Left to right: Carol Moonan, Linda Publicover, Sue Trampel, Gary Trampel, and Maggie Bales.
Linda Rowe
It was the mid-1960s and Gary Trampel, an Iowan, knew he was going to be drafted. He had no idea where he was going or what he would be doing. After a month-long ocean voyage plagued by bad weather and a lot of sea sickness, the uncertainty was removed when he arrived with his Army unit in Vietnam.
Gary served two years as a member of the Army’s distinguished 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment. During the 1965 Battle of Ia Drang, the first major battle between the United States Army and the North Vietnamese Army, he was the radio operator who communicated with the United States Air Force to conduct close in air strikes near the United States Army position to prevent being overrun by the North Vietnamese Army. This is the battle that was immortalized in the movie We Were Soldiers starring Mel Gibson. Despite heavy losses on both sides of this three-day conflict, the United States Army was able to repel the North Vietnamese Army’s multiple attacks.
After his military service, Gary worked at UPS for 30 years. He and his wife, Sue, then retired to PebbleCreek.
During Gary’s military service, he was exposed to Agent Orange and developed leukemia. Gary’s retirement includes a full week of chemotherapy every month.
Because Gary and Sue will be leaving for the summer and were unsure if he would be back in time for the normal Veterans Day Luncheon sponsored by the PebbleCreek Quilt Club, members of the Veterans Quilt Committee (plus guest Maggie Bales, whose entire family are veterans) were honored to be able to meet Gary and Sue Trampel, thank Gary for his service, and deliver the quilt to Gary early.