Dallas George Grundy

Start Tour: 10/11/1966
Incident Date: 11/05/1966
Casualty Date: 11/05/1966
Age at Loss: 23
Location: Province not reported, South Vietnam
Remains: Body recovered
Casualty Type: Hostile, died outright
Casualty Reason: Ground casualty
Casualty Detail: Gun or small arms fire

PFC Dallas Grundy was a Scout Dog Handler with the 33rd IPSD and had been working with
the 1st Battalion 22nd Infantry during Operation Paul Revere IV. On November 5, 1966
he and his dog, "Prince", along with another dog and handler team were working with Company A of 1/22 Infantry.
The dogs alerted, giving indication of the presence of enemy soldiers, and as PFC Grundy,
Lieutenant Richard Collins and SGT Douglas Murray moved forward to investigate,
all three were ambushed and killed.

Only two days before, Lieutenant Robert Babcock and 3rd Platoon of Company B 1/22 Infantry
had been the unit PFC Grundy and "Prince" was working with. In his book "What Now Lieutenant?"
Bob Babcock had thoughts on the brave men like Dallas Grundy, who volunteered
for the dangerous job of Dog Handlers in Vietnam:

"Our first experience working with Army scout dogs had been while securing Highway 19 east of Pleiku.
After working with them and their handlers, we became strong believers in their ability to sniff out the enemy.
With this background, I was delighted to have a scout dog working with us as we started into the jungle
on the first day of Operation Paul Revere IV. I felt certain we would be running into seasoned NVA troops
and any edge we could get was fine with me.

We were all more than a little apprehensive as we left the assumed safety of the
battalion fire base and started on our search and destroy mission through the dense, twisted jungle.
My platoon had been given the dubious ' honor ' of being the point platoon.
We saddled up and started moving into the jungle, the dog and his handler leading the way,
followed closely by our point squad.

I wondered what made a man volunteer to be a dog handler. I knew our platoon would be rotating
between point and further to the rear of the column each day.
He and his dog would be in the lead day after day after day."

Dallas George Grundy ....Campbell High School (Campbell CA) ... class of 1963

Burial:
Golden Gate National Cemetery
San Bruno
San Mateo County
California, USA
Plot: B, 13A

I was his squad leader and was with another Company from the 1-22d a couple of hills away
when we heard the sounds of the firefight.

This was the first real patrol for both of them, having just arrived in country in mid-October. We deployed as a unit
from Fort Benning, GA.

The Platoons were formed at Ft Benning, GA and were made up of a very few NCO’s, one LT and the rest were all draftees.
We trained at Benning for 26 weeks and then deployed to RVN. Dallas Grundy was one of the draftees. His best friend at the time
was Ed Klunejko, who was the other dog handler when Dallas was killed.

As far as the circumstances go, I wasn’t right there but from what I was told by others
and especially Klunejko, who was a close friend of Grundy’s, Grundy was on point when his dog alerted to something.
He did what he was trained to do and got the attention of the squad leader, at which time he should have pulled back
while others checked things out. I was told that he continued forward with the dog and perhaps the Platoon Sergeant
and Platoon Leader when a .50 cal opened up on them. All of them were killed along with some others.

I remember him as a nice, serious, young family man who had a wife and child. His death hit our unit
(33d Infantry Platoon, Scout Dog) hard as he was well liked and our first casualty.
If there can be any good out of something like that, it taught us all that we were in a very vulnerable position
and that we had to be very careful.

Thanks to the Veterans of Company A 1/22 Infantry 1966-1967,
Jim Beecher of 33rd SDP, and Bob Babcock B 1/22 Infantry 1965-1967 for the above information

Photos courtesy of Dallas' widow Shirley Day