BND.COM
If all goes as planned, Vietnam veteran Kenny Euge, 59, plans to visit the White House in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, along with dozens of members of his old Army outfit, to take part in a ceremony honoring their role in a daring rescue of 100 U.S. soldiers ambushed by enemy troops near the Cambodian border almost 40 years ago.
Tentative plans call for President Obama to award the highly coveted Presidential Unit Citation to Alpha Troop, a unit of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, in a ceremony set to take place late Tuesday morning in the East Wing or Rose Garden of the White House, depending on the weather, according to Euge, 59, who lives in rural St. Clair County, near Dupo.
"I bought a $269 suit yesterday, so I'm going to feel funny," said Euge, who said he plans to fly out to the nation's capital Monday night and spend the night with other Alpha Troop alumni at a motel in Alexandria, Va.
A Presidential Unit Citation is the highest honor the nation can bestow on a military unit, and it is done only in cases in which the unit displayed extraordinary valor, determination and professionalism under enemy fire.
The citation is being given to honor the role that Euge and fellow Alpha Troop alumni played in the daring rescue of a company from the 1st Cavalry Division who were pinned down amid a North Vietnamese bunker complex near the Cambodian border in late March, 1970.
John Poindexter, Alpha Troop's commander during the battle, cautioned that Obama still has not made an official commitment to attend the award ceremony, nor have White House officials confirmed that will be the ceremony venue for the Alpha Troop veterans and almost 170 guests and dignitaries.
"It's being planned at the White House, but it is not confirmed," Poindexter said. "We'll know when we see the press release."
Poindexter, a Houston industrialist led the seven-year effort to document "The Anonymous Battle," resulting in a thick dossier of interviews, photos, official reports and other evidence he turned over to the Army for review.
If the ceremony does not occur at the White House, then it will take place at the Pentagon, Poindexter said.
Poindexter embarked on his mission to gain the over-due recognition for Alpha Troop after reading a book about the Cambodian invasion that cited the battle and rescue his unit carried off, but noted that the Army had largely forgotten it.
"It was an epiphany," Poindexter told the New York Times in a story published Oct. 1. "I felt I had to right a wrong."
Euge said he still cannot believe that the ceremony will be taking place, especially since for decades it appeared the Army had forgotten the episode.
"I watched that movie 'Forrest Gump,'" Euge said. "It's like I'm in it or something. It's crazy."
The battle began as a last-ditch effort to rescue Charlie Company, a 1st Cavalry unit that had wandered into the enemy bunker complex. Outnumbered 3-to-1, Poindexter's tanks and armored personnel carriers extracted the beleaguered Americans while inflicting heavy losses on a North Vietnamese battalion.
Euge sat behind the controls of his Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicle, engaging in a fierce fire fight with the North Vietnamese regulars who defended the fortresslike complex. He survived that battle, along with the others he took part in, by trying to distance himself from reality, he said.
"A lot of times I just told myself, 'You're in a movie,'" he said. "It was crazy, and it's still crazy even 40 years later."
Euge has become something of a controversial figure in the Dupo area because of the sculptures that adorn the yard in front of his house -- a bright red railroad caboose. Some neighbors have complained that the sculptures, which are fashioned from old car engine pistons and other junkyard artifacts, are eyesores, leading to complaints filed with the county zoning department.
Other neighbors, however, have supported Euge's passion for sculpture, an avocation he pursues as therapy for the case of post-traumatic stress disorder he brought home from Vietnam.
Contact reporter Mike Fitzgerald at mfitzgerald@bnd.com or 239-2533.
Tentative plans call for President Obama to award the highly coveted Presidential Unit Citation to Alpha Troop, a unit of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, in a ceremony set to take place late Tuesday morning in the East Wing or Rose Garden of the White House, depending on the weather, according to Euge, 59, who lives in rural St. Clair County, near Dupo.
"I bought a $269 suit yesterday, so I'm going to feel funny," said Euge, who said he plans to fly out to the nation's capital Monday night and spend the night with other Alpha Troop alumni at a motel in Alexandria, Va.
A Presidential Unit Citation is the highest honor the nation can bestow on a military unit, and it is done only in cases in which the unit displayed extraordinary valor, determination and professionalism under enemy fire.
The citation is being given to honor the role that Euge and fellow Alpha Troop alumni played in the daring rescue of a company from the 1st Cavalry Division who were pinned down amid a North Vietnamese bunker complex near the Cambodian border in late March, 1970.
John Poindexter, Alpha Troop's commander during the battle, cautioned that Obama still has not made an official commitment to attend the award ceremony, nor have White House officials confirmed that will be the ceremony venue for the Alpha Troop veterans and almost 170 guests and dignitaries.
"It's being planned at the White House, but it is not confirmed," Poindexter said. "We'll know when we see the press release."
Poindexter, a Houston industrialist led the seven-year effort to document "The Anonymous Battle," resulting in a thick dossier of interviews, photos, official reports and other evidence he turned over to the Army for review.
If the ceremony does not occur at the White House, then it will take place at the Pentagon, Poindexter said.
Poindexter embarked on his mission to gain the over-due recognition for Alpha Troop after reading a book about the Cambodian invasion that cited the battle and rescue his unit carried off, but noted that the Army had largely forgotten it.
"It was an epiphany," Poindexter told the New York Times in a story published Oct. 1. "I felt I had to right a wrong."
Euge said he still cannot believe that the ceremony will be taking place, especially since for decades it appeared the Army had forgotten the episode.
"I watched that movie 'Forrest Gump,'" Euge said. "It's like I'm in it or something. It's crazy."
The battle began as a last-ditch effort to rescue Charlie Company, a 1st Cavalry unit that had wandered into the enemy bunker complex. Outnumbered 3-to-1, Poindexter's tanks and armored personnel carriers extracted the beleaguered Americans while inflicting heavy losses on a North Vietnamese battalion.
Euge sat behind the controls of his Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicle, engaging in a fierce fire fight with the North Vietnamese regulars who defended the fortresslike complex. He survived that battle, along with the others he took part in, by trying to distance himself from reality, he said.
"A lot of times I just told myself, 'You're in a movie,'" he said. "It was crazy, and it's still crazy even 40 years later."
Euge has become something of a controversial figure in the Dupo area because of the sculptures that adorn the yard in front of his house -- a bright red railroad caboose. Some neighbors have complained that the sculptures, which are fashioned from old car engine pistons and other junkyard artifacts, are eyesores, leading to complaints filed with the county zoning department.
Other neighbors, however, have supported Euge's passion for sculpture, an avocation he pursues as therapy for the case of post-traumatic stress disorder he brought home from Vietnam.
Contact reporter Mike Fitzgerald at mfitzgerald@bnd.com or 239-2533.
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