Joe Engles of Murrieta, Calif. was the number 3 gunner serving with battery commander Lt. Col. Vessey during the Battle of Suoi Tre, Vietnam, March 21, 1967.
He said Vessey was "down in the dirt with us" during the battle, for which he and his fellow commander, James Cook, received the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
James Cook, gunner on the number 4 gun, said it took them two weeks to arrive in Vietnam on the troop ship which had lost a propeller, making for a rough ride. "Everybody was seasick," he said. Engles said there wasn't enough room for everyone to have a bunk, so they slept in shifts.
Engles said Vessey was courageous in battle and humble enough to carry on a conversation with a former specialist nearly 50 years later when Engles organized a reunion of the survivors of the battle.
"I asked him 'What it was like to get your first star?' He talked about the level of responsibility that he didn't feel when he was a colonel. I joked with him, 'General, what was it like for an Army guy to get his hands on those submarines?' He just laughed and laughed."
Engles said he asked Vessey for "a nugget" of wisdom, "something to hang onto in times of need, something to fall back on." Vessey's response, "You're back's against the wall, watch out for the guy with the Louisville Slugger (baseball bat.)"
"We had been through our share of mortar attacks and snipers," said Engles. "There were 363 of us against nearly 2,800 NVA (North Vietnamese Army). We were severely outnumbered. It turned out the Battle of Suoi Tre was the greatest one-day victory over the NVA of the entire war. We suffered 51 Americans lost, 197 wounded. Enemy soldiers lost 647 that we buried in a mass grave. It was their toughest unit (the 272nd Regiment, 9th Viet Cong Division)."
A mortar round hit Cook and he needed 915 stitches. Engles thought he had been killed, but in 2010 found him via the internet.
In 2015, Engles organized a reunion of those who had fought in the Battle, including those from units that had rescued them. Every commanding officer agreed to come, including Vessey who was the guest speaker.
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