Post by Anonymous Vet on Jan 10, 2003 4:46:37 GMT -5
Wendell Wayne Leslie, Spc4
25th Inf. Div. Co.B 2/12
November 15, 1968 to April 27, 1969
"Often times I sit back to relax after a days work or when someone I know has been killed or badly wounded in action and I imagine to myself how his parents and wife will take it. Concerning my wound, it was nothing at all. I simply got hit in the other knee. It’s a very small wound. I rested for three or four days and went right back into the woods and rice paddies. So no sweat. I wanted to tell you about it before the Army did because I realize a feeling you must experience when you see the guy approaching the house. You never know what they are going to tell you. I just can picture how the family will take the news real badly. I still say, though I am glad to be in Viet Nam, I appreciate life a lot more now. It’s the same feeling a poverty-stricken family would experience if they were given things that they themselves could never buy. Give a family that has lived on very little food all their lives or one that had no choice but to eat poor quality food, a dinner of their choice, and you will see how much they appreciate it. That’s how it is with me and a lot of guys here. I found out yesterday I will be coming home for R&R on June 4, I’ll leave about the 9th or 10th. I’ll be home for about five or six days. I’m sorry I haven’t written home in along time. In the last month or so my company has been spending a lot of nights out in the woods and rice paddies. During the day we search out predetermined areas where the enemy is expected of hiding, then for a few hours we rest until darkness has fallen at which time we move out to our ambush site. Here we dig our foxholes for the night. Early the next morning, we are up and at it again. We usually go out three to six days at a time. Time has gone by pretty fast here. Only six more months to go. We haven’t seen much action for a while now. Since the Tet-Offensive came to an end things have been real quite. I used to carry the platoon radio ‘til three weeks ago when I was called upon to move up to company RTO. This simply means that I got an easier softer job than the one I had as platoon RTO. The only time I will leave the perimeter now will be when my unit goes out on company size operations."
This was my uncle’s last letter home. It was written on April 21, 1969. He was killed in action on April 27, 1969.
"Leslie abandoned the safety of his night perimeter position when he saw enemy troops infiltrating the area, with deadly accuracy, placed effective fire on the numerically superior force until he was forced to withdraw to his covered position. He continued to place suppressive fire upon the enemy until he was fatally wounded by a hand grenade." Citation for Silver Star written by Larry F. Dunn
I was with my Grandma and Grandpa, just the three of us, on April 29, 1969 when the military jeep pulled up in the front of the house. My Grandma started to scream. "I realize the feeling you experience" is what my uncle wrote. I was four years old at the time, but it is an experience I will never forget.
Does anyone know how he earned his other medals?
From: Howard Leslie
25th Inf. Div. Co.B 2/12
November 15, 1968 to April 27, 1969
"Often times I sit back to relax after a days work or when someone I know has been killed or badly wounded in action and I imagine to myself how his parents and wife will take it. Concerning my wound, it was nothing at all. I simply got hit in the other knee. It’s a very small wound. I rested for three or four days and went right back into the woods and rice paddies. So no sweat. I wanted to tell you about it before the Army did because I realize a feeling you must experience when you see the guy approaching the house. You never know what they are going to tell you. I just can picture how the family will take the news real badly. I still say, though I am glad to be in Viet Nam, I appreciate life a lot more now. It’s the same feeling a poverty-stricken family would experience if they were given things that they themselves could never buy. Give a family that has lived on very little food all their lives or one that had no choice but to eat poor quality food, a dinner of their choice, and you will see how much they appreciate it. That’s how it is with me and a lot of guys here. I found out yesterday I will be coming home for R&R on June 4, I’ll leave about the 9th or 10th. I’ll be home for about five or six days. I’m sorry I haven’t written home in along time. In the last month or so my company has been spending a lot of nights out in the woods and rice paddies. During the day we search out predetermined areas where the enemy is expected of hiding, then for a few hours we rest until darkness has fallen at which time we move out to our ambush site. Here we dig our foxholes for the night. Early the next morning, we are up and at it again. We usually go out three to six days at a time. Time has gone by pretty fast here. Only six more months to go. We haven’t seen much action for a while now. Since the Tet-Offensive came to an end things have been real quite. I used to carry the platoon radio ‘til three weeks ago when I was called upon to move up to company RTO. This simply means that I got an easier softer job than the one I had as platoon RTO. The only time I will leave the perimeter now will be when my unit goes out on company size operations."
This was my uncle’s last letter home. It was written on April 21, 1969. He was killed in action on April 27, 1969.
"Leslie abandoned the safety of his night perimeter position when he saw enemy troops infiltrating the area, with deadly accuracy, placed effective fire on the numerically superior force until he was forced to withdraw to his covered position. He continued to place suppressive fire upon the enemy until he was fatally wounded by a hand grenade." Citation for Silver Star written by Larry F. Dunn
I was with my Grandma and Grandpa, just the three of us, on April 29, 1969 when the military jeep pulled up in the front of the house. My Grandma started to scream. "I realize the feeling you experience" is what my uncle wrote. I was four years old at the time, but it is an experience I will never forget.
Does anyone know how he earned his other medals?
From: Howard Leslie