Today we remember: MSgt. Samuel Almendariz
10 July 1967.
SYNOPSIS:MACV-SOG, or Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observation Group, was a joint service high command unconventional warfare task force engaged in highly classified operations throughout Southeast Asia. The 5th Special Forces channeled personnel into MACV-SOG (though it was not a Special Forces group) through Special Operations Augmentation (SOA), which provided their “cover” while under secret orders to MACV-SOG. These teams performed deep penetration missions of strategic reconnaissance and interdiction which were called, depending on the time frame, “Shining Brass” or “Prairie Fire” missions.
As the reconnaissance team moved through their area of operation, it came under heavy enemy attack. From 1100 hours until 1600 hours the team was engaged in a running gun battle with enemy forces. Of the 11 men, only Harry Brown was able to successfully escape and evade the communist force that was in hot pursuit. After rescue, he reported that both MSgt. Almendariz and MSgt. Sullivan had been mortally wounded during the 5 hour battle. He also was able to provide basic data of where the bodies of the team leader and assistant team leader were located.
On 16 July, a platoon-size search and recovery (SAR) force was inserted into the area of contact, but was unable to locate the bodies of either man. Likewise, they found no signs of freshly dug graves. At the time the SAR operation was terminated, Samuel Almendariz and Robert Sullivan were declared Killed in Action/Body Not Recovered.
For every insertion like this one that was detected and stopped, dozens of others safely slipped past NVA lines to strike a wide range of targets and collect vital information. The number of MACV-SOG missions conducted with Special Forces reconnaissance teams into Laos and Cambodia was 452 in 1969. It was the most sustained American campaign of raiding, sabotage and intelligence-gathering waged on foreign soil in US military history. MACV-SOG?s teams earned a global reputation as one of the most combat effective deep-penetration forces ever raised.
On 10 July 1967 a surveillance team composed of three American Special Forces soldiers and eight South Vietnamese Nungs was inserted just inside Laos in the extreme southeast portion of Savannakhet Province. The team was tasked with surveillance of a branch of the Ho Chi Minh Trail which followed Route 922 into the A Shau Valley. Although the team avoided contact through the 11th, at mid-morning on the 12th they were attacked by a platoon-size enemy force. Two of the Nungs were killed in the first exchange of fire, and two of the three Americans wounded shortly thereafter in the second exchange. After a five-hour running fight, six of the eleven men, all wounded, were extracted – one American and five Nungs. During his debrief the surviving American (Harry D. Brown) stated that he was present when the other two Americans – SFC Robert J Sullivan and SFC Samuel Almendariz – were killed by enemy fire.
Search forces went back into the area of contact over the next few days but failed to locate the bodies of the missing men. Almendariz and Sullivan were listed as killed in action, body not recovered.
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