Colonel Edward Barry Vogel

Edward Barry Vogel was born November 13, 1929 at Interlaken, New Jersey. At the time of his death, this day, November 27, 1968, he had risen through the Army to the rank of Colonel after serving for 18 years, and was married with six children.

According to one who served under Col Vogel, he was very respected by those who served under him. He also respected, not only his men, but also valued their input in matters most in his position would have either trusted their own judgement or sought input from those who, like him, held higher rank. This was referred to as the "ground truth".

He was said to rarely speak, outside of necessity, to those higher than First Lieutenant for more than a few seconds. Prior to operations, he would seek out the men in the trenches to find out what they needed or what they thought of impending actions. This gave him a real sense of what was going on in real time, not dependent upon sometimes weeks old intelligence reports. It is not that he would ignore such reports or the input of other officers, but unlike many, he did not discount what he heard from them men in and closest to the actual fighting.

As he sought out the experiences from those in the heat of battle, he would place himself right in the middle of things. It was during one such event that he lost his life along with four others on board a HU-1C Iroquois, a "huey". The others were from Headquarters and Headquarters Battery (HHB), 4th Battalion, 77th Aerial Rocket Artillery Unit, 101st Airborne Division. They were on an ARA(Airial Rocket Artillery) mission near Fire Base Tomahawk in the Thua Thien Province, home of Hue, made infamous during the Tet offensive of 1968. Operating in a very hostile area, the chopper came under very heavy small arms fire, likely killing or mortally wounding all on board before the chopper crashed. Vogel had been visiting the unit and decided to tag along to get the perspective of the huey guys.

A Lt Col at the time, already approved for promotion, he achieved the rank of Colonel posthumously.
Comments from at no less than five who served under him all paint the same picture of this man who placed the ultimate trust in his men and respected them with the very fiber of his being. He was loved, trusted, respected, and deserved every ounce of honor bestowed upon him. He was not only a great leader, he saw himself and others shared the view, that he was every bit as much of an integral part of a greater unit than he was an individual who could affect change on his own. 

All these years later, those he served with leave comments on the many places they gather to remember one another. He is dearly missed by his men. I can only imagine that his family misses him and has felt a great loss for all of these years. 

You will surely not be forgotten Colonel Vogel. Your spirit lives on in the men and the units.

Sadly, that day we also lost four other men aboard that huey. Colonel Vogel would certainly not be pleased if I had left any of them out. The crew members included aircraft commander WO1 John W. Brinkmeyer, pilot LTC Roger J. Bartholomew, gunner SP4 Ernest L. Barber, and crew chief SP5 Loren D. Martinsen. 

 COL Vogel