When Boys Became Men
Commissioner, Former Tank Commander, Recalls Thick of Battle
“Particularly noteworthy were his actions on 25 August 1968 when his platoon came in contact with a large, well-entrenched enemy force while conducting a search and clear operation. While assaulting the hostile positions, Sergeant Melton’s and the adjacent tank were in a turning movement which temporarily masked the second vehicle’s vision. Alertly observing a four-man rocket-propelled grenade team prepare to attack the other tank, Sergeant Melton immediately took the rocket team under fire with his rifle, killing all four of them and thus saving his unit the loss of one tank and crew.” Navy Commendation Medal with Combat V Ceremony
Just 18 months prior to the mission described above, 18-year-old Virgil Melton Jr. was taking classes at Henderson County Junior College. However, with others his age shipping off to Vietnam, the mind of the student transitioned to one of a soldier, eager to serve his country as his father, a Marine in World War II, had done before him.
Within a matter of months, February 1967 to be exact, the teenager voluntarily left the comforts of the family farm in Van Zandt County to far-off outposts including Gio Linh, Con Thien, Washout, Charlie 2, Rockpile, Camp Carrol and Cam Lo. No doubt one of the most intense and memorable of his many experiences as a U.S. Marine tank commander was the one he describes below in this first-person account written for the Marine Corps Tankers Vietnam Historical Foundation.
Operation Lam Son 250 – Breakfast at the Ben Hai River
By Virgil Melton, Jr., 1st Platoon, Alfa Co., 3rd Tanks 67/68/69
In the early morning of 15 August, 1968, the 1st Platoon, Company A and the 3rd Platoon, Company B, 3rd Tank Battalion, one Army tank retriever and two ARVN Regiments in APCs departed from Gio Linh on Operation Lam Son 250. The Operation was under the command of Capt. R. J. Patterson, Company A, 3rd Tank Battalion. We departed Gio Linh at 0400 hours and traveled north up the coastline of the South China Sea.
All 10 tanks moved slowly up the coast by the light of the moon in a single file formation so as to sustain minimum mine damage. As the sun began to rise we turned northwest and made our way on top of a sand dune ridge and then turned back north on the ridge. At daybreak we arrived at the end of the sand ridge which split in two directions, one ridge running east and the other west.
I was the tank commander of A15, and my tank was the lead tank. Capt. Patterson was aboard my tank, which he used as his command post. From our observation point we could see the Ben Hai River, and between us and the river was what appeared to be an old plantation. Camped out on the plantation was an estimated 600 to 800 NVA eating breakfast. We were so close you could smell the food.
We had completely surprised the NVA and we took full advantage of it. I ordered my gunner, L/Cpl. Ronald Floyd, to fire at will using the 90 mm main gun, and all 10 tanks began to fire in unison. Capt. Patterson ordered the two ARVN Regiments of APC’s to flank the NVA on the West side. With all tanks now spread out and firing from the ridge, we clearly had the advantage.
The NVA had no time to use their light artillery. Our tanks destroyed it quickly. The NVA begin to return fire with RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades), mortars and machine guns, however we took most of them out. We called in air support and shortly a Huey Gunship showed up and began spraying the enemy with machine gun fire.
The ARVN’s had flanked the NVA on the left and were pushing them east to the coast, and our tanks were moving forward pushing them to the north. Many of the NVA panicked, breaking formation, and began to retreat north on foot toward the Ben Hai River and east to the coast. Our tanks pursued the NVA all the way to the mouth of the Ben Hai River, destroying two enemy boats, one truck, and many NVA bunkers and fortifications.
Late in the evening Capt. Patterson gave the order to head back to Gio Linh. Many of our tanks had suffered minor damage and an A13 hit a mine on the way back, which we repaired in less than 15 minutes to get it back to Gio Linh. The Army tank retriever hit two mines leaving it inoperable. We fired a couple of HEs into it and called in for a napalm strike to burn it so the enemy could not use it.
The four-man Army retriever crew rode back on our tanks. I saved three rounds of HE just in case we ran into trouble on the way back and sure enough we did. We took some machine gun fire from the sand dunes to the West and we returned fire on those positions.
Sgt. Eddie Miers, tank commander of A14, spotted an NVA solider trying to hide in some bushes on top of a sand dune. He headed toward the soldier and the soldier ran toward Sgt. Miers’ tank with his hands up and surrendered. Sgt. Miers blindfolded the prisoner and took him back to Gio Linh turning him over to the authorities. We arrived back at Gio Linh around 2100 hours.
Some of the Marines that I remember who participated in the operation were Ronald Floyd, Eddie Miers, Rich, Dan Colkosky, and William “Bill” Swisher (Swisher was KIA 1-10-69), and many other faces I can see but cannot remember their names.
Our tanks inflicted heavy damage to the enemy, being credited with 189 KIA confirmed and 70 KIA probables out of a total confirmed count of 421 KIAs. Our tanks fired 126 plus rounds of HE, 34 rounds of Beehive, 20 rounds of Canister, 21,675 rounds of .30 caliber and 2,000 rounds of .50 caliber. These figures are conservative because all tanks came back empty or with just a few rounds of ammo left.
Operation Lam Son 250 received little or no recognition, but you wouldn’t know that by the Marine Tankers that accomplished their mission that night. I’ve never seen such happy, excited, and thrilled gung-ho Marines. We could hardly believe what we had achieved. Operation Lam Son 250 may always be a mere footnote in history, but that didn’t matter to us.
Capt. Patterson put me up for a medal for taking out an RPG team preparing to fire on A13; however, that day every Marine Tanker was a hero and deserves a medal. All of our tanks suffered minor damage from mortars, machine gun fire and mines, yet we had no casualties.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Lord was with us on this journey.
Semper Fidelis.
Six months later Melton, now age 20, was on another search and clear mission west of Con Thien, known as “The Hill of the Angels.” Melton was headed up a ridge in the dark of night; since could not see the Marines embedded in the hills, he jumped out and walked alongside the tank as a guide. As his tank approached a sandy spot, the left front tank track hit a mine and blew Melton 30 or 40 feet in the air.
While he doesn’t remember much after the explosion, Melton recalls his men arranging medevac, or helicopter transportation, to the hospital where doctors treated a blown-out ear drum, shrapnel wounds and a concussion. Melton spent 35 days in recovery before he was sent back to battle. He rejoined his platoon in mid-May and left Vietnam in August 1969. Overall, Melton served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1967-1971.
By age 26, Melton had received a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice, with a minor in psychology, from the University of Texas at Arlington. He went to work for Dallas County as the criminal district courts manager, and retired in December of 2006 after 31 years. The next month, in January 2007, Virgil Melton took office as a Van Zandt County Commissioner.
“Like many county officials who serve in our county government today, after retiring I wanted to serve in the county that I grew up in and love,” Melton shared. In his case, Melton is able to “give back to a county that has been good to me with the experience that I gained working for citizens in another county.”
Veterans Day 2016
This Nov. 11 will find Commissioner Melton at the Van Zandt County Veterans Memorial for the unveiling of the Never Forgotten Kneeling Soldier, the culmination of a project that has been five years in the making.
“The Memorial is a reminder of the cost of freedom, honoring the men and women who have paid for it with their service to our country,” declared Melton, current director on the board of Van Zandt County Veterans Memorial, Inc.
The center of the Van Zandt County Veterans Memorial Plaza will feature the larger-than-life bronze statue of the Kneeling Soldier guarding a line of granite markers engraved with the names of fallen and missing servicemen and women from Van Zandt County. A granite archway with etchings of the five military seals covers the path entering the center of the Plaza.
The Plaza was designed by a local engineer, Carter W. Clark Jr., who used nature as an overriding theme to develop a concept that would invoke respect, honor and reverence for those who died in service to their country.
A large gazebo near the archway gives respite from the weather and serves as a pavilion for outdoor public events. The edge of the Plaza includes displays of decommissioned military armament, including a jet airplane, helicopter, armored tank, ship’s screw (propeller), and a ship’s anchor, each representing the five branches of the military. The Memorial Plaza design includes flowing lines, curves and winding sidewalks with heavy landscaping, with the American flag flying high above.
As for Melton, the Memorial Plaza serves as only one tangible reminder of the 21 months he spent fighting for his country overseas. Hanging in the Melton farm home, you will find a framed map, ragged, rain-soaked, and marked with scribbles, that guided the student-turned-soldier through the battlefields of Vietnam.
