2 local Viet vets, 84 others, to get presidential honor
Monday, October 19, 2009
By Torsten Ove, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

President Barack Obama tomorrow will present 86 Vietnam veterans of the 11th Armored Cavalry, including two decorated men from Western Pennsylvania, with the Presidential Unit Citation for their actions in rescuing 100 comrades in a desperate battle near the Cambodian border on March 26, 1970.

The citation recognizes Alpha Troop of the 11th Armored for "extraordinary heroism and conspicuous gallantry."

Among the soldiers honored in the Rose Garden of the White House will be Ray Tarr, 59, of Kittanning, and his friend, Donnie Colwell, 61, of Jefferson County, who won a Silver Star for gallantry.

With a First Cavalry infantry company pinned down in an enemy bunker complex, Alpha Troop disregarded its own safety and rushed to the rescue, pounding the enemy with machine guns.

"I'm proud that I'm an American and could serve my country and that I could help those guys," Mr. Tarr told the Post-Gazette in August.

"They were not going to live through the night," Mr. Colwell said of the trapped men.

The mission was the subject of a 2004 book, "The Anonymous Battle," by John Poindexter, commander of Alpha Troop and now a multimillionaire in Houston.

The Presidential Unit Citation is awarded to military units for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy.