Robert Alexander McDade (August 11, 1922 – October 14, 2009) was a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

colonel. He is best known as a

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

in command of the 2nd Battalion,

7th Cavalry Regiment The 7th Cavalry Regiment is a United States Army cavalry regiment formed in 1866. Its official nickname is "Garryowen", after the Irish air " Garryowen" that was adopted as its march tune. The regiment participated in some of the largest ba ...

, at the Battle of la Drang in 1965, during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietna ...

Military career

McDade was one of relatively few officers to serve with an infantry unit in three wars – the South Pacific in World War II, where he commanded a rifle platoon, the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

, where he commanded a rifle company, and the Vietnam War, where he commanded an infantry battalion. He was wounded in action four times. Besides his combat assignments, Mcdade held military posts in Washington, D.C.,

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, Germany and

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a List of transcontinental countries#North America and South America, transcontinental country spanning the Central America, southern ...

Battle of Ia Drang

The Battle of la Drang was the first major battle between the

and the

People's Army of Vietnam The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN; vi, Quân đội nhân dân Việt Nam, QĐNDVN), also recognized as the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) or the Vietnamese Army (), is the military force of the Vietnam, Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the ...

, referred to by U.S. fighting units as the North Vietnamese Army (NVA), during the

. The two-part battle began on November 14, 1965, and was focused on landing zone (LZ) X-Ray. This part of the battle was fought primarily by the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), led by Lieutenant Colonel

Hal Moore Harold Gregory Moore Jr. (February 13, 1922 – February 10, 2017) was a United States Army lieutenant general and author. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the U.S. military's second-highest decoration for valor, and was the fir ...

, although elements of Alpha and Bravo Companies of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry (2/7), participated. The rest of the 2/7 arrived by the morning of November 16.Moore, Harold G. & Joseph L. Galloway (1992). ''We Were Soldiers Once... and Young''. HarperTorch. pp. 277, 278. . Only three weeks before the battle, Lieutenant Colonel McDade had been the 1st Cavalry Division's personnel officer, and had not commanded troops in ten years. His orders were to march the 2/7 to another landing zone, LZ Albany, 4 kilometers to the north-northeast. On the march, through high grass and thick vegetation, McDade declined an offer of artillery assistance from the 2nd Battalion,

5th Cavalry Regiment The 5th Cavalry Regiment ("Black Knights") is a historical unit of the United States Army that began its service on August 3, 1861, when an act of Congress enacted "that the two regiments of dragoons, the regiment of mounted riflemen, and the t ...

, and allowed the middle ranks of soldiers to march single file with little regard for security. On breaks, exhausted soldiers sprawled on the grass.Galloway, Joseph L. (October 29, 1990)
"Vietnam story: The word was the la Drang would be a walk. The word was wrong."
. U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved February 8, 2012. At midday, two NVA soldiers were captured. McDade moved forward to interrogate the prisoners himself, and called his company commanders forward for a conference. Most were accompanied by their radio operators. The American column was halted in unprepared, open terrain, and strung out in 550-yard (500 m) line of march. Meanwhile, NVA troops were organizing an assault. The NVA opened fire, and Charlie Company took the worst of it, losing 20 killed and many more wounded in the first minute. The lead unit, Alpha Company, lost two platoons, 50 men, in the first minutes. The North Vietnamese were in among the Americans and up in the trees, so American artillery fire killed men from both sides. The commander of the 1st Cavalry Division, Lieutenant General Harry W.O. Kinnard and his second-in-command, Brigadier General Richard Knowles, later said the brigade commander, Colonel Brown, had not alerted them. Brown said he could get no coherent report from McDade. "We had ample resources at hand to reinforce Albany–Hal Moore's men would have gone in a minute–but no one asked," said Kinnard. Reinforcements arrived in the late afternoon and evening, and wounded were evacuated late in the evening, and the battle was over. The casualty toll for the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, was 155 killed, 125 wounded and at least four men missing in action. The battle lasted 16 hours. McDade would continue to lead the 2nd Battalion until March 1966.

Family

McDade met his wife, Elinor Tibbets Van Ingen (December 14, 1922 – April 11, 2012), in

Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

, where she was working for the

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

. They married in 1974. The McDades owned and managed The Goat Alley Gallery in Sag Harbor for twenty three years.New York Times
Robert Alexander McDade death notice
October 18, 2009.

Military awards

McDade's decorations and awards include:

References

External links

OPERATION SILVER BAYONET: THE BATTLE OF THE IA DRANGJack Smith's account of the battle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcdade, Robert 1922 births 2009 deaths United States Army colonels United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army personnel of the Korean War United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War Battle of Ia Drang Recipients of the Silver Star Recipients of the Legion of Merit Recipients of the Air Medal Recipients of the Gallantry Cross (Vietnam) People from New York City People from Sag Harbor, New York