A few weeks ago Emilio Bruna (Pancho) posted that Tom Dungan has passed away in 2018 in the Southwest. I was mildly acquainted with Tom, as I suspect many of us were, from various activites at WPHS, including his outstanding efforts on the ice hockey team - as time went on, Tom had never attended any class reunions and became a “Missing Classmate” on the class website. I was relieved that he had finally appeared, however not in the way I had hoped.

 

From Tom’s obituary I learned that he had received the Army’s Bronze Star with Valor device for his service in Vietnam as a 1st Lt in the 12th Cavalry. Having not served in the war due to my disability, I was impressed with a person so honored and became curious about Tom’s valor. His wife and daughters were named in the obituary. I called Tom’s daughter Suzanne in Providence RI, introduced myself and asked if she could share any details about her dad’s heroism. Ms Wynn told me that her dad never spoke of the war - in fact the family was unaware of his Bronze Star until his death. Suzanne promised to check with her mom and soon sent me the attached commendations.

 

Further intriqued, I contacted classmate Larry Ryan, Resident Engineer, in the Army Corp of Engineers for help. Larry sent me the following:

 

Tom Dungan and I traveled is different circles- we were in different divisions and had no classes together but I always admired him. He was a terrific hockey player and I'm not surprised that he served both as an infantry officer and with the 1srt Cavalry DIVISION, an elite unit. You likely saw We Were Soldiers. That was the 1sr CAV. Tom's unit, 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry, was one of our nine fighting battalions. I served with the 1st CAV in 1970. We had a typical cavalry mission of screening 124 miles of the Cambodian border. The good news was we operated mostly in virgin jungle so did not have to worry about villages. The bad news was we were up against a very disciplined and capable enemy, the North Vietnamese Army- not  VC guerillas. After the Cambodia invasion we were well on our way to winding down the war. I left just before Christmas 1970 and soon after the Division left leaving the 3rd Brigade (1/12 Cav was one of its three battalions until they finally left early in 1972. Tom was likely an infantry platoon leader, responsible for about 35 soldiers.  

Tom's citations and commedations are available on his Profile page. HERE

Below is a brief synopsis :

 

Although 26 March 1971 officially marked the end of duties in Vietnam for the 1st Cavalry Division, President Nixon’s program of “Vietnamization” required the continued presence of a strong US fighting force to remain “in country”.  On 30 April 1971, 3rd Brigade (Separate), known as the “GARRYOWEN TASK FORCE”, was organized and activated to carry out the continuing mission of the 1st Cavalry Division. The mission of the unit, composed of experienced, specialized fighting units, was to continue the interdiction of enemy infiltration and supply routes in War Zone D, known as “Cav Country”.

To carry out the mission, the 3rd Brigade was assigned to a very large area encompassing thirty-five hundred square miles and defensive responsibility for the eastern approaches toward vital Saigon and Long Binh.  As a result the Brigade was reconstituted with seven recycled battalions as well as sixteen companies and platoons.

By 14 December, 1971, the 3rd Brigade began an infusion with a rash of transferred units from other redeploying Divisions, such as the 101st Airborne, at a rate of 500 Soldiers per week. Regardless of “Bush” time, the new arrivals were sent through the Brigade Combat Training Center. By the end of 1971, the 3rd Brigade had an assigned strength of 7,632 Soldiers and continued its four fold mission of defending the Saigon and Long Binh military complex, training Vietnamese Soldiers, ready to move into other military regions as a security fire brigade and preparing to execute various late-war contingency plans.

 

Finally in 1972, the Brigade left Vietnam for Fort Hood, Texas, to rejoin the rest of the 1st Cavalry Division.

 

Thank you all of our classmates who served during the Vietnam Era. And thank you to Larry Ryan and Tom’s daughter Suzanne Wynn.

 

Frank P. Cianflone  Thomas S. Davies  Michael De Marsico  Paul Del Mastro  Thomas Harold Dungan  Marc B. Epstein  Harlan Fischer  Donald Alan Gould  Richard E. Jacobs  Frank W. Johnson  William L. Karabinos  Andrew M. Kasow  James A. Keillor, III  David H. Leslie  David L. Llewelyn  Andy Maass  Veronica L. Marchese  Richard Nardi  Robert I. Roth, Ph. D.  Lawrence M. Ryan  Robert Schmand  Steven Schwartz  James (Jim) Sinnott  Tom Uhlman  Thomas Vaillancourt  William O. Wagstaff, Jr.  David B. Watson  Irwin H Zaetz    John E Gill  Charles Rachon  Paul J. Salvo