Thursday, June 22nd Jack Toney was presented with a Quilt of Valor during a ceremony at the ML Becker Educational Center, in Enid.
Toney was with the 1st Cavalry Division, a combined arms division and is one of the most decorated combat divisions of the United States Army. They distinguished themselves by extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against hostile forces.
The 7th Cavalry Regiment of the 1st Division is famous for its participation in some of the largest battles of the Indian Wars, including the infamous Battle of Little Bighorn, where its enigmatic commander, Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer made his last stand. The 7th Cavalry went on to fight in the Pacific Theater of World War II, and several key battles of the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
During Vietnam, the Task Force mounted numerous combat assaults into enemy-held territory.
This young soldier was assigned to Landing Zone Jaime. He talked about his missions….The bamboo was so thick you could be 10 feet from someone and not see them. It was five or six clicks from the Cambodian border near the Ho Chi Minh Trail, used by the North Vietnamese Army to transport military supplies. All the time the North Vietnamese Regulars were watching and waiting for the men to finish the L.Z. so they could attack.
It started around midnight with sporadic gunfire. Then at 2 am, all hell broke loose. The NVA hit the L.Z. with 200 rounds of mortar and rocket fire. Uniformed NVA troops broke through our barbed wire perimeter defenses with human wave attacks and started to overrun the L.Z. The 130 infantry and 55 artillery guys were surrounded by a much larger enemy force. 66 men were lost that day and the choppers kept coming in to airlift the KIA and wounded to MASH hospitals.
Toney received his first purple heart during that battle from a wound to his shoulder, he was patched up and returned to duty. The second Purple Heart was received from a mortar attack and he received shrapnel to his chest and went on to receive 1 more purple heart as a hand grenade was thrown into an enemy bunker and a NVA threw it back at the group of men. He received leg injuries and they suffered more casualties.
Toney recalls the filthy environment they patrolled and the constant rain they endured. Out of 22 men in his Delta Company only 2 came back alive. Due to his heroism and leadership, he was promoted from an E-1 to an E-6 in six short months and earned two bronze stars, two army commendation medals and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with a Silver Star.
Returning from the war to Hennessey, Oklahoma, he went to work as a self-employed welder. Later becoming a welding inspector for Dow Chemical and traveled all over the world. He has always remained faithful to the men he served with and those that served behind him. He commissioned a field memorial statue which was placed in several veterans parks such as Creed and Gunnison, Colorado.
Jack Toney continues to serve his country through veterans organizations and donates his time to maintaining a 4-acre veterans park at the VFW in Crescent, Oklahoma.Tony devotes much of his spare time to charity events, he is a huge volunteer at the Woodring Wall of Honor, in Enid and helped with the relocation of the Augusta Military Museum to
