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Benton’s Sergeant Brian L. Buker Lest we forget

from 2021 Western Maine

by Discover Maine Magazine

from 2021 Western Maine, page 42

Skowhegan’s Hannah Judkins Sta...

Benton’s Sergeant Brian L. Buker

by James Nalley

In 1961, in anticipation of the Viet Cong insurgency in South Vietnam, President John F. Kennedy began activating Special Forces units, including the 5th Special Forces Group (SFG). The 5th SFG was first deployed as a battle advisory group for the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. However, after the war was in full swing, it became a mainstay battle force that used both unconventional and conventional warfare. By the end of its 10-year service in the Vietnam War, a total of 18 Special Forces soldiers were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, including one man from Benton.

Brian L. Buker was born on Novem-

Lest we forget

ber 3, 1949, in the town of Benton. The youngest of four sons of Opal Buker Clark, he eventually graduated from Lawrence High School in Fairfield in 1967. According to a September 2010 article in the Portland Press Herald, one of Buker’s high school classmates, Harry Fitzpatrick stated, “He was a regular 1967 version of a teenager… He was more inclined to go off to war; he did talk about joining the Army and serving the nation that way.” In 1968, as expected, Buker enlisted in the U.S. Army in Bangor, and earned his way into the 5th SFG.

It is important to note that, by the late 1960s, the 5th SFG had become unique for its heavy use of watercraft, particularly Hurricane Aircat airboats. In 1967, the group launched a campaign against Viet Cong forces over a wide area of the Mekong Delta, a (cont. on page 52)

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(cont. from page 51) 15,600 square-mile region in southwestern Vietnam. As stated in the book, History of Special Forces in Vietnam, 1961-1971 by Francis Kelly, the campaign, “conducted jointly with the South Vietnamese Army, members of the Civilian Irregular Defense Group, and the U.S. Navy and Air Force, was built around the use of 84 airboats as well as helicopters, U.S. Navy warships, and civilian vessels.” Their combined efforts “turned the flood season into a significant tactical advantage for the United States” and allowed the 5th SFG “to capture large swaths of territory that were formerly overrun with Viet Cong.” However, such gains came at a cost, since “55 Special Forces soldiers, 1,654 Vietnamese, and an estimate 7,000 Viet Cong were killed during the campaign.” In April 1970, the 5th SFG began reducing its numbers in Vietnam, despite the continuing presence of enemy soldiers in the region. This was 5th Special Forces on the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.

when Buker, a sergeant in the 5th SFG, joined the fray.

On April 5, 1970, 20-year-old Buker was serving in Detachment B-55 and acting as a platoon advisor for a Vietnamese mobile strike force’s mission in the Mekong Delta. That morning, he led the platoon and cleared a strategically located and well-guarded pass to establish the first foothold at the top of what was formerly an impenetrable mountain fortress. According to his Medal of Honor citation, “When his platoon came under intense enemy fire from two heavily fortified bunkers, and realizing that withdrawal would result in heavy casualties, Sgt. Buker unhesitatingly, and with complete disregard

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for his personal safety, charged through the hail of enemy fire and destroyed the first bunker with hand grenades.” Meanwhile, as he reorganized his men for an attack on the second bunker, “Sgt. Buker was seriously wounded. Despite his wounds and the deadly enemy fire, he crawled forward and destroyed the second bunker.” Buker then refused medical attention and continued to reorganize his men for another attack. That was when he was killed by enemy fire. As a result of his actions, many casualties were averted, and the assault of the enemy position was successful.

By November 1970, further reductions in personnel resulted in a complete withdrawal of the 5th SFG in March 1971. Members of the group, however, continued to conduct intelligence operations in Southeast Asia until the collapse of the South Vietnamese government on April 29, 1975.

According to the Portland Press Herald, “Buker was one of four brothers to go to war in Vietnam in the mid1960s, and the only one of them not to come home.” Buker was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions, making him one of three servicemen from Maine to receive the award in the Vietnam War (the others being Thomas J. McMahon and Donald S. Skidgel). Buker was buried at Brown Cemetery in his hometown of Benton. As for his legacy, the same article stated that “Buker’s mother, Opal Buker Clark, always said that after she died, she wanted the medal donated to her son’s high school for permanent display.” Thus, following her death in May 2010, members of her family, including Buker’s brothers Victor and Alan, presented his Medal of Honor and other awards, such as the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, to school officials at Fairfield High School, with plans to display them in the school library. According to Victor, the family agreed that Brian’s medals “should be given to the high school so future generations will know who he was and what he did for his country, lest they forget.”