lest we forget

PERRYMAN, RONALD GLEN

Rank / Branch:

  • SECOND LIEUTENANT, U.S. ARMY

Date Of Birth:

  • 1944-04-02

Country Of Loss:

  • 1966-10-25

Status:

  • HOSTILE, FRAGMENT WOUND TO HEAD

Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground:​

  • GROUND

Other:

  • MARRIED

Unit:

  • FIRST DIVISION

Date Of Loss:

  • 1966-10-25

Loss Coordinates:

  • NOT REPORTED

Catagory:

  • BODY RETURNED

Awards & Decorations:

  • SEE BIO

VETERAN HAGI0GRAPHY

  • PERRYMAN, RONALD GLEN, SECOND LIEUTENANT, COAHOMA, HOWARD COUNTY, TEXAS

AWARDS AND DECORATIONS

  • COMBAT INFANTRYMANS BADGE, PURPLE HEART, GOOD CONDUCT MEDAL, NATIONAL DEFENSE SERVICE MEDAL, VIETNAM SERVICE MEDAL, VIETNAM CROSS OF GALLANTRY WITH PALM, VIETNAM CAMPAIGN MEDAL

BIOGRAPHY

  • Ronald was born and raised in Wichita, Kansas. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Nery Perryman. He attended Wichita schools and graduated in 1962. He immediately enlisted in the U.S. Army. He served as an enlisted man until applying and being accepted for Officer Candidate School in 1965.
  • He attended and completed Infantry Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on December 3, 1965, and then attended the Basic Infantry Course also at Fort Benning. He was then assigned to Fort Hood, Texas.
  • While there, he met his future wife, Judy Lynn Grant of Coahoma, Texas. She was the younger sister of his best friend, 2LT Thomas Grant who was also assigned to Fort Hood. They married in Coahoma, Texas on August 10, 1966, just before he departed for Vietnam.
  • He began his tour in Vietnam on September 25, 1966, and was assigned as a Platoon Leader with C Company, 2nd Battalion, 18th Infantry, First Infantry Division. His company was operating near Lai Khe and were providing security to Highway 13, also known as Thunder Road. On the morning of October 25, 1966, Lieutenant Perryman's company were airlifted by helicopter to conduct a search and destroy patrol in another area of the highway up the road. Around 4 P.M. the search and destroy mission was terminated and the company was to be returned by helicopter. To extract a company takes 20 helicopters but, in this case, 10 helicopters were used, and it was taking two trips. The first contingent of troops had been lifted out and the remaining troops were on the ground. At some point when the helicopters were returning to pick up the remainder of the troops on the ground, a claymore or a booby trap was set off by the VC. Lt. Perryman, another Platoon leader and the 1st Sergeant were all hit. Two other soldiers were also injured. Lt. Perryman was KIA and the other two were medevac'd out, two other soldiers were treated for non-life-threatening wounds.
  • His remains were returned to Wichita, Kansas where they were laid to rest with full military honors in the Wichita Parks Cemetery. He had been in Vietnam one month. He was survived by his parents and his wife Judy. In a ceremony held in Coahoma, Texas at the Coahoma High School Gymnasium on December 4, 1966, Judy Perryman, his wife was presented with his posthumous Purple Heart and his other medals which he had previously been awarded. In another ceremony, in April 1967, Judy Perryman accepted the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Palm as awarded by the South Vietnamese Government and presented by a U.S. Army representative.
  • WITCHITA HIGH SCHOOL, CLASS OF 1962
  • WICHITA PARKS CEMETERY, WICHITA, KANSAS
  • LT PERRYMAN IN VIETNAM 1966