RANGERS 2 Griffith, Tony Lee

John Robertson

Administrator
Staff member
  • SURNAME
Griffith
  • FORENAME
Tony Lee
  • UNIT
Company H (Ranger),75th Infantry
  • RANK
Specialist Fourth Class
  • NUMBER
53757005
  • DATE OF DEATH
5th February 1969
  • AGE
20
  • GRAVESITE
Griffith Cemetery, Carter County, Tennessee, USA
  • ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
from Butler,Tennessee
born 20.2.1948
father John Thomas Griffith (1921-1993)
single
1 year service
promoted Sgt posthumously
Silver Star, Bronze Star, Air Medal, Purple Heart
KIA Binh Long Province,South Vietnam
Vietnam Veterans Memorial,Washington,D.C. Panel 33W Line 63
On February 5, 1969, SGT Tony L. Griffith, of H Co. 75th Infantry (Ranger), led his five-man long-range reconnaissance team through thick fog and dense, short brush between An Loc and the Cambodian border. Hearing wood being chopped not far off a trail they were assigned to surveil, he had his team set an ambush. However, members of the North Vietnamese Army had detected the team. At dawn several enemy soldiers stole through the fog and flung a grenade into the middle of the team, who were spread in line by the trail in sight of each other. The grenade exploded next to the front scout, CPL Richard E. Wilkie, showering him with shrapnel. As the enemy opened fire, the two team members on Wilkie's left panicked and fired in the direction of the grenade's blast. Caught in an intense crossfire, Wilkie, a Special Forces veteran, was shot five times––once by the enemy, twice by his team, and twice by bullets that passed through him. Miraculously, he survived. So, too, did the assistant team leader, Lewis D. Davidson, who was hit twice in the leg. SGT Griffith's luck, however, ended that morning, when he was hit by multiple gunshots to the left chest area.
 
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