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Michael
Derosier
Derosier
2LT · · 1542 · Infantry Unit Commander
KIA
In-Country Service
1966-07-03 –
Home of Record
Ft Walton Beach, Okaloosa County, FL
Character of Service
Honorable
Archive Status
Active
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1966-07-03
Arrived
Arrived in Vietnam — July 3, 1966
2LT Michael Derosier began his tour in the Republic of Vietnam with D Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry (Airmobile), 1st Cavalry Division.
1966-09-19
Incident
Killed in action — September 19, 1966
2LT Derosier was killed during a search-and-destroy operation near Bong Son, Binh Dinh Province (Operation Thayer I), while serving with D Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry (Airmobile), 1st Cavalry Division. At approximately 1500 hours his fifteen-man patrol was pinned down in an intense firefight with a reinforced company of North Vietnamese Army regulars, and Derosier — the patrol's platoon leader — was killed by small-arms fire. His battalion commander, LTC Thomas H. Tackaberry, landed his unarmed command helicopter beside the action, ran through the fire to reach the pinned-down patrol, took personal command, and led an assault that drove the enemy from their bunkers; for that action Tackaberry received the Distinguished Service Cross, its citation recording that "the platoon leader had been killed." 2LT Derosier was 23 years old.
1966-09-19
Casualty record
Near Bong Son, Binh Dinh Province (II Corps), RVN
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