Rank: Specialist 4
Unit: Headquarters & Headquarters Troop, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
MOS: 11D – Armor Reconnaissance Specialist
Awards: Bronze Star Medal with Valor Device, Purple Heart Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Badges: Combat Infantryman Badge
Unit awards: Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm device
Enlisted by: Selected Service
Date of birth: 14-Mar-1948
Hometown: Montara, California
Marital status: Never Married
Campaign: Vietnam Conflict
Entered service: 17-Aug-1967
Start of tour: 14-Jun-1968
Incident date: 20-Nov-1968
Date of casualty: 20-Nov-1968
Age at death: 20
Cause of death: Hostile, Died. Artillery/Mortar/Rocket. Artillery, rocket, or mortar.
Robert Lloyd Detrick died from wound received while at night defensive position when area came under hostile mortar attack. (Individual was transported to 93rd Evacuation Hospital, Long Binh, when he later expired.)
Two Blackhorse troopers died in this incident:
SP4 Robert Lloyd Detrick
SP4 James Michael Martin
Location of fatality: Binh Duong, South Vietnam
Place of interment: Skylawn Memorial Park, San Mateo, California, USA
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BRONZE STAR MEDAL
WITH VALOR DEVICE
POSTHUMOUS
SPECIALIST FOUR ROBERT LLOYD DETRICK
20 NOVEMBER 1968
HEADQUARTERS AND HEADQUARTERS TROOP, 1st SQUADRON
11TH ARMORED CAVALRY REGIMENT
Specialist Four Detrick distinguished himself by heroism in connection with military operations against a hostile force on 20 November 1968 while serving as a machine gunner with Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, in the Republic of Vietnam. On this date, in the vicinity of Binh My, Specialist Detrick’s troop was deployed in a night defensive position in an open field, when suddenly the troop came under an intense barrage of enemy small arms, automatic weapons, mortar and antitank rocket fire from two North Vietnamese Army companies concealed in the dense jungle terrain outside the perimeter. Specialist Detrick, completely disregarding his on safety, immediately ran from the fortified bunker by which he was standing, mounted his armored cavalry assault vehicle and manned his M60 machine gun. Even in the face of the concentrated and highly accurate enemy fire, Specialist Detrick remained in his exposed position directing highly accurate suppressive fire onto the communist positions until he was mortally wounded. Specialist Four Detrick’s unwavering devotion to duty and courage were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army.
Headquarters, II Field Force Vietnam General Orders No. 1879 (11 December 1968)