This Week in Guard History

April 21, 1969: Fire Support Base "Dottie," Vietnam - Capt. Roland Labonte, commander of Battery B, 3rd Battalion, 197th Artillery (N.H.) is killed and two of his men are wounded during an enemy mortar attack on the base. He was visiting "Dottie" as a liaison officer between the battalion and men of its "Jungle Battery." The Battery is an experiment combining three 105mm howitzers from a regular Army artillery unit along with three 155mm howitzers from the 197th.

The entire unit is moved by helicopter making it deployable to hilltop positions inaccessible to trucks. Often the men and their guns found themselves surrounded by deep, thick foliage, hence the name Jungle Battery.

Captain Labonte, the first of six New Hampshire Guardsmen to be killed in action in Vietnam, is also the highest ranking Army Guard officer to die in combat in that war. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star and New Hampshire Commendation medals.