Richard J. Tallman

Richard J. Tallman
Richard J. Tallman
Born	March 28, 1925; Wayne County, Pennsylvania
Died	July 9, 1972 (aged 47); An Lộc, South Vietnam
Place of burial	West Point Cemetery
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1943–1972
Rank	Brigadier General
Commands held	Deputy Commander, Third [Military] Regional Assistance Command
Battles/wars	World War II; Korean War; Vietnam War Battle of An Loc (DOW);
Awards	Silver Star

Richard J. Tallman (March 28, 1925 – July 9, 1972) was a United States Army brigadier general who was killed by North Vietnamese artillery fire in 1972 during the Battle of An Lộc.[1] He was the last U.S. Army general and last general officer to die in the Vietnam War. He also served in World War II and the Korean War.

Early life and family

He was born in Honesdale, Wayne County, Pennsylvania.

General Tallman married Miss Evelyn Phillips in 1949, they had seven children.

Education

He graduated from Honesdale High School in 1943.

He graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point in 1949.

US Army career

Shortly after high school graduation he was drafted into the Army and sent to the European theatre. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge as a machine gunner. He earned a field commission. He subsequently became a cadet at West Point graduating in the Class of 1949 as an infantry officer.

1st Lt Tallman saw action during the Korean War in 1951-2 with the 3rd Infantry Division.

He served as a tactical officer and military history teacher and as assistant commandant of cadets at West Point.

Vietnam War

General Tallman served four tours of duty during the Vietnam War.

He served as senior advisor to the ARVN 22nd Infantry Division.

Then-Lieutenant Colonel Tallman commanded the 2nd Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment in 1968-68.

On 18 June 1971, then-Colonel Tallman became commander of the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division.

On 1 July 1972 he was promoted to Brigadier-General and appointed as Deputy Commander of Third [Military] Regional Assistance Command (TRAC) which was responsible for overseeing all U.S. military advisors throughout the 3rd Military Region.

Death

On 9 July 1972, General Tallman and his aides had just landed at An Lộc to observe ARVN counter-offensive operations at the conclusion of the Battle of An Lộc when they were hit by North Vietnamese artillery fire, 3 of the group were killed instantly, while General Tallman and two others were wounded. The wounded men were evacuated to the 3rd Field Hospital in Saigon where General Tallman died of his wounds.[2] He was the last U.S. Army general to die in South Vietnam.

Memorials

The Brigadier General Richard J. Tallman Memorial Bridge in Honesdale is named in his honor.[3]

gollark: That's what I'm already doing.

gollark: The issue is that I lack a good way to rank pages, in the sense of "find relevant ones for a query".

gollark: It's not a *speed* issue.

gollark: Well, yeah, obviously I won't rerun this on every page for every search.

gollark: The naive way would be to take the (stemmed) words of the search, and see what page has them most often, but that would privilige longer pages more.

References

"Richard Tallman, Brigadier General, United States Army". The Virtual Wall. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
Willbanks, James (2005). The Battle of An Loc. Indiana University Press. p. 145. ISBN 9780253344816.
"Brigadier General Richard J. Tallman Memorial Bridge – Designation – Act of Jul. 7, 2011, P.L. 273, No. 58 Cl. 87" (PDF). Pennsylvania General Assembly. July 7, 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2014.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] "Richard Tallman, Brigadier General, United States Army". The Virtual Wall. Retrieved 24 August 2014.

[2] Willbanks, James (2005). The Battle of An Loc. Indiana University Press. p. 145. ISBN 9780253344816.

[3] "Brigadier General Richard J. Tallman Memorial Bridge – Designation – Act of Jul. 7, 2011, P.L. 273, No. 58 Cl. 87" (PDF). Pennsylvania General Assembly. July 7, 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2014.