnamese Montagnards, known affectionately as “Yards” to American soldiers, most of whom were of the Sedang Tribe, comprised the remaining element of RT California. These Montagnard warriors were volunteers who belonged to a Special Commando Unit (SCU, pronounced Sioux) that supported SOG operations and, just as the USSF members, had a hierarchy from Team Leader down the lowliest Scout. The SCU team also included an interpreter, who was the second in the chain of command.
The Mission:
In mid-October of 1969, RT California was given the mission to conduct an eight-day, intelligence-gathering mission into eastern-central Laos to locate and report on enemy movements in a target area designated “S-7.” The operational area (AO) in which S-7 was situated in was a region laced with multiple primary and secondary east-west arteries of the Ho Chi Minh Trail that crossed over into South Vietnam south of the major US base at Kham Duc.
After pre-mission preparations and the RT’s brief back to the FOB Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Frederick T. “Fred” Abt, and his S-2 and S-3 officers, the team for this mission-consisting of the three USSF personnel and six selected SCU members-moved from the FOB on the 18th by a US Army C-7 “Caribou” aircraft and was flown to the Special Forces A-Team border camp at Dak Pek, where it spent the night. After the weather cleared the next morning, California launched aboard a South Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF) CH-34 helicopter from the special operations air support unit, known by their call sign “Kingbees,” and was flown into the AO and inserted onto their landing zone (LZ) in the target area. As was routinely done for most missions of this type, the Kingbee aircraft was escorted by several US Army AH-1 “Cobra” Gunships, which stood by on station to assist in the event of the LZ being hot or if the RT made contact once on the ground shortly thereafter. This entire flight operation was controlled by an onsite Forward Air Controller (FAC), call sign “Covey,” with a crew of one USAF pilot and one USSF controller, known as a “Covey Rider,” flying in a light aircraft such as an L-19/O-1 “Birddog,” O-2 “Skymaster,” or OV-10 “Bronco.”
No Contact:
On the second day (October the 20th) at approximately 1130 hours, the team stopped for a short break in a thickly wooded area on a steep mountainside in the vicinity of the Ho Chi Minh Trail to rest and establish the team’s scheduled radio check with the Covey. However, unbeknownst to the RT at the time the Covey was conducting “ball games” much farther south, a term used to mean that the Covey was inserting or extracting other recon teams into or from their respective target areas, thus contact was never made. During the rest break SGT Stubbs was located up-slope in the team’s defensive position while Bob Mohs, who was in the center of the formation, periodically attempted to establish contact with the FAC and Dick Gross was further down-slope with the point element. The RTs normally had three scheduled radio contacts during the course of a day. The first in the morning around sunrise, which would let the FOB know the team had made it safely through the night and was on its way to continue with their assigned mission. Next came the noon contact, which was used to report the team’s present location and any significant findings. Lastly was the evening contact, shortly before nightfall, when the team again reported findings and where the position of the RON (rest over night) logger would be.
The Ambush:
It was, as RT California remained stationary during this break, when a North Vietnamese Army (NVA) unit, an enemy force estimated to be of platoon size, moved into position and ambushed it. In the initial phase of the ensuing firefight, Bill Stubbs was struck several times in the head and upper body at close range by enemy automatic weapons fire and was last seen slumped lifelessly over this rucksack and presumably dead, killed in action (KIA). His death was followed shortly thereafter by five of the SCU Montagnards being wounded (WIA) to varying degrees of severity by enemy gunfire (three became incapacitated enough that they had to be assisted or carried as they could not move on their own), and Dick was injured with a twisted knee when he fell backwards while trying to take cover from the massive amount of incoming automatic weapons fire. As the barrage fire continued, enemy troops threw hand grenades, three of which landed in SGT Stubbs’ general location, thereby inflicting more fatal wounds upon him. Because of the intense and accurate enemy gunfire, team members were unable to move up the steep slope to reach Bill and retrieve his body. Although the RT was badly shot up, it was still able to produce enough firepower to keep the enemy at bay and from totally over-running their position. After about five minutes of hellish intensity, the surviving members of RT California were forced to withdraw while still under heavy enemy fire, thus leaving Stubbs and much of their equipment behind. The team retreated in the opposite direction from where Stubbs was because he had been at the point of the ambush, as well as it being easier and faster to evade downhill while transporting the wounded. The site of the ambush was in rugged jungle-covered mountains approximately 19 miles west-southwest of Kham Duc, South Vietnam; and four miles southwest of the Laotian-South Vietnamese border just northeast of Nakhon Phanom, in Attopeu Province, Laos at geographical coordinates 180524N-1050000E (grid coordinates YB705987). See map below. Of the enemy, its KIAs and WIAs were unknown.
Evasion and Escape:
The battered RT, with Dick on the point and Bob in the tail-gunner’s positions, eluded pursuit over the next five hours, having to break contact several times with suppressive automatic weapons fire and maneuver by the able survivors during the first hour of running gun battles from the dogged NVA pursuit that would close to within a few yards distance at times. All the while those members who were more able transported the most severely wounded through the harsh terrain. After reaching the riverbed, the team moved uphill to find a clearing on high ground that was suitable enough to serve as a pick up zone (PZ) for a helicopter to extract them, in addition to a site that the remaining fighters could establish as a defensive position to thwart the enemy in the event of another attack and tend to the wounded. The most severely injured were carried up the hillside in a leapfrog manner (first one a ways up and then return for another to bring up) for the entire climb, as not everyone was able to carry the wounded as they did when going downhill, which was far more easier and quicker. Once secure the RT was then able to make radio contact with friendly forces by use our emergency radios (URC 90) switched to the guard frequency. Our first sighting of a friendly and of what we believed as contact was with an unidentified fast mover (USAF jet aircraft) that was in the area, which over-flew our position at a low altitude.
Air support of two USAF A-1 “Sky Raider” aircraft were dispatched to suppress the ambush site, as well as any enemy that might be moving to our present location, while a U.S. Army UH-1 “Iroquois” slick helicopter, more commonly known as a “Huey,” swooped in to extract the RT from the selected PZ. The team was returned directly to our FOB Launch Site located on the airstrip at Dak To, RVN where the Huey had to be refueled because of the flight length and load. From there we were immediately transported by the same chopper to the FOB at Kontum. All of the wounded Yards were sent to a hospital that was established to specifically attend to the SCU Montagnards, as well as their families.
Epilogue:
The following day a Special Forces Bright-Light Team, which remains on-call at the Dak To launch site and has the mission of conducting search and rescue (SAR), along with SFC Gross was inserted back into the target area. However, no trace of Bill Stubbs or any of the equipment left behind by the RT at the ambush site was to be found; the NVA had swept the area after the skirmish and recovered everything of value. Likewise, SAR personnel found no sign of a freshly dug grave anywhere in or around the immediate area of the ambush. By the day’s end, the formal search for Stubbs was concluded and the Bright Light Team and Dick were extracted and returned to Dak To.
In January 1970, a board of inquiry formally listed, then Staff Sergeant, William Wentworth Wilbur Stubbs as missing in action (MIA) as a result of the action on the 20th October 1969 in Laos. Stubbs was also recognized for his selfless act courage by engaging the enemy in a manner so furiously that it held the enemy force in check, thus giving the RT enough time to regroup and save itself even though it cost him the ultimate price-his life-while saving the lives of those of his team mates. And for his heroic actions on that unforgettable, fateful day, an event that will dwell indelibly in the minds of those that lived through the horrendous experience and had to suffer his loss, SSG Bill Stubbs was posthumously awarded the Silver Star, Purple Heart, and the RVN Gallantry Cross with Silver Star medals for his deeds and sacrifice. As a note, Bill had previously received an Army Accommodation Medal for Valor for actions in August of 1969.
William has also been memorialized, in a national sense of memory, by being listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial’s black granite wall adjacent to the Washington-Lincoln Mall in Washington, DC and the Vietnam War Memorial on the State Capital Building grounds in Olympia, Washington. Later at the request of Bill’s mother, who had since divorced his Father, had Bill’s name added to her home state, Oregon, Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Portland. On all of these memorials, you will notice the “+” sign to the left of his name, indicating that he is MIA-Gone, but not forgotten… De Oppresso Liber (personal memories from Bob Mohs)