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Joseph Louwagie grew up the third of six children born to Marie and Gerard Louwagie, who farmed south of Green Valley.
Joe married Jo Schmitz in June 1968 after graduating college. Facing an August draft call, he enlisted in the Army for three years and Officer Candidate School (OCS) training. He completed 22 weeks of OCS before an old back injury prevented him from becoming an officer, so he dropped OCS. The Army deployed him to Vietnam in June 1969 as a Private First Class and assigned him to the 1st Infantry Division. As an older soldier with extra training, he was soon leading his unit's point squad on combat patrols. He learned about field craft in Vietnam and mastered patrolling in grueling conditions.
The beginning of the U.S. troop draw-down in Vietnam meant Joe did not complete his combat tour with the 1st Infantry Division.
"The 1st Division was pulled home in a troop reduction from Nixon. I got reassigned to Delta Company, 2nd (Battalion) of the 8th (Cavalry Regiment), 1st Air Cavalry Division. Units that had a lot of casualties is where the troops from the 1st Division were reassigned. It was normal practice when Infantrymen had seven or eight months in the field to take them out of the field and give them a rear job. I was expecting that, but instead I got assigned to line duty and put right back in the field."
Joe found unsettling operational differences in the 1st Cavalry Division.
"They were operating next to the Cambodian border, the same area we were working in the 1st Division, but the area was hotter than we had with the 1st Division. With the 1st Air Cav we were in a lot more contact."
Joe described patrolling differences that he believed led to more contact and fighting.
"In the 1st Division, if they told me to go from Point A to Point B, we would zig-zag so nobody could watch us and know our destination. When I got to the 1st Cav I was told, 'We'll give you an azimuth and you'll follow it.' It won't take long to observe where we are going if we follow that azimuth a couple days. The 1st Division point squad I was in would zig-zag back and forth and did not follow a certain trail all the time. The 1st Cav had the tendency to follow trails."
He also noticed more subtle differences that could invite enemy contact.
"We were not allowed to use sleeping bags and ponchos in the 1st Division because they reflect moonlight at night and could give away your position. But in the 1st Cav the first thing they did was hand us sleeping bags and air bags to sleep on and a poncho to use. That tells you the 1st Division was more concerned about what might happen if we gave away our position."
Joe also saw that leaders in the 1st Cavalry had other challenges.
"They were taking so many casualties that it affected them. How do you run a well-disciplined unit if you've got constantly changing parts? You're taking casualties every other day -- five or seven -- and they keep bringing in recruits. Most of them are right out of the States and have no idea how to behave in the field. They were losing so many men that they didn't have time to train them properly. That's why I think we were taking so many casualties."
But whether from operational differences or too many inexperienced troops, Joe fought in many combat engagements with his new unit.
"I was with the 1st Air Cav when I got in serious firefights where I ran out of ammunition. The helicopters flying overhead dropping boxes of ammunition down to the troops just about hit me with one box. But it's either that or you get overrun."
Joe explained how these engagements took a terrible toll.
"At the 1st Air Cav we took unbelievable losses. We lost five dusted off (medevac) one day and seven the next day. I don't know the exact date, but we had 85men in the field when there was supposed to be 110 members of the unit. We got hit and 35 were dusted off. We got in a firefight and an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) landed behind me. Ten of the 12 people in my squad got medevac'd out. But because I am on the other side of the tree, I only got shrapnel in my back. For 15 years I'd have little shrapnel fragments coming out of my back. It was like a little pimple. If you squeezed it, there's a little piece of shrapnel. My wife could tell you about it. I never got a Purple Heart because I was walking wounded and when you've got 35 guys dusted off, the Medic is working his ass off just getting them on choppers. He couldn't keep track of everybody that got hit."
That engagement left Joe's unit under 50% strength.
"They took us out of the field and put us on Fire Support Base Illingsworth. Leon Peleton and I were the only ones left in our squad. The rest were wounded and medevac'd off. We had no information as to what was happening when we got to Illingsworth."
Joe and the remaining men in his Infantry Company were out of the field, but Fire Support Base Illingsworth was hardly a safe base camp.
Please visit our new exhibit, The Vietnam War and Lyon County, at the Lyon County Museum to learn more about the experiences of our area Vietnam veterans.