D Company Losses — River-Crossing Drowning, Song Be River, October 8, 1969
October 8, 1969 — three D Company men lost in a river crossing
Research page — in progress. Confirmed: three men of D Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry died on October 8, 1969, inscribed close together on Panel 17W (Altizer and Benson on Line 49, Taylor on Line 53). A researched account (drawing on the Coffelt Database and POW Network) describes the action in detail — a platoon-sized patrol crossing the Song Be River in two boats; the first boat capsized, and Benson and Taylor were recovered while Altizer never was. The specific platoon, the officer in charge, the exact crossing point, and the province of record (Binh Duong vs. Phuoc Binh) are still to be confirmed against a unit after-action report.
On October 8, 1969, D Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry lost three men in a single non-combat event — a river crossing that went wrong:
- CPL Albert Harold Altizer, of Squire, West Virginia — body never recovered — Wall Panel 17W, Line 49
- PFC Joseph Henning Benson, of Coram, Montana — Wall Panel 17W, Line 49
- PFC Jerome Milton Taylor, of Battle Creek, Michigan — Wall Panel 17W, Line 53
Their names are inscribed close together on Panel 17W — Altizer and Benson on Line 49, Taylor just below on Line 53.
A boat on the Song Be
A researched account compiled on the Wall of Faces — drawing on the Coffelt Database and POW Network — lays out what happened. Altizer, Benson, and Taylor were all members of Third Squad. For a platoon-sized patrol, two boats were brought up to cross the Song Be River. In full combat gear, the three men boarded the first boat along with twelve other men — fifteen aboard. The boat was beached perpendicular to the shore and backed out into the current to point its bow downstream. About fifty feet out, as the operator began to accelerate, the boat started taking on water. The lieutenant in charge shouted for the men to get their packs off — and then the craft capsized. The men clung to the overturned hull while the second boat cast off to help, ferrying survivors to the Song Be Bridge.
When the lieutenant took a head count, three men were missing: Altizer, Benson, and Taylor. A search of the shoreline that afternoon recovered the bodies of Benson and Taylor. Altizer was never found.
A crossing meant to be routine
Interpretation, based on the account and airmobile practice — not yet confirmed against the unit record.
Although the 1st Cavalry Division was an airmobile formation, its infantry moved on foot far more often than by helicopter. Lift ships were a scarce, tightly-rationed asset — reserved for combat assaults, resupply, medevac, and command-and-control — not for ferrying a platoon across a river. The evidence here points to an ordinary, uncontested movement rather than an air assault: a platoon-sized patrol crossing the Song Be by boat, in no apparent hurry, with no enemy involved (the casualties are recorded as non-hostile). The motorized boats and the nearby Song Be Bridge suggest a deliberate, supported crossing point. If that reading is right, the tragedy is that what killed Altizer, Benson, and Taylor was not combat but the routine hazard of a river crossing under a full combat load — the same rucksacks and ammunition that marked them as infantry on a normal day in the field. This is inferred from the secondary account and standard airmobile practice; the 2/8 Cav after-action report (open question oq-02 below) would confirm the purpose and nature of the crossing.
The man who never came home
A POW Network biographical synopsis adds that CPL Albert Altizer was wearing full combat equipment when the boat went over; the search of the river and its banks turned up some of his gear downstream, but not him. Later intelligence reported that an American had been killed and buried in the vicinity of Binh Duong — a report investigators considered a possible match to Altizer, though it was never confirmed and no further proof was found. He was listed Killed, Body Not Recovered, and was promoted to Corporal while still listed missing. His status remains Missing in Action. He is memorialized among the missing at the Courts of the Missing, Honolulu Memorial, as well as on Panel 17W of the Wall in Washington. He had been in Vietnam barely nine weeks; he was twenty years old.
The narrative above is drawn from a researched account (Coffelt Database / POW Network), not yet checked against the primary unit record. The specific platoon, the officer in charge, the exact crossing point and the "Song Be Bridge," and the province of record (Binh Duong vs. Phuoc Binh) should be confirmed against the 2/8 Cav daily staff journal for 8 October 1969 (NARA RG 472).
If you served with D Company, 2/8 Cav in the autumn of 1969, or knew Albert Altizer, Joseph Benson, or Jerome Taylor, we'd like to hear from you. We believe the three were lost together on October 8, 1969 when a boat carrying troops of the 2/8 Cav capsized during a river crossing on the Song Be River, and that Albert Altizer's body was never recovered. We're trying to confirm the crossing and fill in that day. You don't need to have researched anything or know the operation's name — a nickname, a face, or a fragment of that day all help us complete the record.
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