Otmj over the mountain journal u otmj.com
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Thursday, May 19, 2016
inside Memorial day
Reluctant
Hero
First Alabama Vietnam Veteran Reflects on Real Tragedy of Any War
play ball! Barons and Leadership Vestavia host annual Special Needs Baseball Clinic. sports page 32
By Lee Davis
Photo special to the Journal
Jim Lawrence’s professorial looks and soft-spoken manner
Jim Lawrence was awarded The Bronze Star, The Purple Heart, The Air Medal, The Army Commendation Medal, The Combat Infantryman’s Badge, and other Vietnamese service medals.
give him the appearance of a college dean or a teacher. In fact, Lawrence has been both. But he is much more than that. The Vestavia Hills resident is a war hero – even though he disputes that description. Lawrence, a Troy native, had just graduated from The Citadel in South Carolina when he decided to join the United States Army. Lawrence received his commission as a second lieutenant in March 1964 and joined the 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia. While there, he earned his wings from paratrooper school, often jumping from UH-1 Huey helicopters, which were being used extensively in America’s comparatively small but gradually increasing military role in helping its Southeast Asian ally, South Vietnam, halt communist aggression from the north. “People have always asked me why I wanted to jump out of perfectly good airplanes or helicopters,” Lawrence recalled last week. “To me, I wanted to prove that I could do it. Being a paratrooper was a good way to learn how to deal with fear.” A few months later, Lawrence’s 2nd Infantry Division was converted to the 1st Calvary Division, and he was named reconnaissance platoon leader. After deployment to Vietnam, Lawrence was promoted to 1st lieutenant and was named executive officer of Delta Company in the early fall of 1965. To many Americans, Vietnam was still just an obscure spot on a map, but that was about to change. Fate put Lawrence in the middle of one of the most significant battles in American military history. The Ia Drang Valley was an area in South Vietnam just a few miles east of the Cambodian border where American troops first engaged with North Vietnamese Army regulars (PAVN) as part of Operation Long Reach. The confrontation, which would become known as the battle at Landing Zone Albany (LZ-Albany), began in the early afternoon on Nov. 17, 1965, when U.S. forces came into a clearing. North Vietnamese troops, which had arrived from Hanoi via the Ho Chi Minh
‘That’s Your Heartbeat Out There’ Crestline mom wants to make her son’s world better. people Page 8
summer Fashion Page 31
See Lawrence, page 16
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