Former chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. John Vessey dies at 94 | Fox News

I fought along side of John Vessey when he was a Lt Col and commanding the 2/77 FA in Vietnam... After 5-6 hours of intense attacks on our Fire Base Gold, with many dead and wounded, the enemy was prepared for their final attack on our weak depleted side of the perimeter. John Vessey saw this attack forming and as 15 of our 18 105's were out of commission, John Vessey scavenged the part needed and came to this gun near my mortar FDC pit. He called me to assist himself and a Captain Cartwright the battery commander, unwrap the 4 beehive rounds that were at each gun... The beehive rounds had never before this moment been used in combat. The attach coming at us was in the many hundreds and this side of the perimeter was almost undefended, I recall looking past the outstretched legs of the gun and seeing this mass of enemy soldiers, rounds pinging off the the gun carriage, tracers at waist high were relentless, yet John Vessey stood his ground and began firing point blank at an enemy not 20 yards to our front, one, two, three, four I did not have the presents of mind to count knowing I would probably not survive these next few seconds, yet as I awaited the enemy with my last hand grenade pin pulled, they never arrived.... I stood up from behind this gun to see the carnage of hundreds of shredded bodies, some nailed to near by trees.... Within a few hours there were 14 stars on this battlefield, the Commanding General WC Westmoreland and his entire entourage, the 25th Commander, more stars than a cloudy night... This picture was the headline of the day Nation Wide, I am front & center on one knee... Grateful for Lt Col Vessey's presence that day, as I believe few commanders would have been as successful.. He earned a DSC that day (his second, the first at Anzio in WWII) and our unit the Presidential Unit Citation.. This was the single largest one day loss for the enemy in the entire Vietnam war... Vessey had been passed over for Colonel twice, that day he was 45 years old, and some 25 years in the Army, no doubt he would have been retired after this tour had it not been for the Battle of Soui Tre... That would have been a serious great loss for the Army, a battle field commissioned officer in WWII to be Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, I am honored to have served at his sholder in the last ditch defense of Fire Support Base Gold... He is one of my few HERO's in life...