11 Jul 2004 REMEMBERED by a classmate, Lowell Beenenga River Patrol Boats, US Navy, Vietnam 07 Sep 2005 I recently received the following e-mail: Lowell, Thanks for your contribution to The Virtual Wall web site for Cody Calkins. I was looking at the names of those I knew in Vietnam who were killed. Cody's name was the only one who died that day that I could find. I was there that day. We had an explosion in the bushes in the midst of the Command Post. Captain Bray was killed along with 4 others. There were 28 casualties, Don Cremer was a medic that was also killed, but his name is not on The Virtual Wall. I was the medic that responded to the casualties and found a terrible triage assignment. I needed help and Cody was one of the infantrymen that helped me. I did not know that he was wounded. He did not complain. When the last evacuation helicopter left, I am told, Cody got on because his head was hurting. I was surprised that he was on the KIA list the next day. I will always respect him because he stayed and helped others without complaining even though he was wounded himself. I was told that he received a fragment wound to the base of his skull which caused brain hemorrhaging. Regards, Bill Daniels Lowell Beenenga lbeenenga@tonicacom.net

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall The five men who died in the explosion described by Mr. Daniels above were C Co, 1st Bn, 52nd Inf Bn CPT Ralph O. Bray, Olathe, KS PFC Cody R. Calkins, Oglesby, IL PFC Ronald M. Cremer, Miami, FL, medic, HHC w/ C/1/52 B Btry, 1st Bn, 14th Arty Rgt CPL Jose B. Cisneros, Baldwin Park, CA PFC Barry W. Bickel, Logansport, IN According to the 1/52nd Infantry's operations log, which identifies the five men by name and unit, the explosion was caused by a booby-trapped 105mm artillery shell. The Company command post was located near Phu Thanh (2) about 10 kilometers southwest of Binh Son.

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