Battle Northwest of Trang Bang On 10 Oct 1968 Alpha Company 2/12 Infantry was conducting a recon-in-force about 2 kilometers northwest of Trang Bang, Hau Nghia Province. As the lead platoon approached the hamlet of Xa Lom Vo, the point squad came under murderous small arms and automatic weapons fire from a treeline, killing or wounding several men, one of whom (SP4 E. A. Handrahan, the left point) fell in a position where he could not be seen by his comrades or by the command and control helicopter. Despite repeated efforts, which resulted in additional U.S. casualties, three of the men hit in the intial exchange of fires could not be recovered - Handrahan, who could not be seen but who was calling out, and two others who lay motionless. The platoon leader pulled his men back so that aircraft could work the treeline while the rest of Alpha 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry deployed. As the day progressed, it became clear to the ground commander that all three of his trapped men had died, and heavier air strikes were called as the company formed a night defensive perimeter. At daybreak Alpha Company reentered the engagement area and recovered the bodies of the two men who had fallen in the open. The area where Handrahan went down had been hit by bombs and his body was not found. Three of the five dead were awarded posthumous Distinguished Service Crosses, all for their efforts to protect and recover the men hit by the initial fires. The five men were: SFC Eugene Allen Handrahan, St, Paul, Minnesota; SGT Baynes Ballew McSwain, San Marcos, Texas (Dist Svc Cross); SP4 Stanley George Denisowski, Utica, New York (Dist Svc Cross); CPL Michael Eugene Evans, Greensboro, Georgia; and CPL Michael Eugene Randall, Noblesville, Indiana (Dist Svc Cross). Four other men from C Company, 2nd Bn, 27th Infantry, which had been inserted to assist Alpha 2/12, also were killed in the fighting: SGT Ronnie Blair, St Marys, Ohio; SP4 John William Robinson, Charleston, South Caroline; SP4 Waymon Leon Triggs, Houston, Texas; and PFC Angel Luis Ramos, Jersey City, New Jersey. SGT Ronnie Blair was survived by his mother, Ella Rose Holbrook Blair (1918-1999), father Ercel Blair (1915-1955), and three sisters. Ronnie and his mother are buried in Resthaven Memorial Gardens, Saint Marys, Auglaize County, Ohio, and his father in Kentucky. - - The Virtual Wall, 30 October 2023

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