John (Bac Si) Whisenant, James Amendola and John Francis (Murph) Murph

These three were killed in action on July 29, 1969 near Tra Cu in military zone III. the patrol encountered a large NVA force infiltrating through the A-team's area of operations.

Caught in a cross fire from a superior enemy force, Murph directed air support and the insertion of additional friendly units until mortal wounds finally overcame him: Jim and John were killed instantly in an ambush.

Murph was on the radio for several hours coordinating and directing operations even though severly wounded in the leg. Several of us could hear him but were powerless to assist until it was too late. These were brave men that perished in a professional manner and should be remembered. His fellow team members miss their humor, perspective, and company.

From: David F. Siciliano. At the time I was the executive officer of the A-team (1LT).

July 1969 at Tra Cu was a very bad month culminating with disasterous July 29th firefight. Most of the 'A' team was killed or wounded that month and I believe a new team was brought in.

My memory isn't always the best but as I recall James Amendola was killed at the outset as David Siciliano describes. I believe he was leading an airboat patrol at the time. We typically cruised the area in airboats shooting into thickets in an attempt to search out VC or NVA. I believe James Amendola was hit by sniper fire and instantly killed. Not sure what happened to John Whisenant. John Francis Murph went out with a company of CIDG on a re-enforcement patrol. Another re-enforcement detachment was sent from a nearby A-team (probably A-325, Duc Hue). They were hit by friendly fire while in route, suffered a number of casualties and returned to camp. John's detachment never made it to the site of the initial engagement but instead ran into a large force in route. John was hit and pinned down behind a rice paddy dike. Several attempts were made to medivac him out but the choppers couldn't get to him due to the fierce fire that had John pinned down. As David Siciliano said in his write-up, 'Murph' continued to act as an F.O. and directed the air strikes through me at Tra Cu. This went on all afternoon and early evening. Finally, Murph must have bleed to death due to his wounds because by the time the medevac chopper got him out after dark, he had passed away. Murph was a great guy and taught me a lot in the few months I was privileged to serve with him. I remember he and I building the radio tower at Tra Cu. He was my senior commo Sgt (E-7) and under his guidance I was promoted from PFC to Buck Sgt.
After the first contact that day John Murph told me to get on the radio and stay there. We needed an 05B4S (commo) man at Tra Cu on the radio relaying, encoding and decrypting air support messages and providing operational information. John volunteered to head up the ill-fated re-enforcement detachment. John was the consummate SF professional and I was proud to have served with him.
A-326, Tra Cu had taken such a beating during July of 1969 that it was decided to disband what was left of the unit and put in a new A-team. I was scheduled to rotate back to the states within a month, so I was sent on R&R. I spent a couple of weeks in Saigon, then left country.
Thanks for pulling this together. Reading David Siciliano's account made me think about that day as I haven't in over 30 years. Writing the above was a surprisingly emotional experience for me. Remembering Murph, and writing it down was tough but, he deserves every kind word written about him. I'm hesitant to hit the 'send' button now - but I'm going to - for Murph.
Thanks, Dave Keefe

From: David Keefe