Charles J. Dukes - I didn't know Russ for long, but he was a natural leader and I felt safe being in his company, along with Larry.

On this day, as a spare indirect fire coordinator, I was just tagging along and had my Polaroid with me during a road clearing operation east of FSB Bastogne.

We thought the action was about over and Russ took his squad down east on the road to hook up with incoming artillery and trucks from Hue.

But while they were gone, I checked out some holes in the ground on a clear area directly behind Russ in this photo. Lo and behold, there were NVA in those holes and we hooked up. Russ and his crew hurriedly returned to my rescue and the battle was on. Even Col. Danford came out and got into the action.