SP4 MICHAEL JOSEPH WHITAKER

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall Fire Support Base Fuller was on Hill 544 about two miles north of Highway 9 towards the western end of the Cam Lo Valley. On 24 June 1971 the North Vietnamese Army mounted a major attack on the base, beginning with a 500-round artillery barrage from guns emplaced within the DMZ. On 25 June five Americans were killed in Quang Tri Province. Two were infantrymen, one killed in an accident and the other by an explosive device. Two were artillerymen, killed by enemy "artillery, rocket, or mortar" fire - SP4 Michael J. Whitaker, Los Angeles, California, and PVT Wayne S. Murphy, Dallas, Oregon, both from B Battery, 1st Bn, 39th Artillery. The fifth was a Cobra gunship copilot who was hit by ground fire just southeast of FSB Fuller - CPT Albert P. Carden, Morgantown, WV, from D Co, 158th Assault Helo Battalion. If the UTM coordinates in the Army's TAGCEN file are correct, Bravo 1/39 wasn't at FSB Fuller but rather in the Cam Lo Valley southeast of FSB Fuller. They were still well within range of the NVA guns in the DMZ, and of course the reverse was true too - their M110 self-propelled artillery pieces could reach the NVA as well. Captain Carden was hit while operating between FSB Fuller and B/1/39's position and could have been flying in support of either artillery unit.

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