{"id":5387,"date":"2024-12-20T00:13:21","date_gmt":"2024-12-20T00:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onlinedemoserver10.com\/firesupportbasehill4-11\/?page_id=5387"},"modified":"2025-11-28T19:31:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T19:31:33","slug":"the-faces-of-2nd-platoon-bravo-company-3rd-battalion-1st-infantry","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/onlinedemoserver10.com\/firesupportbasehill4-11\/the-faces-of-2nd-platoon-bravo-company-3rd-battalion-1st-infantry\/","title":{"rendered":"The Faces of 2nd Platoon, Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Infantry"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The Faces of 2nd Platoon, Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Infantry\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Here is a collection of photographs provided by Gary Koppen who was in the 2nd Platoon, Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Infantry during 1970-71.\u00a0\u00a0Gary took some of these pictures with others taken by George Hardman, Steve Jones, and Jerry Stasiak.<\/p>

There are a couple of people in these pictures whose names were lost with time.\u00a0\u00a0If anyone can remember their names, please contact\u00a0Gary Koppen\u00a0or the\u00a0webmaster\u00a0for this site.<\/p>

Most of these pictures were taken when things were calm or everyone felt relatively safe.\u00a0\u00a0In dangerous places or situations, the cameras were never thought of because everyone had their jobs to do.<\/p>

As Gary finds more members and pictures from his platoon, this photo collection will be updated.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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This is Hill 4-11 from the southeast.\u00a0\u00a0It looks like Agent Orange really worked.<\/p>

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This was the squad Gary was assigned to in early March, 1970.\u00a0\u00a0Front left to right:\u00a0\u00a0Steve Jones, Dwight McKinney, Troy Williams, and Jerry Stasiak.\u00a0\u00a0Back from left to right:\u00a0\u00a0Don Kahre and Pete Simpson.<\/p>

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Sitting in the front from left to right:\u00a0\u00a0Larry Scott Barnett, Don Raiser, and Steve Jones.\u00a0\u00a0Standing from left to right:\u00a0\u00a0Carl Brown and Troy Williams.<\/p>

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These three guys spent their entire tour together with the 2nd Platoon from August, 1969 to August, 1970.\u00a0\u00a0They came together and left together.\u00a0\u00a0From left to right:\u00a0\u00a0Troy Williams, Steve Jones, and George Hardman.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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<\/center>\nThis is a “stand-down” in Chu Lai in early 1970.\u00a0\u00a0Kneeling:\u00a0\u00a0Steve Jones.\u00a0\u00a0Standing:\u00a0\u00a0George Hardman and Mike Daly.\n
<\/center>\nHere is the filthy squad after catching a ride to Hill 4-11 in an earthmover.\u00a0\u00a0Front from left to right:\u00a0\u00a0Jerry Stasiak, Dwight McKinney, George Hardman, Mike Helmer, and an Unknown.\u00a0\u00a0Rear from left to right:\u00a0\u00a0Pete Simpson, John McIntire, Gregg Gawthorpe, and Benny Hill.\n\n
<\/center>\nThese guys never passed up an opportunity to try and get clean.\u00a0\u00a0Front standing:\u00a0\u00a0Bill Jackson, James Vitale, and Mike Helmer.\n\n
<\/center>These grunts showed up for assignments to a work detail on Hill 4-11.\u00a0\u00a0From left to right:\u00a0\u00a0Dave Hall, Bill Jackson, and Mike Helmer.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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<\/center>\n\nOne night while working southwest of Hill 4-11, 2nd Platoon had multiple tripflares to go off.\u00a0\u00a0Immediately, they saw several figures running to their front in a seemingly crouched-down position.\u00a0\u00a0They opened fire and managed to kill two wild pigs.\u00a0\u00a0Gary is sure they hit a couple of others because there were so many.\u00a0\u00a0The RFs\/PFs from Tu My Village (Tin Village) were notified, and they showed up the first thing in the morning to take the pigs away.\n\n
<\/center>\nThese guys are taking a break just south of Hill 4-11.\u00a0\u00a0From left to right:\u00a0\u00a0Pete Simpson, Jerry Stasiak, and Benny Hill.\n\n
<\/center>\nHere is Jerry Stasiak buying a cold soda from one of the many kids that followed the platoon around when they were operating close to the villages southeast of Hill 4-11.\n\n
<\/center>\nHere are John McIntire and LT Tomasini with one of the kids.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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<\/center>\nHere are Don Kahre, Tony Usalis, and Jerry Stasiak making a deal with the “little businessmen.”\n\n
<\/center>\nJim Hollerman was always a favorite among the kids.\n\n
<\/center>\nHere are Jerry Stasiak and LT Tomasini taking a break.\n\n
<\/center>\nGetting ready to move out are Mark Mackie (medic), Tony Usalis, and Jim Vitale.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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<\/center>\n\nHere are Don Kahre, Tony Usalis, and Jerry Stasiak making a deal with the “little businessmen.”\n\n
<\/center>Jim Hollerman was always a favorite among the kids.\n\n
<\/center>\nHere are Jerry Stasiak and LT Tomasini taking a break.\n
<\/center>\nGetting ready to move out are Mark Mackie (medic), Tony Usalis, and Jim Vitale.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Here is Pete Simpson with some assorted, captured enemy equipment and rice, with thanks to a successful “mechanical ambush.”<\/p>

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Clowning around with a sailor’s hat are George Slamavich “Slammer”, Bryan Ergang, and Stu Squires.<\/p>

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Here are Gregg Gawthorpe, Pete Simpson, and Gary Koppen having breakfast.<\/p>

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This is Benny Hill with the platoon trying to dryout after being out all night in the rain on ambushes.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Taking a break in the shade from left to right are:\u00a0\u00a0Benny Hill, Don Kahre, Jim Hollerman, Gary Koppen, and Bill Jackson.<\/p>

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One day, the platoon was operating northeast of Hill 4-11 when they came upon this “sandbox” mock-up of Hill 4-11.\u00a0\u00a0This was a detailed model of the entire hill, including all buildings and fighting positions.\u00a0\u00a0You can see the real Hill 4-11 in the background.\u00a0\u00a0This was an unpopulated area, but there were lots of fresh, adult-sized sandal prints around this.<\/p>

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In the “Horseshoe” waiting for word to move out are Carl Brown, Pete Simpson, Benny Hill, and Mike Helmer.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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<\/center>\nHere are some more guys in the “Horseshoe” waiting to move out.\u00a0\u00a0Front from left to right:\u00a0\u00a0Bryan Ergang, Tony Usalis, and Lou Tarantino.\u00a0\u00a0Rear from left to right:\u00a0\u00a0Don Kahre and Mark Mackie.\n\n
<\/center>Here are Jerry Stasiak, Bryan Ergang, Don Kahre (front), Pete Simpson, Bill Jackson, and Carl Brown.\n\n
<\/center>\n\nTaking a break from playing “Stretch” are Tony Usalis, Gary Koppen, and Bryan Ergang.\u00a0\u00a0This was a game where you would face your opponent and throw a knife and stick it in the ground outside your opponent’s feet.\u00a0\u00a0If the distance were less than the knife’s length, then your opponent would have to spread his feet that far.\u00a0\u00a0This would go back and forth until one person was unable to spread or stretch his legs any further.\u00a0\u00a0Stretch and Spades were the most popular games played during breaks in the field.\n\n
\n<\/center>\nThe grunts didn’t have fresh vegetables in the field.\u00a0\u00a0So, one day the platoon took a pot from a village they had patrolled through, picked some fresh corn the locals were growing for feed, and had fresh corn on the cob.\u00a0\u00a0From left to right:\u00a0\u00a0Gary Koppen, Bryan Ergang, Mike Helmer, Lou Tarantino, and Lop, their KCS.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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<\/center>\nThese grunts from 2nd platoon are checking out a Cobra that landed on Hill 4-11.\u00a0\u00a0From left to right:\u00a0\u00a0Unknown, Troy Williams, Mike Daly, Steve Jones, Richard Guertin, Gregg Gawthorpe, and George Hardman in the front seat.\n\n
<\/center>\nHere are Gary Koppen and Mike Hambly in Nghia Hanh Valley.\n\n
<\/center>\n\nThis is Don Kahre getting ready to move out in Nghia Hanh Valley.\n\n
<\/center>\n\nHere are Jim Hollerman, Don Kahre, and Gary Koppen in Nghia Hanh Valley on September 12, 1970.\u00a0\u00a0Don was killed in a firefight in the hills above Nghia Hanh Valley three days later on September 15, 1970\n
<\/center>\nThis tiger crawled up to the perimeter and was met with a claymore mine.\u00a0\u00a0The upper teeth were removed before the camera arrived.\u00a0\u00a0Gary carried one of the bottom fangs in his pocket for about a week, until he couldn’t stand the smell from the rotting tooth.\u00a0\u00a0Gary is holding the tiger’s head.\u00a0\u00a0George Ambrose (medic) is watching.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Faces of 2nd Platoon, Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Infantry Here is a collection of photographs provided by Gary Koppen who was in the 2nd Platoon, Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Infantry during 1970-71.\u00a0\u00a0Gary took some of these pictures with others taken by George Hardman, Steve Jones, and Jerry Stasiak. There are a couple […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5387","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinedemoserver10.com\/firesupportbasehill4-11\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinedemoserver10.com\/firesupportbasehill4-11\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinedemoserver10.com\/firesupportbasehill4-11\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinedemoserver10.com\/firesupportbasehill4-11\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinedemoserver10.com\/firesupportbasehill4-11\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5387"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/onlinedemoserver10.com\/firesupportbasehill4-11\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10146,"href":"https:\/\/onlinedemoserver10.com\/firesupportbasehill4-11\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5387\/revisions\/10146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinedemoserver10.com\/firesupportbasehill4-11\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}