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Terry de la Mesa Allen, Jr. (1929–1967), son of retired Major General Terry de la Mesa Allen, Sr., was a fourth generation soldier. He achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He served with the 1st Infantry Division, which his father had commanded with distinction during World War II. Allen was killed in an ambush in South Vietnam on Tuesday 17 October 1967, while leading his battalion against the Viet Cong near Lai Khe, northwest of Saigon at the Battle of Ong Thanh. An account of that battle is detailed in the best selling They Marched into Sunlight, a book by David Maraniss. Allen was married to Jean Ponder of El Paso and had 3 children; Mary, Consuelo, and Alice. Under steady pressure from higher-ups to forcefully engage the enemy, Allen, in what has been called an "ill-advised action", took two rifle companies, "A" and "D" on an attempt to contact hostle Viet Cong forces. These two rifle companies ran into an ambush by two much larger Viet Cong battalions that lay in wait along the trail. The Viet Cong forces allowed the lead company, Bravo to walk past the second of two enemy battalions lying alongside the road as close as 10 meters away. Bravo Company continued up the trail and walked along the 1st of the two battalions which opened fire on the Bravo killing or wounding the entire force including LTC Allen and his CSM Francis Dowling, who was later found lying entirely over the top of his commander. After all but eliminating Alpha Company, the Viet Cong 2d battalion assaulted Company D, killing or wounding many of the remaining Americans. ==See also== * Don Holleder 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Terry de la Mesa Allen, Jr.」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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