Battle Creek Vietnam veteran finally awarded Silver Star

By Chuck Carlson Battle Creek Enquirer BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (AP) -- It was, Doug Ludlow recalls nearly 43 years later, "a long day." He was 19 years old, stuck deep in the stifling rubber tree jungle near Quan Loi in South Vietnam and wishing he was anywhere else. It was Aug. 10, 1969, and Ludlow, a private in the 1-16th Infantry Iron Rangers, was trying to help hold off a vastly superior force of North Vietnamese when the 50-caliber machine gun he was firing in his armored personnel carrier malfunctioned. But in the course of the 10-hour firefight that, according to official sources, cost 10 American lives and double that of the NVA, Ludlow found himself doing things he never really thought he was capable of. "In a 10-hour gunfight, there are a lot of stories that will never be told," he said. "When you're 19 years old, you know you're going to lose somebody you know, but it won't be me. But on this particular day, the amount of fire power the NVA had and we were seriously outnumbered, you begin to think your time is running out." But the harrowing day also produced this, according to a report written by Ludlow's commanding officer at the time, Capt. Phillip Greenwell: "He (Ludlow) and another soldier ran across open ground under merciless enemy fire to (a disabled) APC, dismounted the gun, grabbed as much ammunition as they could carry, and ran back to their vehicle. They mounted the gun and again placed heavy fire on the enemy, holding them back for several hours and single-handedly thwarting an attempted flanking movement by a large enemy force trying to cut off the road." Recalling the event today, Ludlow says only, "I was just doing what a combat infantryman does. I didn't think I was doing anything special." Just a few months later, as part of America's gradual withdrawal from Vietnam in the spring of 1970, Ludlow was sent home and the Quan Loi incident found a place in his memory that he could live with. It was gone but, at least to his superiors, it had not been forgotten. And more than 10 years ago, Greenwell and battalion commander Kenneth Cassels began the process of trying to make sure Ludlow and several of his mates received Silver Stars for bravery in combat. Ludlow, a Jackson native who went to Kellogg Community College when he returned from Vietnam and then started a commercial landscaping business in Battle Creek, knew nothing of the behind-the-scenes machinations. "They interviewed me a few years ago about what happened, but I had no idea," he said. "I thought they were working on a book." Then late last year, Greenwell phoned Ludlow and told him, four decades after the fact, he would receive a Silver Star. "I was shocked," Ludlow said. "After 30 years, we just set that war aside." On March 9, in a ceremony at Fort Riley, Kansas, three members of the "Bandido Charlie Company" -- Ludlow, Ronald Mackedanz and Alfredo Herrera -- received their honors while a fourth member of the unit, Stephan Biernacki, received a bronze star. Two others in the unit, Roger Haynie and Melvin McElreath, also were honored but could not attend the ceremony. Ludlow said the award itself, while an honor, was secondary to the fact that his superiors thought enough of him to even think he was worth it. "I could go without a medal but it's nice they thought of you," he said. "That would have been plenty for me." The 62-year-old Ludlow, who has run Greenscape Services in Battle Creek since 1978, has made his peace with what happened all those years ago. He has reconnected with members of the unit and his memories are of friends left behind and a job done well. "I went over as a 19-year-old private and came home as a 20-year-old sergeant," he said. "Maturity comes pretty fast." Published: Tue, Apr 17, 2012