Vietnam veteran among those to receive Presidential Unit Citation
From our weekly issue dated September 09, 2009
Vietnam Veteran and valley resident Charles Giles (Photo by Scott Jorgensen, Illinois Valley News)
After nearly 40 years, Illinois Valley resident Charles Giles will be among several U.S. soldiers honored for heroic actions during the Vietnam War.
That conflict occurred between 1959 and 1975. Giles, now 67, joined the U.S. Army in 1962. He completed two tours of duty in Europe before being shipped to Vietnam in 1970.
“I wasn’t particularly interested in getting shot at,” Giles said. “They sent me.”
Giles was assigned to Alpha Troop, 1st Squadron, of the Army’s 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment.
On March 25, 1970, a day Giles remembers as being particularly hot, the soldiers were on patrol in Tay Ninh Province, near the Cambodian border. Giles was in position as the gunner on a tank.
Suddenly, a defective mortar round exploded, which caused a chain reaction of explosions and vehicle fires that killed three soldiers and wounded five.
“We thought we were under fire,” Giles said. “It was pretty chaotic.”
The following day, the unit discovered that a 1st Cavalry division nearby was pinned down and surrounded by the enemy. Giles said that the troops did not hesitate to volunteer their assistance.
“We had to go in and save them,” he said.
Giles and his fellow troops were outnumbered three to one, but still fought on. He said that he remembers enemy soldiers coming out of “spider holes” with automatic machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
“We were on top of a whole battalion,” Giles said.
To make matters worse, Giles said, a U.S. supply helicopter was shot down during the ensuing battle.
Alpha Troop ultimately sustained 68 casualties, including four deaths. But despite those many obstacles and challenges, the unit was able to rescue its endangered comrades.
As he was wounded in the battle, a Purple Heart was awarded to Giles for his individual effort.
“It’s gotten me out of a lot of traffic tickets,” he said.
Giles didn’t end his service there. He later joined the U.S. Air Force and became activated for Operation Desert Storm in 1991, but only got as far as Norfolk, Va. before that conflict ended.
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Earlier this year, Secretary of the Army Peter Geren approved issuing a Presidential Unit Citation to the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. That distinction is one step above the personal Silver Star and right below the Congressional Medal of Honor, which is the nation’s highest recognition for valor in battle.
This past spring, Giles received a letter informing him of his new honor.
“I was pretty excited,” Giles said.
In a letter dated March 4, 2009, U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (D-Texas) urged President Obama to take part in the award ceremony.
“By personally presenting this award, you would have the great honor of recognizing a heroic unit from a previous generation while at the same time recognizing the continuum of heroism and service of today’s men and women in uniform,” Rodriguez wrote.
Approximately 96 of the awards have been granted since the citation was established in 1941. By contrast, more than 800 Congressional Medals of Honor have been awarded during that time.
A date has yet to be set for the ceremony, but it likely will be held in the East Wing of the White House sometime between mid-October and mid-November.
Why did it take nearly 40 years for Giles and his fellow troops to receive this prestigious honor?
“The government’s kind of slow,” he said.
Now a disabled veteran, Giles has lived in Illinois Valley for 11 years. And although the war is far behind him, he still remembers the experience well, and remains humble about the events leading to his newest honor.
“To me, when I did it, it was just a hectic day,” said the veteran.
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