By Bethania Palma Markus, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/04/2009 10:25:37 PM PST
HACIENDA HEIGHTS - The plaque dedicated to Army medic James Moreland has long been an enigma in Hacienda Heights.
Since it was put in place in 1973, it has been both lost and stolen, and replaced twice by the Hacienda Heights Improvement Association.
But few in Hacienda Heights seemed to know who the young man was. Only sketchy details about his service in Vietnam and missing-in-action status have come to light.
Members of the Green Beret unit who fought alongside him in Lang Vei, Vietnam, friends and family members came forward recently to shed light on Moreland.
While even family members are unsure how the plaque came to rest in Hacienda Heights, they were able to describe how the young man who loved football and the outdoors ended up missing far from home.
"He was a tough little guy," said Dennis Thompson, a fellow soldier who was captured by the North Vietnamese Army in the same battle. "He was a good troop and he deserved better."
Moreland lived with his family in Alabama before moving to Anaheim, where he grew up, those who knew him said.
He graduated from Western High School, where he was a football star, attaining the status of All-Orange County Linebacker in 1962, according to friend Marvin Hahn of Thousand Oaks.
He attended junior college briefly before enlisting in the Special Forces in 1965 at the age of 20.
Moreland's brothers were in the Air Force and Navy, and he followed in their foot steps by joining the Army, said his niece, Lisa Newlander.
"They all tried to talk him out of going into the Special Forces but he wouldn't hear it," said Newlander, now 40.
The Puyallup, Wash. resident's own 16-year-old son was so moved by his great uncle's heroism in combat that he is considering joining the Special Forces, she said.
Moreland went MIA only months after beginning his tour in Vietnam. He landed in October 1967 and was last seen in a bunker under heavy attack by the North Vietnam Army in February 1968, records show.
The NVA had slowly been closing in on the Green Beret unit based at Lang Vei just before the Tet Offensive, Thompson said.
On the night of Feb. 6, the soldiers were horrified to see tanks bearing down on them, Thompson said.
What followed was a perfect storm of bad weather, miscommunication and malfunctioning weapons. Back-up and air support did not come until it was too late, he added, and shoulder-held rockets intended to stop tanks were useless.
"We were screwed," Thompson said. "Some of us were outside (fighting the NVA) and eight guys were trapped in the bunker."
Even as NVA tanks tried to cave in the bunker the American soldiers wouldn't give up, he said.
At one point, Moreland and fellow soldier John Early climbed into an observation tower and began firing on the tanks, but the flash from their weapons gave their location away, Thompson said.
A shot from a tank made a direct hit, killing Early, he said.
Moreland was gravely injured, suffering a serious head wound and was left behind in the bunker when the North Vietnamese Army overran it, witnesses said.
"I don't know whether Les was dead when they left or very, very close to it," Thompson said. "They had a window of a couple minutes to get out of that bunker to a secure landing zone."
Moreland was last seen just before the North Vietnamese overtook the camp and bunker. Witnesses said he appeared to be dead. He was never found.
His friends and family still await his return. Thompson said he has returned to Vietnam several times in search of the men still missing from his unit, including Moreland.
Kathy Strong, of Walnut Creek, said she has been wearing an MIA bracelet with Moreland's name on it, has vowed to wear it until Moreland is found and returned home.
The 48-year-old said she received it in a Christmas stocking when she was a 12-year-old child.
"The day I put it on I made a promise to keep it on until he came home," she said. "Never forget, that's my slogan."
Moreland's parents passed away without ever getting any answers, Newlander said, but they never stopped waiting.
"It was really hard for my grandma because they never brought him home," Newlander said. "There's a spot with a picture of my uncle in between my grandparents in a cemetery back in Alabama, so when he is brought home he can be buried in between them."
bethania.palma@sgvn.com
(626) 962-8811, Ext. 2236
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