Sergeant First Class Fred Taylor US Special Forces (the “Green Berets”) and part of a deep-cover classified operation called Project Delta during the Vietnam War, where he made the ultimate sacrifice. Project Delta’s mission was long-range patrols deep within enemy-controlled territory within the Republic of Vietnam to locate enemy units, gather intelligence, bond damage assessments, artillery/air strike coordination, special purpose raids, and conduct harassing.
On July 11, 1965, Master Sergeant Henry J. Gallant and SFC Fred Taylor led an eight-man team on a long-range patrol. The team was dropped into its area of operation by helicopter north of Highway 19 to gather intelligence before a large-scale allied operation to reopen the route. Two days later, at about 1600 hours, the team was ambushed by an enemy force of unknown size as they moved through the jungle foliage approximately five miles north of Highway 19. Taylor and Gallant, with a South Vietnamese in one group and seven others in the other group, were forced to split up when the enemy burst gunfire. Taylor quickly made radio contact with friendly forces to inform them of the team’s location, requesting emergency extraction. Gallant suffered a gunshot to his abdomen. As hostile forces pressed toward them, the surviving patrol members said Taylor was helping Gallant into the surrounding jungle where they were last time to be seen. In July 1966, the Board of Inquiry declared them Killed In Action with all known facts and circumstances.
Fifty-seven years later, to the day, SFC Fred Taylor was honored with a Memorial Intersection in his home community at the intersection of Memorial Drive and Highway 58 in the Castlewood section of Russell County, Virginia. Taylor was known for his love for his family, community, service to his country, and fellow service members. His daughter Anita Taylor said, “I’ve always been sad that we didn’t have a funeral; we didn’t have remains. You see streets named after people all the time. I know my father’s a hero. He died because he went back for a wounded man, and I’ve always wished he could be honored. I think I was nine when he died, and all these years, I didn’t think this would happen. For him to get a twenty-one gun salute and TAPS, it was amazing. I don’t think anyone will ever forget it.” To this day, there are still over 1500 American Veterans whose remains are unaccounted for from the Vietnam War.