"Please add this photo of James "Larry" Kiestler in an appropriate spot.  Larry was KIA June 1, 1969 in Quang Tin.  I was with him when he was killed.  He was my buddy and he has given me the strength to get through some pretty bad times all these years.  Please honor him well.. We were with Company A 1st Platoon."

"James Larry Kiestler was KIA on June 1st, 1969 in Quang Tin, South Vietnam. He was with 1st
Platoon, A Company, 1/6th.  Larry was 21 years old and was not married.  He was born on May
28th, 1948 in Chicago, Illinois.  He is buried in Tennessee near his mother's home.  One of his
brothers was killed in the US by an electrical shock only six months before his death.

Larry was a good man and my friend.  The day before he was killed he told several of us that he
thought he would die the next day.  He asked me to call his mom if anything happened to him and
I said I would.  We were on a patrol, in Dragon Valley I think, and Larry was behind Tom Chiki
who was walking point.  Tom believes one of them hit a trip wire and set off a booby trap.  There
was a large explosion that knocked me to the ground and covered me with debris.  I was walking
about 4 or 5 men back.  When we got to Larry he was unconcious with severe head injuries but
he was still alive. Four of us loaded him on a poncho and started carrying him down the hill for
dustoff.  As we were going down the hill, the ground gave way under my feet and I fell into a tunnel
about chest deep.  I climbed out as quickly as possible, grabbed my corner of the poncho and
helped get him the rest of the way down the hill.  The medivac came in shortly, Tom and Larry
were loaded on and taken off. Shortly afterward the RTO told us Larry had died in route to the
97 evac but Tom was going to make it.  I never spoke a word about the tunnel complex I had
fallen into.  I didn't want anyone else to die."

"I finally got up the nerve to contact Larry's family two years ago.  I told them the circumstances of
his death, that he suffered little pain, and that he was with men who cared about him when he died.
His mother and brother expressed gratitude and said they had always wanted to talk to someone
who was with Larry when he died.  I'm sorry I waited so long.  He was a fine man, a good soldier,
and a good friend.  I miss him every day."

by Gerald Ray "Whitey" White, July 14, 2002

James "Larry" Kiestler with the unit Kit Carson Scout,  1969

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