IRON MOUNTAIN – Fifty men from Dickinson, Iron, Florence, Marinette, Menominee, and Delta counties who lost their lives while serving their country during the Vietnam War will be honored this weekend at the main ceremony of the American Veterans Traveling Tribute (AVTT) Traveling Vietnam Wall at the Breitung Township Cemetery in Quinnesec.

Of those 50 men, eight were from Dickinson County, and one was a soldier from the Pine Creek area named Terry A. Wender.

Wender was killed in action in South Vietnam’s Thua Thien Province on May 13, 1969, just a few days shy of his 20th birthday.

Serving in the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division, Wender died fighting on Ap Bia Mountain in South Vietnam near the Laotian border. The engagement is officially known as the battle of Hill 937, now commonly known as Hamburger Hill.

SPC 4 Wender was among 72 U.S. soldiers killed in action during the 10-day fight.

1st Lt. Joel Trautmann, who was Wender’s platoon leader, said the Dickinson soldier was hit by sniper fire and died after crawling up the slope from his foxhole.

“Fellow platoon member James Baylor and I made a trip around the country last August, 45 years after that battle, to visit the graves of each of our platoon comrades killed in that battle,” he said. “When in Iron Mountain at Terry’s grave (in Quinnesec) we planted a sign at his grave to commemorate his sacrifice, a sign which may still be there today.”

Of 43 platoon members who began the battle, 38 had become casualties by the eighth day. Trautmann and Baylor were among the wounded. Three members besides Wender were killed.

“While securing a trail leading up the middle of a ridge on west side of Hamburger Hill, Galen Brown and Terry Wender were shot and killed by enemy fire,” 101st Airborne veteran Val Wuthrich writes at his “Memories of Vietnam” blog.

“Galen and Terry had only been in country a couple of months when the 3/187th (3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment) started its assault of Dong Ap Bia. It was the third day of the operation and up to that point we had no enemy contact. Our platoon had just stopped and we had just moved off the trail when shots range out. Within seconds we were yelling for the medics,” Wuthrich recalls.

“Three men were hit, Galen Brown was hit in the chest and died immediately. McCarthy was hit in the leg and up through the hip and need a medic. Terry Wender was hit in the chest and was unconscious but still alive. One medic was attending to McCarthy and our medic was at Terry’s side. He was applying field dressings to Terry’s chest wounds. I was trying to help as the medic worked frantically trying to save Terry. I could tell that Terry was slipping away and as chaos ensued around us, I sensed an abiding peace where Terry was, except for the medic who was very upset because he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to save Terry and was crying frantically. As Terry slipped away the war seemed to come crashing in on us. We consoled our medic and told him that he had done all he could do to try and save Terry. I will always remember Galen Brown and Terry Wender, and that fateful day.”

“Hamburger Hill,” a 1987 film directed by John Irvin, is based on the battle.

The AVTT Traveling Vietnam Wall will be open for 24-hour viewing between Thursday afternoon and Sunday afternoon. The main ceremony starts at 10 a.m. Saturday.