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Kent Robert Bolter
Private First Class
M CO, 3RD BN, 1ST MARINES, 1ST MARDIV, III MAF United States Marine Corps Manistee, Michigan August 20, 1949 to April 20, 1968 KENT R BOLTER is on the Wall at Panel 51E, Line 5 |
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I will never forget Christmas Eve 1968, you were on leave. You called and said "I'm coming to your house at noon so be ready". You dressed in your his uniform, a proud Marine. I was a sophomore in high school and so proud to have you as a friend. It seems so fresh in my mind, we wandered downtown checking out the stores, talking about life as a Marine. "Don't be like me" you said. We went to the Sheriff's Department so you could "check in". I think it was so you could have some fun "with the LAW". Pushing and shoving in the new fallen snow. I will never forget you saying that you wouldn't come back. I know now what you were talking about! How unfair life is sometimes, when a man like you serves so faithfully and others do not! Yes Bob, on this 38th year I will never forget what you have sacrificed so much, so we may be free. I will never forget.
From a friend, |
A Note from The Virtual WallIn mid-April 1968 the 3rd Bn, 1st Marines was relocated to the Ca Lu combat base and assigned responsibility for securing the middle portion of Highway 9 running from Khe Sanh to the coast. Golf 2/9 was placed under 3/1 command in order to provide the battalion an additional rifle company. Security elements were placed at each bridge; one such element was a squad from 3rd Plt, Golf 2/9, at Bridge 28.On the morning of 19 April the Bridge 28 security element reported enemy contact from the north. The 2nd Plt, Golf 2/9, accompanied by two tanks, moved out from Ca Lu to reinforce the security element and exploit the contact. When they arrived on scene, they found the NVA were in well-concealed bunkers in and along the sides of a heavily-vegetated ravine which ran north from the bridge. While the NVA had a fair field of fire against the bridge and both approaches to it, the Marines could bring only glancing fires against the bunkers. At 1025 a five truck convoy arrived from Khe Sanh and attempted to run the gauntlet across Bridge 28. The convoy didn't make it; all five trucks were hit by antitank weapons and another group of Marines - artillerymen from B Btry, 1/12 - found themselves stranded and engaged by fire from the ravine. The Golf 2/9 platoon commander called for assistance and regrouped his Marines to extract the artillerymen. The remainder of Golf 2/9 was dispatched in response to the request. It was obvious that a direct assault up the ravine would put the Marines into the face of the enemy's fire, but the sides of the ravine and the slopes facing Highway 9 were too steep to be climbed while under fire. A decision was thus taken to airlift Mike 3/1 onto the high ground north of the enemy positions and assault down the ravine rather than up it from the south. This plan was put into effect on the morning of 20 April. Golf 2/9 maneuvered to the south and east of the ravine while Mike 3/1 was lifted into place and began its movement to contact. By nightfall Mike 3/1 was on the northern edge of the bunker area. On the morning of 21 April Mike 3/1 swept through the bunkers, destroying the enemy positions in detail. By nightfall the enemy fire had been reduced to a negligible level, and on the morning of 22 April Golf 2/9 and Mike 3/1 finished cleansing the area. Highway 9 was declared open to traffic at noon on the 22nd. A reinforced company of North Vietnamese troops had been destroyed to a man, but at high cost: 25 Marines were dead as well. The Marines killed during the three day fight at Bridge 28 were
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