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Canton Vet Stories: Memorial Day Edition

Sergeant First Class Thomas H. Perry

Vietnam Veteran Thomas Perry began his service in 1966 & remains Missing in Action.

Special Forces Medic, Company C, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne); 1st Special Forces; Da Nang.

A-106 Special Forces Team; Ba To.

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This Vet Story was told, on behalf of Thomas Perry, to About Town by Bill Newman, Post Commander, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States.

Tell me a Story.

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Thomas Perry enlisted in the U.S. Army on March 10, 1966. Perry volunteered for Special Forces and was trained as a medic. He left Canton for Vietnam on December 4, 1967. At the time of his departure, Perry was married and had a four-month-old son.

After arriving in Vietnam, Perry’s initial assignment was as a Medical Aid at a Civilian Irregular Defense Group, (CIDG), Clinic in Da Nang. In this capacity he cared for a variety of indigenous people, including the Montagnards, Nungs and others. Perry developed a deep respect and concern for these peoples.

On May 10, 1968, Perry was reassigned to the Special Forces Team at Ba To, about 100 miles south of Da Nang. However, the morning of his departure to Ba To, Perry instead responded to an urgent call for medics in Ngok Tavak; at a remote fort near the Laotian Border.

Perry joined five other soldiers who left for the fort that day; despite knowing it was under fire. They left Da Nang at 4:30 a.m.; touched down briefly at Kham Duc and arrived at Ngok Tavak about an hour later, at first light.

Perry and the other soldiers walked into a battle. The fort was under siege. Nevertheless, despite the constant borage of mortar and small arms fire, Perry moved around the fort treating the wounded. Around 1 p.m., the order was given to abandon the fort as they were surrounded; could not be reinforced; were low on ammunition; and were taking heavy casualties.

Capt. John White called in a napalm strike to both clear a path for the 70 or so remaining soldiers to retreat from the fort and to keep the advancing North Vietnamese Army, of 8,000 men, at bay. As the soldiers moved out of the fort and the napalm flames subsided, mortar rounds struck the last group of departing soldiers; wounding some of them. Perry had positioned himself at the rear of the retreating soldiers. When he saw the wounded he went to assist them, despite the advancing North Vietnamese Army.  Perry thus forfeited his only opportunity to retreat to safety.

It is presumed that Sgt. First Class Thomas Perry was captured by the North Vietnamese Army and put into service treating their wounded. There were eye witness accounts by captured then released Nungs, who saw Perry after the attack on the fort. What actually happened to Perry, however, remains unknown.

It’s possible that he was killed in the ensuing B-52 strike, which followed the North Vietnamese Army’s overrun of Ngok Travak. However, despite extensive excavations at and around the fort, which recovered the remains of 12 others, Perry has never been found.

Canton’s Thomas H. Perry remains the only American soldier still missing and unaccounted for from that May 10, 1968 battle at the fort at Ngok Tavak.

Here’s the Deal:

On November 12, 2005 at Canton High School, Thomas Perry’s Alma Mater, (Class of 1960), the Avon Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. presented an engraved plaque honoring SFC Thomas Perry’s service, sacrifice and heroism. His mother, Peg Perry and Thomas Perry’s twin sister were in attendance. The plaque honoring Thomas Perry can be found at the Canton Public Library.

Captain White, the Officer credited with saving so many other soldiers that May day in 1968 at the fort, recognized Perry’s courage at a reunion in Washington D.C. for survivors. White told Perry’s wife and son, who were in attendance, that “Tom Perry was the bravest man I ever met.”

Canton Public Library, 40 Dyer Avenue; (860) 693-5800: www.cantonpubliclibrary.org.

Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States: www.avonvfw.com.

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