The letter Sgt. Tycz's parents received the day before he died

[thedrifter]

The letter Sgt. Tycz's parents received the day before he died

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel


(KRT) - Dear Mom and Pop,

Hi! It's very close to "black out" (all lights off), but before that time, I just have to write an overdue letter to the best parents in the world, and anywhere else. After being with the 2nd platoon for very close to a year I have been transferred. I am now the platoon sergeant and second in command of an entire reconnaissance platoon...The change is a little strange, of course, but I know once my men and myself get used to each other, everything will be just great. They're a platoon of good marines and I plan on keeping them that way, with my newly acquired "Sarge's growwwl!" (Would you believe_my squeak??!)

Since my last patrol, Khe Sanh has kept me pretty busy. About a week ago a couple infantry platoons discovered enemy fortified positions in our front yard.

From our different "recon" patrols, we have known that there were many numerous enemy troops in our area; the two infantry platoons have been hit extremely hard, which has set off a large operation to our west and surrounding terrain.

The battle has been going on for, it seems, eternity.

Most of the contact has been with North Vietnamese Communists, very well armed, well trained and in positions that make the defensive fortifications of World War II look like sand castles.

Due to all available helicopters being used for resupply and "med evacs" (flying out the killed and wounded in action), my patrol is on standby, waiting for choppers to insert us into our area to be patrolled.

We've been sand bagging our living quarters for quite some time and are not really minding this work. Our base is frequently hit by enemy mortars during the night.

The most unpleasant detail is acting as stretcher bearers at the airfield.

An afternoon participating in evacuating the dead and wounded has made me learn to hate: Demonstrators (gutless traitors is what they are); a minority who actually supply the enemy with blood and supplies, and those overprotecting parents who put boot camp drill instructors in jail because they try to turn their boys into men that can stand up to a hard core enemy.

Our company has been hit pretty hard, too, with casualties; 100% casualties in one of our eight man patrols hit by mortars while waiting for helicopters to pick them up....

Mom and Dad, I have had opportunities to write sooner than tonight but I hope you will understand that writing about an unpopular war like this one is not easy....

I want to say what I think and feel, but I do not want to cause worry at home.

None of us here like this war, especially after seeing a friend or a fellow Marine wounded or worse, but the majority (I hope for the sake of democracy) believe in fighting off Communist aggression in a weakened country.

I firmly believe in bombings in North Vietnam of supply plants and arsenals. Why fight a trooper as well supplied and armed as these North Vietnamese are?

Unless we prove to the Communists that we do mean business, I feel that this war can and will last a long time.

I had an interruption just now. Our lieutenant passed me the word that we go in at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow. None of us want to go, but that's our job and I pray I will never fail to do it....

Your Marine Son,

Neil

(Below the signature there was a sketch of an American flag and the note: "The U.S. is in. It is free!")

---

Sgt. Tycz was killed in battle near Khe Sanh on May 10, 1967, one day after his parents received the above letter. He died trying to save members of his platoon and was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his extraordinary bravery. The medal is one notch below the Medal of Honor.

---

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marine killed in 1967 finally coming home

BY MEG JONES

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel


MILWAUKEE - (KRT) - Sigmund and Agnes Tycz never had a chance to bury their son_their 22-year-old Marine named James Neil Tycz.

He died on the hilltop overrun with elephant grass on a hot and humid day in 1967. When the three survivors of a seven-man Marine reconnaissance team were finally airlifted to safety off Hill 665 near Khe Sanh, they looked down from the helicopter to see the bodies of Sgt. Tycz and his three fallen comrades.

Listed as "Killed in Action-Body Not Recovered," Tycz remained on Hill 665 until American military casualty teams returned to the spot decades later.

His brother, Phillip Dale Tycz, 61, gave the military a sample of his DNA in the hopes one day his brother's remains would be identified. It wasn't needed. All that was found of Tycz were three teeth, which were identified through dental records.

Now Tycz's remains will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. His four remaining siblings - his parents died within two months of each other in 1988 - will gather at the cemetery on May 10, the anniversary of his death, to finally lay their brother to rest.

"I'm glad it's over," said Peter Carey Tycz, who was four years younger than his brother and joined the Marines because of him.

Phillip Dale Tycz was working at Mobil Oil in Milwaukee the day his family found out his brother had died in Vietnam. One of his sisters called to tell him the horrible news.

"It was heartbreaking. It still hurts when I think about it now," Phillip Dale Tycz said recently from his home in Plano, Texas. "I felt sorry for Mom and Dad. Dad really took it a lot worse than I expected."

A TRANSFER AND A PROMOTION

Sigmund and Agnes Tycz received a letter from their son on May 9, 1967. In the letter, Tycz told "Mom and Pop" that he had been transferred to a new platoon and promoted to platoon sergeant.

"The change is a little strange, of course, but I know once my men and myself get used to each other, everything will be just great. They're a platoon of good Marines and I plan on keeping them that way, with my newly acquired `Sarge's growwwl!' (Would you believe_my squeak??!)"

He mentions the fighting around Khe Sanh, sand-bagging his living quarters because of nightly mortar attacks and the sad task of being a stretcher bearer for wounded and dead soldiers and Marines.

"None of us here like this war, especially after seeing a friend or a fellow Marine wounded or worse, but the majority (I hope for the sake of democracy) believe in fighting off Communist aggression in a weakened country ... Our lieutenant passed me the word that we go in at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow. None of us want to go, but that's our job and I pray I will never fail to do it."

The letter was signed "Your Marine Son, Neil" and below his signature was a sketch of an American flag and the note: "The U.S. is `in.' It is free!"

HONORED FOR BRAVERY

He was killed one day after his folks received the letter. Tycz, who served in Company A in the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion of the 3rd Marine Division, was awarded the Navy Cross for his extraordinary bravery. The award is one notch below the Medal of Honor.

Leading a seven-man recon team on a patrol in enemy-controlled mountainous territory, Tycz and his men were detected by a North Vietnamese Army unit of as many as 50 men, according to the Navy Cross citation.

Tycz's team was attacked by small arms fire and mortars, and within minutes, one Marine was killed and three seriously wounded_but not before they killed several enemy soldiers.

Tycz deployed the rest of his men, moved among them to direct their fire and shouted encouragement. When the radio operator was hit, Tycz used the radio to call in artillery fire on enemy positions, and when a grenade landed near one of the wounded Marines, Tycz ran toward it, picked it up and threw it. But the grenade traveled only a short distance before exploding, killing Tycz.

Since the area where Tycz and the three other Marines died was in enemy territory, the military had to leave their bodies behind. From 1993 to 2004, U.S. Marine Casualty Department members visited the isolated site of the firefight eight times, a place that local tribesmen stayed away from because they considered the hilltop haunted.

The first evidence was discovered in 1998 -- remnants of American uniforms, 31 teeth, nine of which were identifiable, and bone fragments that couldn't be identified. Last month, Tycz's siblings were notified that three of the teeth were from their brother.

Now as they prepare to travel to Washington, D.C., for his burial, his family remembers the brother who earned a letter on the high school tennis team, who totaled his older brother's 1958 Pontiac Bonneville on the day he got his driver's license, who joined the Marines because he wanted to do something with his life, who gave up a cushy assignment as a general's aide to go to battle, who wanted to serve his country.

---

Ellie

Welcome Home

Now You can Rest In Peace!