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SGT. ROLLIE A. PORT. . . Young Man fretting AroundFairbanks Youth Wins Silver StarByRAYWALDREPSpr.cia I lo News'MinerCAMP ULACKHORSE, Vietnam (11th ACK)-Sgl. Rollie A. Port has icti an Interesting lifefor a 19-yoar-old. Brides being a winner or the Silver Suit; he has had the unique experience of having a helicopter fall on him.Port, son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Puri of 812 Andrews, Fairbanks, is former platoon sergeant of the Uth Armored Givalry Regiment's Aero-Rifle Platoon. He received the nation’s third highest valor award for hia actions during a battle in an enemy base camp near Phnoc VinhonMarebS.The pJa toon of commandos was helicopter-lifted into the campon that date to assess the effects of a B-52 bomb strike. As the lead squad moved in, it was pinned down by intense fire from several enemy bunkers.Unable to move the squad, Sgt. Port braved the enemy fire to move back to the second squad and lead it to a flanking position. “I don't know how he got out of there alive,” said Spec. lt;1 Rex L. Saul of Graterford, Pa., one of the embattled ARPs. “The lead was flying all over the place.”Sgt. Port moved the squad into position to flank the bunkers, but it too was pinned down by enemy fire. “The bunkers were so well camouflaged we couldn't tollwhere they were, but the enemy could obviously see us,he said.Again disregard^ the heavy fire, Sgt. Port moved back lo the remaining squad and led it lo the other enemy flank. Two men were wounded in Ihe flunking effort, ami he pulled them back to a bomb crater for protection.A Light Observation Helicopter (LOH) was sent in to evacuate the wounded men. The ctafl was hit by enemy fire and crashed Into the crater, striking Port and one of the wounded men. The chopper bit me on the back and drove my face into the dirt, said Port, “ft's not the sort of thing i’d want to happen to me everyday.Although temporarily blinded,he remained in the crater with the wounded until reinforcements arrived to overrun the enemy. He recovered from his injury in three days with no ill effects.Besides the Silver Star, Sgt. Port has been a warded the Bronze Star twice and the Purple Heart twice for othr actions with the ARPs. He has since been'assigned as-operations sergeant of the. 11th Cav*s Air Cavalry Troop.Kuwait, two-thirds the size of Maryland, ranks Sixth 'among world oil producers. I is crude oii reserves arc an estimated 10 billion tons or more, about 15 percent of the w orld supply.
Newspaper Details
Fairbanks Daily News Miner
Fairbanks, Alaska, US
Sat, Jun 07, 1969
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
MO, USA 02 Jun 2019
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