I stumbled across 1st Reconnaissance Bn, Photo Gallery website on June 19th, 2008 looking over photos that day I email a BB Riley, Lt USMC (Ret) his name was the one posted for emails and photos to be sent to him. This is the copy of my email sent BB Riley that day at 11:51 pm.
On Jun 19, 2008, at 11:51 PM, Floyd ruggles wrote:
Lt Riley,
I just stumbled across this site with these photos and I am thinking that I was on Hill 200 at the same time that you were. I have very similar photos taken about the same time as those on the site with some of the same faces. My photos, unfortunately, don't have names and I've forgotten most of them. I was wondering if you remember me at all. I would only have worked with you on a couple of missions if you are the same person I am thinking about. I was Lance corporal Floyd Ruggles at that time. I ran point on a patrol that I think we worked together. What I recall is that we were just inserted into an area by helicopter; I think you were the Lt, it may have been your first mission but I am not sure. I had been working with that team for about 6 months at that point. Shortly after we were put into the area we encountered 4 enemy, 2 carrying radios and right after that you ordered me and Jim Southall, I believe, to find a river crossing. Shortly after that we encountered a large group of enemy. If you are that same Lt. and can recall that mission, allot of it is pretty blank to me. I would appreciate hearing your version. That day has been playing in my mind for forty years. If you are the person I am thinking you are, I would like some information about my team. I went on R&R to Australia shortly after this incident and while I was gone the radio man and the lt. were medivaced. I never found out what happened to my team. This has been bothering me for all these years and if you recall any of this I would very much appreciate hearing from you. If you are not the same person or don't remember me I will understand and am sorry for taking up your time. I arrived in Vietnam July 7, 1968, I worked as a point man in the 2nd platoon, I think, and worked until July 9, 1969 when I was hospitalized in Yokohama and then sent home. You can email me at
floydruggles@1streconbn.com Thanks, I look forward to hearing from you.
Floyd Ruggles
On Jun 20, 2008, at 1:13 AM, Brian Riley wrote:
On Jun 20, 2008, at 10:31 PM, floyd ruggles wrote:
I am not sure if I should call you Brian or Lt. Riley. Old habits die hard. Thanks so much for the quick reply. I am really sorry to hear about your leg. I feel as though if I hadn't gone on R&R then I would probably have been running point and maybe things would have turned out differently but who knows. I am really sorry to hear that Larsen was hurt. From the photos he looked like a good, capable man. I hope he recovered. I did know Tom really well; we worked together on quite a few missions. Have you had any contact with either of them? I see that they are not members of the 1st Recon Assn. I stumbled across their website for the first time early in June.
Thanks for the information on that mission in elephant valley; it fills in some gaps for me. Once I got back from R&R about April 16, 1969. I bounced around from team to team. It just wasn't the same anymore. I wished I could have worked with you more, I remember you as a good man. Maybe we will meet next year at the reunion. I had already made plans to be in Phoenix in August so I can't make this year's. I am still living in Minnesota. I also am married for the 2nd time, for 25 years now, I have 3 children and 2 stepchildren and 4 wonderful grandchildren. I also have had a good life. I own an antique mall here and would like to retire sometime in the next 5 years. I am a disabled vet, only 10%, due to a total hearing loss on my left side probably from working with too many explosives while in country. I feel I have been very lucky; I'm in good shape so far. I am asking these questions because of nightmares that have returned after 40 years. I want to fill in the gaps and then hopefully put it to rest. I am not sure if that is me in the pit with you, probably a 50/50 chance. I have photos of everyone in the pit that day except for you, so I may have put my camera down and been in the pit with you. I have tons of photos. How many can your site handle or how many would you like? I can scan them or put them on a disc or send them, whatever works best for you. I am amazed that you can remember the names and places. I seem to have forgotten a lot. I can't really say how much this contact has meant to me. Thanks so much. Looking forward to hearing from you again.
Floyd
On Jun 21, 2008, at 1:13 AM, Brian Riley wrote:
Floyd,
Brian will do ... or just L-T ... My wife, Sara, says she is gonna
slap you upside the head if you beat your self up about not being
there to run point for me ... let me explain ... do you remember Gary
"Doc" Graves? He was my corpsman on that ill-fated patrol. A few years
ago we got in touch through the 1st Recon Yahoo list and my website.
Anyway, my step-daughter was going to do an internship at the FDIC in
Dallas early in 2003 and so my wife drove down there with her and
flew back. Gary lives in Texarkana, AR, right along the way down, so
while I still haven't seen him since April 13th, 1969, she did. I was,
at the time way back then pretty badly messed up and Gary didn't know
my fate and had been feeling pretty bad all these years, not at all
realizing that the only reason I was alive was what he did for me in
that rice field! She said it tore her up seeing how tormented Gary was
about it ... and as if that wasn't enough I spent a lot of years
agonizing over the death of Charlie Tannehill a couple weeks after I
got shot up, thinking, however irrationally, if I hadn't of gotten
myself fucked up that somehow I might have kept him from getting
killed ... basically Sara thinks we are all mentally defective with
regards to this sort of thing!
There are centers run as an autonomous sub-group of the VA called The
Vet Centers. I have been going for counseling there for 13 years and
they helped me get the nightmares under control. The staff there at my,
center are all Viet Nam vets as well as certified counselors. At most
of them the counselors are all veteran's of some kind and many of them
have been under fire ... so they do know what its about ... they do 1
on 1 counseling, group counseling ... your wife and children can get
counseling if they have suffered due to your suffering .... I trust
these guys and urge you to give it a try, a real try give it some
time, this shit don't disappear overnight.
You may find this of interest. <http://www.wulfden.org/
vetday97.shtml> it’s a speech I gave 11 years ago and applies to what
we are talking about.
Pictures ... scan them in, high resolution and put them on disk,
use your judgment and give me a big selection. I would love to put a
gallery of ' all b-2 guys from our time ... I can also fill in a lot
of names. I am in sporadic contact with Mike Dykeman, just recently
made contact with Dan vanBuskirk, regular contact with Steve Grandusky
and Gary Graves and was in regular contact with Ernie Wallace. I am
sorry to have to tell you Ernie got struck down by lung cancer back in
March this year.
That fateful day there was a c-rat fruit can filled with black powder
and wrapped with wire and nails. I, running deuce point, stepped on
the trip wire right at the mine. We had good spacing, Larsen, at
point, got just superficial wounds in the back and Tommy, behind me
got a piece of steel right through his hand and into his thigh. He
and Larsen left the hospital ship and went back to Recon as far as I
knew. Me on the other hand ... my lower body took most of the blast,
lotsa holes. I lasted four days and they said that either they take
half my leg right away or face losing it all if the infection kept
spreading ... not much of a choice so I told to them to break out the
saw!
Back to the heavy shit again My phone number is 802-899-4527 you can
call me at ANY TIME OF DAY OR NIGHT if you want/need to talk ... I
emphasize the ANYTIME aspect ... the demons rarely keep 9-5 hours.
You might get a kick out of this picture - the youngster is Nate Fick,
he commanded Bravo Deuce in Iraq. I met him at a book signing and blew
him away with the statement "Before you were born, I was Bravo
Deuce!" After we got talking it was uncanny how similar our
backgrounds were. Upper middle class parents, both graduated from Ivy
League colleges, both educated in Catholic high schools and by
Jesuits. It’s like there is a cosmic cookie cutter stamping out
templates for Bravo Deuce commanders
