This is the VIC 4 VETS, Honored Veteran, during Veterans Month in America.
SUBMITTED BY: Grant Yeakey _____________________________________________________________
Jesse Ray Hughes and SGT Harry Allen
Tribute to SPC Jesse Ray Hughes and SGT Harry Allen
I would like to honor the memory of my mom’s cousin Specialist E-4 Jesse Ray Hughes. Jesse Ray Hughes, Born 19 December 1944, arrived in Vietnam 05 May 1965. He was KIA while on a search and destroy mission on 05 October 1965 when his unit was hit by Viet Cong machine gun fire. He was one of 8 young men killed in that battle. Jesse Ray was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star for his actions that day.
The words of Mr. Harry Allen
We were in 2nd Platoon, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade. Jesse and I had come from Okinawa on May 5, 1965 to Vietnam. We were both about 14 months into an 18 month Okinawa deployment. They told us we were going TDY (temporary duty) for 90 days. At the end of our TDY period they told us we were PCS (permanent change of station) and would have to stay for a year. Jesse was killed on 5 October which was exactly 5 months into our year.
At the end of my year on 5 May 66, I extended for 90 days because I only had a little over 5 months left in the Army, and if I came back from an overseas assignment with less than 90 days left on my contract I would be discharged early. I ended up spending about 29 months overseas and was a Sergeant E-5 when discharged at 20 years and 9 months old. It was 3 months before I could vote or drink but I’d run an infantry squad of 10 men for a while.
Special thank you to Harry Allen who I reached out to a little over a year ago after
finding a tribute he had written about Jesse Ray on a fallen warrior website. He has become a very good friend, and I consider him a true American Hero.
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