On July 20, members of the U.S. Army’s 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment Air Cavalry Troop, also known as the Black Horse Regiment, came together for a public memorial service at the Carroll County Vietnam Memorial Park at Willis and Court streets in Westminster to remember fallen soldiers from the Vietnam War.
More than 75 veterans and their families visited from all over the United States to honor the members of the Blackhorse Regiment who died in Vietnam from 1966 to 1972.
There are 19 names on the cold black granite monument in the Carroll County Vietnam Memorial Park that was dedicated on May 28, 1990. Eighteen names are listed as killed in action during the war. One name, Peter Drabic, is listed as a POW from September 1968 to March 1973. Two of the men on the memorial served in the Black Horse Regiment.
This famed Army unit traces its beginnings to March 11, 1901, and has seen combat in the Philippine-American War, World War II, the Vietnam War, the first Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment Air Cavalry Troop consisted of a long-range reconnaissance platoon, scouts, and an aero rifle platoon. The ACR first arrived in South Vietnam at Vung Tau on Sept. 7, 1966. It was engaged in heavy combat and took heavy casualties throughout the war.
The mission of the ACR was referred to as “search and destroy.” The scouts flew in small helicopters at tree-top level and lower to draw enemy fire and then pull out. At that point Cobra helicopter gunships would roll in with the appropriate fire power to neutralize the enemy threat.
Sgt. Joseph Anthony (Tony) Oreto, a member of the Black Horse Regiment from Westminster, gave his life for our country in Tay Ninh Province on April 13, 1969. He was 21 years old.
Oreto was a Washington, D.C., police cadet when he was drafted into the Army in January 1968. Oreto began his tour on Nov. 24, 1968, right after he married Georgia Croft, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Croft, of Westminster, in October 1968.
Oreto was stationed at the Bien Hoa Air Base, about 16 miles north of Saigon and killed in Tay Ninh Province along the Cambodian border, during Operation Toan Thang II – otherwise known as the defense of Saigon.
He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star. According to the Silver Star citation, he earned the award “for gallantry in action. … On this date (April 13, 1969) while conducting a bomb damage assessment in a heavily-fortified enemy base camp, the platoon suddenly came under intense machine gun and antitank rocket fire from a well-concealed and well-entrenched hostile force. Sergeant Oreto and his lead squad were immediately pinned down in an open area directly in front of the enemy positions.
“Realizing the desperate situation he and his men were in, Sergeant Oreto single-handedly assaulted the nearest enemy bunker. … As he prepared to throw a hand grenade into the enemy bunker, he was fatally wounded by hostile fire.” Oreto is remembered on the national Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., on panel 27W – row 076.
Spc. 5 Joseph William Blickenstaff Jr., from Silver Run, is the other member of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment whose face is etched upon the Carroll County granite memorial.
Blickenstaff began his first tour of duty in Vietnam on Oct. 22, 1969. In the fall of 1970, at the age of 21, he volunteered to extend his tour for another six months as an aerial reconnaissance scout.
On a combat mission on Dec. 19, 1970, Blickenstaff’s OH-6A light observation helicopter was hit by enemy ground fire. He died north of Phù Lôi, Binh Duong Province, just above the Mekong Delta and about 50 miles from Saigon. Blickenstaff is on the national Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., on Panel 6W, Row 131.
Carroll County is privileged to have veterans and their families of this elite fighting force come to pause and honor the fallen from our community. This was the second time the national Vietnam veterans organization has held a memorial service at the Carroll County Vietnam Memorial.
The ACR held a memorial service on July 12, 2009. This writer participated in the service and wrote about it for the Baltimore Sun. I have also written about Oreto and Blickenstaff in the past. Portions of this discussion have been published before – and hopefully will be republished in the future. It is said that a member of the U.S. military dies twice – once when they are killed and a second time the final time their name is said out loud.
The Vietnam War ended more than 50 years ago. Yet, the war is indelibly etched in the minds of many of us who lost friends who served. The faces of the 18 names on the monument are frozen in time. Some we knew. Some we didn’t. But they were all someone’s husband, son, father, brother or uncle – or a cherished childhood friend. Their faces have been silent for many years, but they all have a story to tell.
Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster. His Time Flies column appears every Sunday. Email him at kevindayhoff@gmail.com.