SGT – E5 – United States Army
11C40 - Infantryman
A Company, 5th Battalion, 12th Infantry,
199th Light Infantry Brigade

Tour began on May 21, 1970
21 Years Old
Beattie, Kansas
Born November 6, 1948 in Omaha, Nebraska - August 21, 1970

Jarrod Munger honors Ronald...

SGT Ronald 'Butch' Munger was my fathers 1st cousin.  I would like to thank
you for the web site and the information on it.  My family was never told how
Butch died in Vietnam.  I had just typed 'Munger' into the Google search
engine and found your web site.  Thank You.

This message was left in the Faces On The Wall
notebook that travels with the tribute...

He was a good guy to my Aunt, that was because he was my cousin.

Rolf remembers Ronald...

This is Rolf Hernandez, let me tell you about myself.  I was in Vietnam from
November 1969 to October 1970.  I was with the 199th Light
Infantry Brigade first and then when President Richard Nixon started pulling
the troops out, I was sent to the 101st Airborne Division in the North.  I
was in the invasion of Cambodia and we were under the command of the
1st Cavalry Division.

While in Cambodia, I was lucky to leave early for my
R&R to Australia.  When I got back, I was sent back to the field, I
remember we landed on a portable air field, then we had to cross the rice
paddies to get to the base up the hill.  I was there a couple of days and one night
while on guard, Cpt. Ernest McMullan came by and said to get ready to leave
as soon as it was daylight.  We were going to airmobile to another base that had been
under constant fire all night, actually we didn't leave until that afternoon.

We were dropped off not far from around the base and then we worked our
way towards the base going up the hill.  I remember we found an NVA
body just barely buried, he had a handkerchief around his mouth which
meant he must to have been wounded and was screaming and either
he died later or was buried alive.  Later I saw a man on the ground by the
creek like he was drinking water, but it turned out to be another body.

By this time we were close to the base, we were airmobiled somewhere in
the jungles.  I don't remember if we were three or four days in the
jungle or a week, but we hadn't had any contact with the NVA.  We
were just a few yards from a clearing when it all happened.  I was carrying
the radio, Bobby Riddle was the RTO, we usually carried two radios
in the company, and if I'm correct, one with the captain and the other
with the Staff Sgt., but that particular mission we had three radios.

I remember I was the last person on the line, well on this day in the middle
of the afternoon, that's when all hell broke loose.  The shooting started and then
there was a lot of screaming and yelling, we were all confused at first, we
didn't know what was happening up front, whether somebody got shot or we
had killed somebody.  They kept screaming for smoke grenades, but well
before that we were told not to move, but the screaming went on, so I decided to
go to the front to take the grenades, I had a yellow one.  Bobby told me that I
wasn't supposed to leave the radio, but I told him that the front needed help
and somebody had to take the smoke grenades.  On my way to the front, I
collected a few grenades and passed the Captain, he asked me where I was
going, so I told him I was going to the front to take the smoke grenades.

When I got there, the first person that I saw was Staff Sgt. Vance, he was very
upset, and then I saw Sgt. Munger lying on the ground with his face up.  He told me
to stay with him until the medic got there and he was going to see the other
person that also had been shot.  Later we found out that the other soldier got
shot twice in the stomach, but made it.  I screamed for the medic to come and I
was in tears to see Sgt. Munger lying there not moving or breathing.  He had
been shot on the back of the head.

When the medic finally arrived, he started pounding on his heart and was very upset
just to see him not breathing.  A few seconds later, Sgt. Munger started breathing
heavily, I was at that time more emotional and with tears on my face to have seen
a miracle that he woke up from the dead.  At that time the medic went to the front to
see the other soldier and where Sgt. Vance was.  Before he left, he told me that if
Sgt. Munger stopped breathing, just to pound on his heart.  By this time the dust off
helicopters were on their way.

Another soldier came to me and said there was a clearing just a few
yards from where we were, and we needed to take him to the clearing.  The
other soldier and I tried to carry him, but because he was tall and heavy, we
couldn't lift him up, so we called for more help, and another soldier came.  The
three of us tried to lift him, but he was still too heavy, so we had to call for more
help, and finally it took four of us to lift him.  As we lifted him up, the shooting
started, so we put him down again.  This happened about three times until I finally
said, "Lets get him out of here!"

The jungle was so thick, that even a few yards seemed forever.  As we reached
the clearing, the chopper was just getting there.  He didn't touch the ground
completely, and we put him on the floor of the helicopter.  We found out later
that he didn't even make it to the base.

I just thought that his family would like to know how it all happened.  Thanks again
for letting me share my thoughts, Sgt. Ronald Munger, a true soldier.

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