PICTURED:  2ndLt Neal, USMC on his graduation and commissioning day; Top Rodgers, Lt Prickett and Lt Neal before stepping off on OPERATION PRAIRIE III; and General Neal as the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps

Click on maps to enlarge

From one battle on 30-31 March 1967 Marines of India Company 3rd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment received the following medals for valor:  Medal of Honor (2dLt John P. Bobo, posthumous), four Navy Crosses {Capt Michael P. Getlin (posthumous), CpI John L. “Jack” Loweranitis (posthumous), HM3 Kenneth R. “Doc” Braun and 1stSgt Raymond G. Rogers Jr.}; yet I had never heard of the battle.  Retired Marine Corps General Butch Neal was the artillery forward observer for I/3/9 and joined ALL MARINE RADIO to discuss his time with India Company and the fight they experienced with the NVA on the evening of 30 March 1

967 approximately 5.5 SSW of the Con Thien Combat Base in the I Corps area of operations in the northern part of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam).

The 3d Battalion, 9th Marines Operations Journal for March 29-31, 1967 is here

The Leatherneck Magazine article entitled “The ‘Flaming I’ at Getlin’s Corner” is here

General Neal’s book is entitled “What Now Lieutenant” is here

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