TERRANCE RICHARD LYLE

Company A 1/22 Infantry

4th Infantry Division

KIA 11/10/1966

Army - PFC - E3

Age: 21
Race: Caucasian
Sex: Male
Date of Birth Mar 17, 1945
From: LA PUENTE, CA
Religion: PROTESTANT
Marital Status: Single

TERRANCE RICHARD LYLE

PFC - E3 - Army - Selective Service
4th Infantry Division
MOS: 11B10: Infantryman
Length of service 0 years
His tour began on Jul 21, 1966
Casualty was on Nov 10, 1966
In , SOUTH VIETNAM
HOSTILE, GROUND CASUALTY
GUN, SMALL ARMS FIRE
Body was recovered

Panel 12E - Line 51

Terrance Lyle was killed during a ground attack by NVA forces on his night defensive position
at grid reference YA677566, approximately 18 kilometers west of Plei Djereng airfield.

PFC Terrance Lyle's decorations

Terry was a very Happy go lucky Boy and man,
He wanted to get into the Navy
with his best friend,on the buddy system,
but that didn't work out for him
he was drafted into the Army instead.
He was killed in Action in Vietnam.
Terry is listed on the Vietnam Wall
he had one brother and a sister

1964 Terry at his best friends house, he often ate and hung around there, like another son of the family

Added by: Shar R. from the Find A Grave website

Well Bob & Doug & Kathy,
I reply BCC to all of Alpha on this email response. I'm not recalling with whom I spoke of Terry
but they knew him well states side. I knew him too.
Just the way my mind works, or doesn't.

I have written of the 'Dry Creek Bed Ambush' several times and will again here just to dial in Terry's family
on what was happening on the occasion of the Nov 10th battle. I will do this from memory and therefore others may have
better recall of specifics that I am not aware of. Given that this battle was early on in our deployment,
not a lot of guys are still around to speak to that evening. For some reason our platoon, the 2nd, was detailed
to move out of our positions right at dark on that evening and we were supposed to set up an 'L' shaped ambush
on a dry creek bed to interdict 'Charlie' using it as an approach to our circle of foxholes or,
night time perimeter, as we call our lines.

When we arrived on the creek bed it was pretty dark but the bed was slightly revealed in the moon light
and seen to be over grown with 'hold it up' and 'wait a minute vines' as we called them. This means that only midgets
could use that sandy creek bed to walk down it. I engaged the Lt. in charge of this ambush in a discussion
of the inappropriateness of locating an ambush in such a place as no one was going to use that avenue and
there was a Ho Chi Minh type well worn trail right on our asses between us and the perimeter.

It was my view that we'd be better placed on that trail.That discussion never came to a conclusion
as all the gooks in the world came right down that trail on our butts and we disbursed running in all directions
as small arms fire broke out and obvious mortaring was taking place on our company perimeter.
It was pitch black now and the only lights were from exploding munitions. To get to 'safety' while afoot in the bush
you simply had to move to the sound and up hill toward the perimeter. Not hard to figure out which direction to go
due to the clamor but given we were infused with the enemy, one had to be in stealth mode much like our escape
and evasion training back in AIT at Ft. Lewis.

Some guys never made it in till the next day and some hid in the trees and bushes all night.
I know Terry was hit and down hard and dying on the ground when a group of gooks came upon him
and dispatched him for sure. They took his gear and left. This was only slightly visible as they were
using flash lights with the lenses covered to admit only enough light to see what they needed.
I saw this event from some fifty feet away or so.

There was no opportunity to intervene. I too was surrounded by men on foot. It was fortunate for me
that I was not seen in the reflection. I made it to our lines a bit latter and the next morning
we went out to collect the rest of our guys, dead or other wise. Terry was picked up and placed on a litter and
carried back to the perimeter.

I know nothing of his award accept that I know the military seemed to follow a policy of giving posthumous medals
to the families of the deceased. Terry was hit trying to get back into the lines as were others.
I understand Hooks spent the night in a tree shot in both legs and worrying about the blood dripping on Charlie below.
Terry was a good doggy and I feel for the lose of his life to this day.It is another of my unsettling recollections
that will haunt me to my end.

A lot of good guys were to die in the intervening months following. Sorry I don't know more about that evening
but we had had a number of skirmishes over the days since our first firefight on Nov 5th.
This all was a rude awakening to us of the reality of war and our mortality.
I am so sorry Terry was a casualty, he was a good guy.

Gert
Don Gertenrich
US Army
ACo/1/22/4thID
Pleiku RVN 66-67
Kissimmee, FL

Burial:
Memory Garden Memorial Park
Brea
Orange County
California, USA
Plot: Garden of the Psalms

Terrance Lyle's grave marker

Photo by Bill Reilly from the Find A Grave website

Maintained by: Shar R.
Originally Created by: Bill Reilly

Photo of Terrance Lyle by James P. "Batman" Blumer Co A 1/22 Infantry 1966-67

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