Rank: Sergeant
Unit: Headquarters & Headquarters Troop, 3rd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
MOS: 11D – Armor Reconnaissance Specialist
Awards: Silver Star, Bronze Star Medal, 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: 12-Jul-1948
Hometown: East Lansing, Michigan
Marital status: Never Married
Campaign: Vietnam Conflict
Entered service: 14-Apr-1968
Start of tour: 26-Apr-1969
Incident date: 7-Sep-1969
Date of casualty: 7-Sep-1969
Age at death: 21
Cause of death: Hostile, died. Grenade. Multiple fragmentation wounds.
Leo Francis Hartsuff was killed while commander of a military vehicle on a combat operation when a hostile force was encountered. / Track commander of Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicle (ACAV) on reconnaissance in force mission. Engaged hostile force in firefight.
Three Blackhorse troopers died as a result of this incident:
SGT Leo Francis Hartsuff
SGT Anthony Standifer
SSG Richard Jackson Swiger
Location of fatality: Binh Long, South Vietnam, XT 711 834
Place of interment: Saint Joseph Catholic Cemetery, Lansing, Michigan, USA
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SILVER STAR
POSTHUMOUS
SGT LEO FRANCIS HARTSUFF
7 SEPTEMBER 1969
HEADQUARTERS AND HEADQUARTERS TROOP, 3rd SQUADRON
11TH ARMORED CAVALRY REGIMENT
Sergeant Hartsuff, United States Army, for gallantry in action while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an armed hostile force on 7 September 1969 while serving as commander of an armored flame thrower carrier with Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 3d Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in the Republic of Vietnam. On this date in the An Loc area of operations, Sergeant Hartsuff’s flame thrower carrier was combined with two armored troops in a reconnaissance mission through a large enemy base camp. As the armored elements proceeded, they were suddenly and savagely attacked by a well-entrenched enemy force. Sergeant Hartsuff reacted immediately to the hostile action, directing his vehicle into the area of heaviest contact to close within the effective range of the flame thrower. Despite the withering volley of small arms, automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenade fire, Sergeant Hartsuff aggressively pressed the attack and closed within a few meters of the well-concealed enemy force. At a crucial point in the battle Sergeant Hartsuff noticed the unit commander was being threatened by an enemy group in a bunker to the left and rear of his position. With complete disregard for his own safety, Sergeant Hartsuff dismounted his own vehicle and assaulted the bunker with his personal weapon and hand grenades. He attacked the enemy causing considerable damage before small arms fire mortally wounded him as he was moving toward the enemy. Sergeant Hartsuff’s gallant actions and courageous leadership 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. 2817 (17 October 1969)