European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 13, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                August 1985 the stars and stripes Page 9 in the the tall Soldier made the decision of his life by Don Tate staff writer the tall Robert Tensed there in the shadowy the great Forest of Vietnam War zone leaves were fluttering Down around tree limbs blowing Foley had to make a and make it Advance or Retreat go ahead with the Mission what was More pressing at the save the skins of his own Alpha it want one machine gun they were it was a whole line of he heard Viet Cong guns pumping big slugs bum whacking through the Trees like burning All during alphas March through the Jun the level of enemy fire had steadily the Mission want just Cut a corridor through the fanatical enemy with their and r help get blood dazed Charlie company out of at Foley his men fell almost mystery firing through the dense Jungle seemed to come from soldiers were being chopped Down at the hit in their the fighters that co 2nd 27th 25th inf faced that november Day in 1966 were not Ama they were Mai Force Viet fighting in the Indochina Jungles for bodies Strung like barbed feet As Tough As Boot who could live underground and eat lizards for they were Foley and they were in there to and they were there in near regimental what they had done they were firing from camouflaged and had Cut these firing tunnels leg and Waist deep through foliage so thick you  see More than a few feet Cut them in three directions from each and there was a line of All of them they were also up in the and that what we were walking into Advance or Retreat or just hit the ground that was Foley dilemma maybe dead if they did and dead if they i had seen and heard of troops who had hit the ground and just stuck froze All the momentum of their attack gone Fiat with and pretty soon the enemy brought in the pinned them Down and carved them so i yelled at my platoon leaders two platoons Forward and one Back keep going keep up the fire keep up the momentum but the volume of enemy fire was very High and alphas Advance began to began to stumble what makes a thinking Man stand up and charge full bore into murderous machine gun fire when other men go Down and curl up like dead like Little Rol poly bugs looking for Sweet Mother Earth to crawl into Foley didst have time to Charlie company was still dying in and it seemed the men of Alpha we rent going to get much there was something something the Viet As Tough and Tricky As they didst count it bothers said it really bothers me when i see my men getting i was getting bother getting he was getting when he saw one of his m60 gunners go something happened in his sometimes a commander not Only has to Tell his troops to he has to show Foley scooped up the machine got a Soldier to help him link Bandolier of ammo then stood up and went went Forward there Are Trees taller than but not Many Hes and to the Viet Cong he must have looked like a tree crashing in on i went in spraying from the hip the Soldier with him and then it was just he said he no longer functioned in any might Gethart sort of just  the Reyes frontal assault one bothered Man unleashed on an unsuspecting he kept kept broke through the communist hit their bunkers at the hit their the m60 clattering in his i had Long legs he had been a High jumper at West and i was using army photo Robert Foley As a West Point Cadet three enemy machine gun bunkers soon went terribly the volume of fire against Alpha company went dramatically another having bashed his Way into the enemy and with one thin strip of ammo Foley suddenly remembered in sup posed to be leading my not doing it All making his Way Back to the Oneman inva Sion became the commander he had already picked up another was standing in a Section of smashed rallying his troops Forward even As a grenade rolled in and cooked off he remembers the flashing then flying holes in his the blood several Large and Many Small were All that were embedded in his not nearly enough to keep the tall Soldier despite his painful says Robert Foley citation for the medal of he refused medical Aid and persevered in the forefront of the attack inspiring his men to heroic action and the ultimate Success of the operation his men called him a Tower of strength All Over the when it was he was sitting on a uniform in ears slightly but still directing the destiny of a Soldier came Over and you know you got a Bunch of blood on you can he he knew that about he knew some things 19 years later those values Are still in me by Don Tate staff writer shortly before Robert Foley left for his older always a giver of Good gave a Little More dont try to be a just come Foley says he had asked himself More than once would i have the courage to do the right thing Over there what would i do when i got shot at if i got hit Nineteen years Robert the commander of the 2nd brigade of the 3rd inf sits in his Headquarters at and digs into ponders that time when he was a Young Captain of infant on fire with leading his men into desperate but being a he winning the great want his plan of dont just step outside and a Nice what a swell guess ill go win the medal of Honor combat was terrifying new and every Mission could be your you didst know How you were going to nobody no matter what machines weve it Al ways comes Down to the individual sol the individual human being in Cri Foley said in 155 army personnel won the medal of and that 99 of those were presented the last time i there were about 46 of those people who threw their bodies on hand mines what kind of Man throws himself on a hand grenade what kind of mentality makes that decision for that decides to become a Oneman human wave through a firestorm of machine you do he says be cause youre in a group of and a grenade and there is no Dis Cussion of no debate on who going to do one of them just dives on the like that he snaps his and takes saving his motivation How much life Prepa ration goes into that single instant i think it boils Down to pure its How much you care about your fellow your if he had it to do could Robert calculating the find it in himself to get those Long legs churning and make that Kamikaze charge through the Jungle again i Hope i people can go through their whole lives not knowing whats deep Down under their it goes Back to those values Are still in they Haven if Treyve been reinforced Over the Hes asked about the Story of the general whose life was heroically saved by a Man labelled As one of the biggest bums and degenerates in the a Man after that shining went Back to being one of the biggest bums and degenerates in the what were the values there i think what that says is you dont necessarily have to be a Nice but you can still feel very strongly about the people around bad Guys running in a gang can still be pretty the right values in the wrong set As a peacetime command still stresses to his troops the lesson of winning momentum the lesson he first Learned in As Captain of West Points basketball that was indelibly reinforced one wild Day in the Jungle of once you lose its easy to get Defeated even though you have the capability of handling a More powerful and with the Light of Long ago in his the tall Soldier says it one More time i really Felt the need to rally those keep them get them if i had let them bog get psychologically Down and i would have lost and that where they would have a bad basketball game you get in you never want to go on a losing photo for by Bob Mackenzie Robert Foley wearing medal of Honor