Rank: Specialist 4
Unit: K Troop, 3rd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
MOS: 11C – Indirect Fire Infantryman
Awards: Silver Star, Purple Heart Medal, Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Badges: Combat Infantryman Badge
Unit awards: Meritorious Unit Citation, Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm device
Note: M-113A1, ACAV, K-17
Enlisted by: Selected Service
Date of birth: 22-Nov-1944
Hometown: Racine, Wisconsin
Marital status: Married to Cathy Williamson, one son
Campaign: Vietnam Conflict
Entered service: 29-Nov-1965
Start of tour: 23-Aug-1966
Incident date: 21-May-1967
Date of casualty: 21-May-1967
Age at death: 22
Cause of death: Hostile, died. Grenade. Multiple fragmentation wounds.
Larry Allen Williamson was a passenger in a military vehicle on combat operation when engaged hostile forces.
Seventeen Blackhorse troopers died in this incident:
SP5 William Phillip Centers Jr
SGT Eugene Harold Dickinson
PVT Jerry Lee Houser
SP4 Toler Lee Hutchins Jr
SP4 Phillip Earl Ireland
SSG James Albert Jackson
SGT Alfred Lee
PFC Patrick Michael Loisel
SP4 Henry David McInnis
SP4 James David McWhorter
SP4 Anthony Wilfred Roybal
PFC Rodolfo Andres Saenz
SSG Walter Stephen Simpson
PFC William Charles Stanley
SP4 James Thomas Steighner
SP4 Dwight Elmer Timberlake
SP4 Larry Allen Williamson
Location of fatality: Long Khanh, South Vietnam, YT 564 054
Place of interment: Mound Cemetery, Racine, Wisconsin, USA
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SILVER STAR
POSTHUMOUS
SPECIALIST FOUR LARRY ALLEN WILLIAMSON
21 MAY 1967
K TROOP, 3rd SQUADRON
11TH ARMORED CAVALRY REGIMENT
Specialist Four Allen Williamson distinguished himself by gallantry in action while engaged in military conflict with an armed hostile force while serving with Troop K, 3d Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, in action in the Republic of Vietnam. Specialist Fourth Class Williamson distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions on 21 May 1967 while serving as a side gunner on an armored vehicle during a fierce encounter with the enemy on Route 1 near Soui Cat, Vietnam. As the armored convoy moved down a road bordered on both sides with sparse brush and slight vegetation, it suddenly came under a murderous volume of recoilless rifle and automatic weapons fire from a numerically superior Viet Cong force. It was during the immediate burst of hostile fire that Specialist Williamson was severely wounded. Bravely disregarding his wounds and refusing medical evacuation, Specialist Williamson remained at this M-60 machine gun and directed his suppressive fire on Viet Cong positions. Without regard for personal safety Specialist Williamson refused to abandon his burning vehicle and continued to repel the insurgent attacks until his ammunition supply was depleted. It was at this point in the battle that Specialist Williamson was struck by a hostile round and was mortally wounded. Specialist Fourth Class Williamson’s extraordinary heroism in close combat against a numerically superior Viet Cong force was in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflects great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army.
Headquarters, 9th Infantry Division General Orders No. 1923 (27 June 1967)