Original pages · preserved context
This collection follows H Troop within its larger operational world: the 198th Light Infantry Brigade, the Americal Division, Chu Lai, I Corps, and the armored-cavalry war around them. Each entry states whether its connection is direct, through a parent unit, or broader historical context.
Collection 01
Personal beginnings and the path from home into military service.
Charles A. Loomis, seated at left, attends a meeting of the local Selective Service contingent at the Federal Building.
Collection 02
The creation of the 198th Light Infantry Brigade, its preparation at Fort Hood, and its movement to Chu Lai.
A period report on the Army’s growing reliance on M113 armored personnel carriers and the developing armored-cavalry role in Vietnam.
Clippings document the brigade’s activation, history, new crest, and preparation for service in Southeast Asia.
The newly formed 198th trains at Fort Hood in heliborne assault tactics before deployment.
A national report notes that the 198th Infantry Brigade had been designated for Vietnam.
The report describes the 198th Light Infantry Brigade arriving at Chu Lai to reinforce American forces in I Corps.
Elements of the 198th Light Infantry Brigade come ashore from a landing craft at Chu Lai with their unit banner and the American flag.
Collection 03
Contemporary reporting that names H Troop or records operations in which the troop served.
SSG Allen C. Woods describes fighting barefoot during a two-hour attack near Highway 1 in the Ly Tin District north of Chu Lai.
A scrapbook page records H Troop’s participation in the joint Operation Russell Beach on the Batangan Peninsula. The two accompanying photographs remain unidentified.
The article reports H Troop, 17th Cavalry supporting Company C, 1st Battalion, 52nd Infantry near LZ Stinson, and quotes H Troop machine gunner Spec. 4 Garry P. Tamagni. The full scrapbook page preserves handwritten notes, a photograph, and the accompanying article, ‘Oops, I’m in wrong camp.’ The date shown is the newspaper’s publication date.
A contemporary account of H Troop’s four-day road sweep and protection of a supply convoy to Tra Bong. Open the readable transcription to follow the article alongside the original scan.
A photograph of Henrietta with an unidentified trooper, paired with Sgt. Thomas C. Elmer’s contemporary account of how she became H Troop’s mascot. The man in the photograph has not been identified.
Collection 04
Parent-unit and operational-area reporting that helps place H Troop within the larger war around Chu Lai and I Corps.
A wounded soldier of the 198th Light Infantry Brigade is helped from a medical evacuation helicopter after fighting near Tam Ky in Quang Tin Province.
Americal Division soldiers wait in armored personnel carriers south of Da Nang. The specific unit, location, and men have not been confirmed.
Collection 05
The final historical bookend to the years preserved throughout this memorial.
The fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War, nearly four years after H Troop’s deployment concluded.