Daniel F. Monahan
Class of 1962
C Company, 2d Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division
Late in the afternoon of April 14, 1967, CAPT Daniel F. Monahan selected a night defensive perimeter for the company he was leading in an area south of Tan Tru in Long An Province. The location was in a cracked, concrete-hard, dry rice paddy. A river looped around the area and there was dense undergrowth adjacent to the riverbanks. The troops serving under CAPT Monahan were exhausted after being in the field nine out of the last ten days. At about 2200 hours, the company began taking sniper fire. CAPT Monahan and his forward observer, 2LT David A. Gray, began calling in an artillery mission on the sniper. Suddenly, a tremendous lightening flash and explosion filled the dark sky. It was revealed the following morning that the blast was the result of three banjo-type Chinese claymore mines that had been tied to a small tree and positioned only seven yards from the night perimeter. The Viet Cong had evidently been able to sneak up in the dark and place the mines undetected. When remotely detonated, the mines released shrapnel which grievously wounded both CAPT Monahan and 2LT Gray. The CO suffered fatal wounds to his chest area and the FO was wounded in the head. Quite a distance away, PFC Robert E. McKee was sitting in his shallow foxhole when the blast occurred and also suffered fatal wounds in the attack. One of the company medics, SP4 Peter Nero, desperately worked to save his fallen comrades. SP4 Nero did the best he could, but the task was futile. (Mekong First Light: An Infantry Platoon Leader in Vietnam by Joseph W. Callaway, Jr.
