LTC Barney K. Neal Jr

LTC Barney King Neal Jr

Commanding Officer 1st Battalion 22nd Infantry

4th Infantry Division

14 August - 11 September 1970

LTC Barney Neal was the Commanding Officer of 1st Battalion for only a short time when the helicopter
in which he was a passenger crashed upon leaving Firebase Winnie.

Those who knew him recall him to have been an excellent Commanding Officer and a genuinely likeable Soldier.

The following are the entries in the Official Army Register for Barney K. Neal Jr.:

Barney King Neal Jr. was born in Georgia on July 4, 1928.

He graduated from Oklahoma A&M College in 1950. He became a 2nd Lieutenant of Infantry on July 17, 1950
(with his date of rank back to June 15, 1950). He was promoted to the temporary rank of 1st Lieutenant (AUS)
on April 27, 1951 and to the permanent rank of 1st Lieutenant in the Regular Army on June 15, 1953.

On August 16, 1954 he was promoted to the temporary rank of Captain (AUS). In 1956 Neal graduated from
the Infantry School Officers Advanced Course. He received his permanent promotion to Captain on June 15, 1957.

He was promoted to the temporary rank of Major (AUS) on March 26, 1965 and to the permanent rank of Major
on March 29, 1966. On May 13, 1968 Neal was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.

On August 6, 1966, as Executive Officer of the 1st Battalion 12th Infantry Major Barney Neal led the 1/12 Inf.
ashore at Qui Nhon from the USNS General Walker as the 4th Infantry Division landed in Vietnam.
The 1/12 Infantry and the 1/22 Infantry sailed to Vietnam together on the Walker.

LTC Barney Neal's decorations

LTC Barney Neal at An Khe Base Camp 1970
Note "Regulars By God" spelled out in sandbags on roof
of building in background.

Photo by David Parrish

Lieutenant Colonel Neal was killed when the OH-6A helicopter in which he was a passenger,
crashed and burned after leaving FSB Winnie, at grid reference BR529325,
approximately 12 kilometers south/southeast of An Khe.

In early September 1970 Company C 1/22 Infantry had encountered an NVA bunker complex
while on Search and Destroy. On September 11, 1970 LTC Neal and LT James Knobles left Fire Support Base Winnie
to join Company C at the location of that bunker complex, in order to inspect and examine the complex.
As can be seen by the official report below, the aircraft crashed soon after leaving the
firebase and both officers were killed. We grunts on the ground at the bunker complex got the word of their deaths
almost immediately, though it would be at least a week before we got the official cause of the crash.
Until we got that official word, we speculated that the aircraft had been shot down by the enemy.

- SGT Michael Belis Company C 1/22 Infantry 1970-1971

The following is the report of the crash in which LTC Barney Neal was killed:

Grave marker for LTC Barney Neal

Photo courtesy of:

Cheryl L. Shick
Office Manager
Hahn-Cook/Street& Draper Funeral Directors
6600 Broadway Extension
Oklahoma City, OK 73116
Location #2327

By way of Richard Niles

Top photo by David Parrish

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