HENRY JOSEPH GALLANT
Rank/Branch: E8/US Army 5th Special Forces
Unit: Detachment B-52 Delta
Date of Birth: 30 September 1929
Home City of Record: Tampa FL
Date of Loss: 13 July 1965
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 140342N 1083335E (BR365558)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Other Personnel In Incident: Fred Taylor
(missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15
October 1990 from one or more of the following:
raw data from U.S. Government agency sources,
correspondence with POW/MIA families, published
sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W.
NETWORK 1998.
REMARKS: WOUND GUT - AIRGND SERCH NEG - J
SYNOPSIS: On July 13, 1965, SFC Fred Taylor and
MSGT Henry J. Gallant were U.S. Army Special
Forces (B-52 Delta) advisors to a South Vietnamese
unit (ARVN) on a reconnaissance mission in Dien
Bien Province, South Vietnam when they were
engaged by a hostile force.
During the battle, Gallant was wounded, although
the seriousness of his wound was not known. The
two were cut off from the bulk of their ARVN unit
and were last seen as they were moving southwest
into the surrounding jungle in an attempt to
evade the enemy. All searches conducted were
negative.
While the A Detachments of the Special Forces
concentrated on manning static defenses and
training natives in local defense, the B
Detachments were committed to deep strikes into
uncontrolled territory to seek out Viet Cong
formations and supply sources. The genesis of this
program (May, 1964) was called Leaping Lena, and
provided the groundwork for the formation of a
combined American/South Vietnamese special
reconnaissance unit capable of conducting these
hazardous missions. Organized as Project DELTA in
October 1964, Detachment B-52 was created to
provide a control headquarters in June 1965.
Sgts. Gallant and Taylor were not ordinary foot
soldiers. They were highly trained in survival and
evasion techniques. The chances of their survival,
barring outright assassination, are high. The fact
that Gallant was wounded and that all searches
proved negative do not suggest survival, but do
not contraindict it.
As the years have passed, over 10,000 reports have
been received relating to Americans missing,
prisoner, or unaccounted for in Southeast Asia.
These reports have convinced many that hundreds
are still alive in the hands of a long-ago enemy.
Gallant and Taylor could be among them. What are
we doing to bring these men home
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