Here’s a video tribute my wife, Pam Young (Navy vet), made in 2011 in honor of ALL the women – including the Donut Dollies, who served during the Vietnam War – Roger “Bear” Young, Scout Crew Chief:
It is with a very heavy heart that I’ve learned this morning the passing of Chris Taylor, younger brother of Sgt. Phil Taylor who was KIA in Cambodia on 27 May 71 while serving with the Silver Spurs. It was an honor to have met Chris and his family in 2000 for Veterans Day at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to honor his brother and all of our fallen Troopers from the 3/17th Air Cav during the Vietnam War. We remained in touch all these years since and have watched Chris’ courageous battle with cancer.
Chris with Dan at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, November 11, 2000 with the wreath honoring all our fallen Troopers from the 3/17th Air Cavalry
Chris also served our nation in the U.S. Army and he rose to the rank of SSG serving in our air defense artillery. He will be greatly missed by his entire family and all of us that had the honor of being called his friend.
Rest-In-Peace ‘little brother,’ you are now at rest with your brother Phil and your parents. God Speed and a slow hand Salute…
Bear
Chris loved to ride!! Often in veteran related events!
Christopher J.Taylor, Sr. – age 60, passed away peacefully at Good Shepherd Hospice in Lakeland, Florida on Sunday, December 16, 2018 after a long illness, and courageous fight against cancer.
Chris is survived by his loving children Christopher Taylor, Jr (Michelle) of Grand Island, NY, Shawna Ware (Cedric) of Buffalo, NY, Mathew Key (Stephany) of Lakeland, FL, and LCpl Justin Taylor currently stationed at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune; five beloved grandchildren, Kara, Cedric, Jr., Sofia, Annalise, and Clayton; siblings Stephen Taylor (Susan) of Lakeland, FL, Timothy Taylor (Kim) of Covington, GA and Janice Green of Yardley, PA.; Uncle Robert Rohde of Horseheads, NY, Aunt Evelyn Taylor of Elmira, NY, many nephews, nieces, cousins and friends. He is preceded in death by his parents Charles and Doris Taylor and his brother SGT Philip Taylor.
Chris was born on July 19, 1958 in Elmira, NY. His family moved to Grand Island, NY when he was 9, and he attended Grand Island Sr. High School. From there, he began his service to our country in the United States Army. His choice to go into the Army was fueled by a desire to follow in his older brother, Phil’s, footsteps. His career in Air Defense Artillery took him overseas to Korea and Germany, but his time in Key West, FL was by far his favorite. Key West became his favorite place in the world.
Once Chris left the Army with an Honorable Discharge, he chose to move to Lakeland, FL in 1984. In Lakeland, Chris started his carpet cleaning business, Taylor Bros. Carpet Care. His success was due to his attention to detail and desire to do the best work possible for all of his customers. He was a hard working man, and it was not easy for him to stop working when he was forced to do so in 2013 due to illness.
Late in 2012, Chris was informed that the pain he has been experiencing was related to the fact that he had liver disease caused by a genetic disorder called alpha 1 antitrypsin deficiency. He fought to live long enough to get a liver transplant in February 2014, all the while suffering with great pain. Once he recovered from the transplant surgery, Chris felt he has a new lease on life and was incredibly grateful to everyone who cared for him and prayed for him through that time, but mainly grateful to the donor and their family for making the life saving decision to be an organ donor.
Unfortunately, Chris began having discomfort again. The liver doctors told him that his new liver was fine. As the pain continued, Chris’s doctors did further testing and, in September 2015, he was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer. He vowed to fight the cancer with all of his might for as long as he could, and he did. He wanted to live long enough to see his son, Justin, graduate from high school, and he wanted to live long enough to meet his grandson, Clayton, both of which he succeeded in doing. In the last few years of his life, Chris made beautiful memories with his family and friends.
Chris’s family was first and foremost in his life. He enjoyed spending time with his siblings, nephews and nieces and, of course, children and grandchildren as often as possible. He was someone in the family that everyone knew they could turn to for guidance, help with their car, or just a listening ear or hug. He loved to tease, laugh and wrestle with everyone. Being a grandfather brought such happiness to Chris. He loved his grandchildren and loved every second that he could spend with them. He was guilty of spoiling them with a candy or two, but especially guilty of letting them know how much they were loved. As a father, Chris taught his children to be respectful, kind, polite and hard-working. He taught them to do their best at work and school, take care of one another, and he taught them to love an appreciate that they are fortunate to live in the United States of America.
Patriotism was another passion of Chris’s. He instilled that in his children, teaching them to respect the flag, thank a veteran, participate in Patriot Guard rides and laying wreaths with Wreaths Across America, He was incredibly proud of each of his boys when they all chose to serve our country in the military — Chris, Jr. in the Air Force, Mat in the Navy and Justin in the Marines. Between him and his boys, they covered as many branches of the service as they could.
We have lost a good man to a horrible disease. Chris would often remind us with a pin that he regularly wore, “Cancer Sucks”. As much suffering as Chris has endured in the past six years with his liver transplant and his cancer, he always gave credit to his doctors and nurses at the VA Hospitals in Pittsburgh and Tampa for taking excellent care of him. He always felt that he had the best care and felt that the doctors truly did their very best for him. We, his family, thank the VA for all that they did to allow us to have Chris in our lives for as long as we did.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Saturday, December 22, 2018 at 11:00 AM at Resurrection Catholic Church 333 Terrace Way, Lakeland, FL. After Mass there will be a Patriot Guard escort to Oak Hill Cemetery where a military honor graveside service will be held. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Chris’s name to The American Cancer Society, the Wounded Warrior Project, or The Vietnam Veterans Association.
Since posting the tribute to Dinh on 17 June 2018 at Honoring Silver Spur Chu Hoi Scout Dinh, I’ve only received two comments from fellow Silver Spurs. I’m clearly out of touch…
Pam and I purchased the Honor Tile for Dinh at our own expense and would do so again to honor a Vietnamese that served and died while directly serving with our Troop. It has become clear that such efforts may no longer be considered worthwhile or noteworthy by many fellow Silver Spurs.
Pam and I have hosted and maintained the Silver Spur site at our own personal expense since it went live in September of 1997. It truly has been our greatest honor. Over the years I’ve expanded the site to make it more functional and user friendly for all, including providing a photo gallery on our Silver Spur blog, which is time consuming and increases our site’s bandwidth usage, but I felt it was an important pictorial history. I thank those that shared their pictures!
It has become very clear to us that our efforts have now reached there logical conclusion and are no longer required. Therefore, from this date forward, there will be NO FUTHER UPDATES to the majority of the Silver Spur site with the following exceptions which are vital to ongoing Spur business:
We will continue to host the site AS IS and nothing more for its important historical content. As of this date, the comment section in our Silver Spur blog will be turned off placing the site in an archive state only.
When I began the Spur site, I had three personal main objectives:
To list all our fallen Troopers from our Troop and the entire 3/17th Squadron and honor their sacrifice to our nation. We had help from many Troopers across the entire Squadron years ago in making this possible!
To record to the best of our ability, our proud Troop history. I want to thank all the Troopers that helped to make that possible in the early years!
To provide a venue that my fellow Spurs would be proud of and their personal contributions while serving our nation in Vietnam. For too many years we were made to feel guilty about our service in Vietnam, we hope you walk a bit prouder & taller today!
I believe with the laying of the wreath at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in D.C. in 2000, the dedication of our plaque provided by fellow Spurs at the Army Aviation Museum at Ft. Rucker in 2006 honoring our fallen, and the Silver Spur site that documents those events — my personal mission is now complete. My DEROS date came years ago! 🙂
I’m also proud of the fact with the support of our Spur President, John “Waldo” Pepper and my wife, Pam, that we addressed the problems associated with PTSD and Agent Orange exposure. We got some push back in the early going, but I believe it has helped many of us over the years.
I wish you all well and my sincere thanks to all the Troopers who have contributed to this site over the years and to those who have made our Spur reunions into a great success!
In closing, if you are not currently on the Silver Spur e-mail net, please contact Clayton Marsh so you do not miss out on future Silver Spur news and related correspondence!!
Published on June 17, 2018 – Updated June 28, 2018
Fellow Spurs,
On 15 Feb 71 Dinh was KIA along with fellow Spur, Tagipo Tauala in an enemy bunker complex near Tan An.
Dinh – by Dave Sizemore, Lift C.E. photo
Spur 25, Lt. John Kelly writes of that day to Spur 38, Mike Billow:
Hey 38, what a sad trip down memory lane. Dinh was with me and Kippo and Johny Morrison as the 4th man in my point team. He was as nervous as the rest of us, walking into that NVA base camp. The Scout pilot had already told me that the place was warm. We had spent two hours bushwacking through the forest when DeCelle took over as Scout. We had already used frags and concussion grenades as we cleared bunkers coming into the center of the camp. My last move had been to send 2nd squad with Tennessee and his M-60 to my right. When we approached the large bunker in the center, the NVA opened up from the entrance , killing Dinh instantly, and gravely wounding Kippo. My RTO, Curly James knocked me down as grenades and AK’s and Tennessee’s M-60 all went off, and I was face down above the hole with the NVA, and I had a grenade in his lap quickly! Tennessee saved us as the NVA were pouring out of the bunker to my right, which I had only imagined to be there! He sawed them down! From then on as you know, it was a struggle to get Kippo and the wounded out of there, and your rockets and timely directional advice are really the only reason we weren’t over run as we withdrew to that PZ you guided me too! The next day, I went back there with 3 ARP’s and 100 ARVN and recovered Dinh’s body and the extraordinary letter that the NVA wrote to Dinh, wondering how and why he was with us. From Quan Loi, I took Dinh to his Lady along with the other Chu Hoi’s to An Loc for his burial. Ironically I have just finished “A Bright Shining Lie” about John Paul Vann and his frustrations with the ARVN’s and their fake sit reps and patrols! Let’s remember that the ARVN’s across the runway had told Major Russell that they had cleared that area. When in fact, they had marched a “battalion” down the woodcutters road 5 clicks away. Yup! WTF!!
After our initial post here, we learn more of that tragic day from SGT. Jon S. Morrison who served in our Aero-Rifle Platoon:
I was walking point Dinh was behind me, Kippo behind him, Lt and his RTO behind Kippo. Gooks fired out of the big bunker and spider holes. I used the rest of my frags, I was pinned down up by the rice cache. I looked around and Dinh had a bullet hole in the forehead about between is eyes. Kippo was shot a few times but continued to stand there with his M60 and returned fire. One tough SOB! What went on down the line past Kelly, I don’t know. Kippo finally went down. There was a lull in the fire when I yelled to Kelly, “let’s get the hell out of here.” I got up and to my surprise Kippo staggered up so I helped him move on down the trail. If it hadn’t been for Kippo I know I wouldn’t have made it out. Kelly tried to put some people in for citations but MAJ Russell said they were just doing their job. The difference in being a grunt unit and an Air Cav Commander. This all from the grunts view. I have no idea what happened in the air.
Jon S. Morrison, SGT
ARRP
3/17th AirCav
Former sniper 25th Infantry Division
My personal thanks to Lt. Kelly & Sgt. Morrison for sharing their personal memories of this tragic day. As you all are aware, Dinh does not appear on any Vietnam Memorial until now. Our local Vietnamese community in the Seattle area worked for years with the city of Auburn and Washington State Dept. of Veterans Affairs to build a Memorial where all Vietnam veterans from all our allies in our war could be honored. With that in mind, Pam and I purchased a Honor Tile in Dinh’s name to be placed at their new Memorial located in Auburn, WA. so that he can be properly remembered for his personal sacrifice. Their American-Vietnamese Memorial was dedicated on 16 June 2018. Below is the video Pam took of the dedication ceremony and more specifics. Please feel free to add your comments at the bottom of this post. The comment section remains open for approximately two weeks.
An important discussion brought to my attention by our fellow Silver Spur 23, Michael Lemmon. Here’s what Michael has to say about this audio program:
Roger,
My immense gratitude for all your hard and sustained work; it is very important to continue. I wanted to share with you the other part of the discussion presentation that I made at Brookings following your video lead-in.
The “With Good Reason” audio program (FYI – made by some of the same folks who worked on the USNS Walker story recounting the voyage of the original 3/17 and 7/17 troops to Vietnam in September 1967) is an edited down version of a much longer conversation we had in the process of which I/they confused times and unit identifications. The incident recounted in my part of the program was when I was with B Troop, 7/1st Air Cav in late April 1968 and not in late January when I was with A Troop, 3/17th Air Cav. Nonetheless, it has formed an important part of my own moral identification and history and something I have tried to convey in “the conversation” in more recent times – – something I had put off since the earlier failed conversation that Ron Holloman and I tried to have with our history professor at ODU in the summer of 1970. We basically avoided the conversation for some 45 years until we couldn’t any longer.
If you judge this exchange useful to share at the upcoming reunion, feel free. [See link below to play and even download the audio file]
Video brought to my attention by fellow Silver Spur, Frank Irvin II. An excellent tribute to our Spur Lift & Rifle platoons! – Bear
Postscript:
Frank Irvin II passed away on May 9th 2019 after losing a courageous battle against cancer. Frank served with the Silver Spurs as a door gunner in our Lift platoon. Our prayers go out to Gloria and his entire family. We’ll meet once again in Fiddlers Green – Roger “Bear” Young
I want to thank fellow Silver Spur, Art Bonevich for bringing this moving tribute to my attention.
Pam and I just finished watching this very amazing video tribute. We hope ALL Vietnam veterans and their families will take the time to watch it. Especially my fellow Silver Spurs who served with honor and distinction.
And a very special thank you to The U.S. Army Band for a wonderful performance! – Bear
After September 2026, I will no longer be hosting our entire website. This includes military news, the Silver Spur sites, nor our racing pages. After 29-years it will be time to close it all down. Be well. – Roger ‘Bear’ Young, Spur webmaster
