On 03 May 1967 B Company, 1st Bn, 5th Infantry lost four men in the Ho Bo Woods about 7 Kilometers South-Southeast of Ben Suc when their armored personnel carrier was hit by recoilless rife fire: SP4 James Herbert Flickinger, Burbank, California; PFC Chester Gale Jordan, Arlington, Texas (Bronze Star "V"); SP4 Glendell Morgan, Los Angeles, California; and SP4 Lee Henderson Russ, Oakland, California. A fifth member of the Company, SP4 Randall Arbogast of Valley Head, West Virginia, was wounded by a white phosphorous grenade and died at Brook Army Hospital in San Antonio, Texas on 31 May 1967. Randall W. Arbogast was born at Valley Head, West Virginia, the eldest son of Warren and Arizona Arbogast. He was a graduate of Tygarts Valley High School Class of 1964 and was employed by Pioneer Lumber Company until entering the U. S. Army on September 29, 1965. He began his tour in Vietnam on February 12, 1967. He was also the only graduate of Tygarts Valley High School to lose his life in the Vietnam War. On May 3, 1967, his squad was engaged in hostile action with the enemy in Hau Nghia Province. He was hit with a blast from a white phosphorous grenade. Randall suffered sixty-eight percent total body burns with forty-seven percent being third degree burns. He was evacuated from the field and on May 8, 1967, arrived at Brook General Hospital, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, for treatment of his injuries. He died on May 31, 1967, of septicemia due to burns received in combat. SP4 Arbogast was survived by his mother Arizona R. (Ware) (1915-2005), father Warren Everett Arbogast (1911-2004), Valley Head, West Virginia; his 6 sisters; Luella, Leanne, Jean, Janice, Kayleen and Carol; and his 3 brothers Stanley, Steven and Charles Arbogast. West Virginia named a section of road in Randolph County from the Intersection of U. S. Route 219 and WV State Route 15 at Valley Head, West Virginia, south to the Pocahontas County line, as the "U. S. Army SPC 4 Randall W. Arbogast Memorial Road" Randall is buried at Valley Head Cemetery, Valley Head, WV as are his parents.     - - The Virtual Wall, July 6, 2018

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