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"The soldier above all other people prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. But always in our ears ring the ominous words of Plato, that wisest of all philosophers: "Only the dead have seen the end of war."
General Douglas McArthur
Name: James Lane Talley
Rank/Branch:E4/US Army Special Forces
Unit:Detachment A-133, 5th Special Forces Group
Date of Birth:30 March 1943 (Phoenix AZ)
Home City of Record: Ft. Benning,GA
Date of Loss: 19 June 1964
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 112447N 1061041E (XT325635)Click Here For Map
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Other Personnel In Incident:Thomas I. Ledbetter (missing);
Harry A. Walling(killed); 103-man Montagnard company
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
REMARKS: MIA IN GRND FIGHT ON PATROL - J
On June 17, 1964, Capt. Thomas L. Ledbetter, Sgt. James L. Talley and
Sgt. Harry Walling left the Special Forces camp at Polei Krong on a two-day
patrol with a 103-man Montagnard company. The patrol proceeded through Tay Ninh
Province to about 5 miles southeast of the provincial capitol.
Two days later, at the camp at Soui Da, a radio message was received from
Talley reporting that the team had walked into a Viet Cong battallion of
300-400 and that Captain Ledbetter had been wounded. He requested air support
and evacuation. He was unable to give an exact location.
Immediate help was sent, but was unable to locate the area of the battle. Later
that day, a company and a half were ready to leave on a search when 26
survivors, mostly wounded, began to come in, giving a grim description of what
had occurred. Captain Ledbetter, although shot in the leg, stabbed and hit in
the head, was last seen crawling away after the company was entirely overrun.
Some of the survivors reported that they had hidden in the brush pretending to
be dead and observed the Viet Cong burying bodies and lying in wait for the
search parties they knew would come. Some said that they had seen Talley and
Ledbetter being carried away by the Viet Cong.
The search for clues of the fate of Thomas Ledbetter, James Talley and Harry
Walling went on for over a week. Each day, the searchers encountered enemy
fire and engaged in battle, both on the ground and in the air. The search was
complicated by the fact that the Montagnards were unfamiliar with the area and
frequently became confused about the locations of the battles. Eighty-six new
graves were found, and several of them were opened. The grave of Harry Walling
was found and his body evacuated. Ledbetter and Talley were not found.
The team felt at the time that Ledbetter and Talley had been captured. Talley
had medical experience and would have made a valuable prisoner to the Viet Cong
who were unable to adequately treat their wounded.
The U.S. Government has received thousands of sighting reports of living Americans
in captivity in Southeast Asia. Because many of these reports cannot be
disproven, families of men like Tommy Ledbetter and Jim Talley wonder if their
loved one could still be waiting to be rescued by the country they loved and
served.
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