The following is a remembrance of Larry Dring, given by S. F. Msgt. John A Morrow who also supplied most of the photos on this site. A special thank you to John for his help.
I met Larry in 1978 so I didn’t know him until well after Vietnam. You can find more about Larry in Jim Morris' book “WAR STORY”. Also, the “Soldier of Fortune Magazine” did a 3 part series on him that is very interesting. It was taken from several interviews with Larry.
This photo of Larry shows him in 1965 when he led a Montagnards Unit. He's wearing Sears & Roebuck "duck hunter" pattern cammies. There weren’t any camouflage available back then so the supply guys got it from Sears. Later on they got Tiger Stripes camouflage clothing from the R.O.K.troops, “ Korean.”
Larry is shown here wearing a Montagnards brass bracelet and carrying a Swedish K. The French bush cap (Legionnaire type) that he is wearing, he gave to me and it's hanging on my wall in his honor.
I could tell you allot about Larry I consider him my "mentor" while I was in Special Forces. My young daughters used to talk about him often and referred to him as their "Uncle Larry." He even found the dedication to train some of the teams I was with even after he retired with complete disability from his war time wounds. He was, without a doubt, the biggest hearted, kindest man I ever had the honor of knowing. He was also the most lethal individual to ever wear the Green Beret, being a legend even while the war was going on. I could go on.…. Maybe another time.
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Larry was Born on 02/05/1938
He died on 07/25/1983
Larry is intered at Sec. 58, Site 195 of
The Beaufort National Cemetery
Rest In Peace Larry, You Are Missed By All Who Knew You
If you would like to leave a rememberance or tell a story about Larry please do so here.
Msg. John Morrow on the left with his Honduran counterpart deployed in Honduras in the late 1990's at a place called Ojo De Aqua
The following is a repeat of an AP wire service News Article in 1968 furnished by
Cliff Jones's good friend and Cousin, Tim Vorozilchak
GREEN BERET MARRIES NURSE WHO SAVED HIM
APR. 28 ' 68 (AP) - Bitter street fighting was at it's height in the Vietcong's Tet offensive in January when badly wounded Capt. Lawrence Dring and a sergeant bashed in the door of a house in Pleiku. That's when Dring met the girl he married Saturday. "I'm afraid we weren't very polite." Dring recalls. We kicked open the door, and there was Rebecca. I thought "What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this ?"
Rebecca Gould, a civilian nurse, was huddled in the house with other personnel of the church-sponsored Vietnam Christian Service while fighting raged around them. She helped save Dring's life as she and a doctor treated his severe wound.
The Green Beret Captain and nurse were married by her father, the Rev Theodore Gould, in his Grace Methodist Church here.
"You might say we saved each other's lives, " Rebecca said. "If it hadn't been for Larry and his company, we probably would have all been six under by now."
Dring said he had seen Rebecca at church services in Pleiku and wondered who she was, but never had met her.
When they finally met on that nightmarish morning in Pleiku, there wasn't any time for formalities.
Dring 30, a Special Forces officer from Summerville S.C.. had taken his company of Vietnamese mountain tribesmen into a section of Pleiku shortly after dawn to look for snipers. Instead of scattered sniper fire, they ran into two battalions of North Vietnamese Infantry.
"We got shot up pretty bad, " Dring said. "A hand grenade knocked me flat, then Charlie put a round through my leg, An American tank came up, but "Charlie" blew that up."
Not until Dring burst in on Rebecca and her friends did he discover how badly he had been hit. "There was a wound 18 inches in my right leg and six inches of artery had been torn out" he said "I said to myself, Well captain, this is the fifth time you've been wounded and now you've had it." "You’re going to die."
Rebecca and a doctor worked feverishly on Dring and the other wounded. They fed albumin into Dring and fought to keep him awake. With the help of troops who smashed an opening at the rear of the house, they got Dring to an ambulance and an Army hospital.
For 10 days Dring lingered on the brink of death. Doctors gave him 13 pints of blood and he gradually came around.
Maj. Larry Dring III carrying on the family military tradition seen here with Maj. Philip Clark (left), discussing their experiences as Soldiers deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Maj. Dring (second from left) and fellow Soldiers just before heading to Kuwait from Iraq.
Larry Dring's Obituary from Summerville, South Carolina
"Please click on the photo to read"
Larry Dring's Obituary from
"Soldier of Fortune Magazine"
"Please click on the photo to read"
Larry even as Company Commander aso served as backup medic when ever needed.
Larry checking position as they worked their way through a lowland village. Standing to Larry's right is Clifford Jones killed in action on Jan. 30, 1968 in an operation with Larry described above in Plieku in an
AP wire APR.28, 1968 press release.
Larry's Mike Force Montagnard troops seen here evacuating wounded
Capt. Larry Dring and his Wife Becky in April 1968 in Altoona Pa.
This photo of Larry Dring was taken approximately October 1962. I think that Larry was an E-6/Staff Sergeant at the time, and his team was operating in II Corps around Camp Plei Do Lim. He had mentioned that he'd help establish PDL in early 1962 (April?) and was operating with Team A-254 (?). I seem to recall that the Team Leader was a Captain Dorf and the Team Sergeant was a MSGT McGillicuddy(?)
Larry is eating from his favorite Imperial Japanese Army mess kit. He'd pitched his GI mess kit and had bought the more practical IJA mess kit in a Saigon market. He loved the IJA mess kit and used to use "Mrs. Yamaguchi" as one of his training aids (another and reoccurring story...)
Larry was never known for being in proper uniform. His uniform in the photos is a mix of Sears, French and Vietnamese. The cap is a Sears’s camouflage that he used to refer to as "Duck Hunter." Many times, Larry would wear a French Army bush hat with a French ATAP (Metro) airborne crest affixed to the right crown. His jacket is a French Para lizard-pattern camouflage while his pants are Vietnamese tiger stripes. He'd bought the French bush hat and jacket, along with the IJA mess kit, in Saigon.
I have seen photos of Larry wearing a WWII German Fallschirmjaeger smock/jacket in the style of the French Paras who served at Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam early on.
Photo and remembrance from Henry A. Gill III
This photo is of Larry Dring on Christmas Day, 1962 at Camp Plei Do Lim. He's reading his Christmas cards and mail next to his poncho hooch and M-2 carbine. Larry liked the carbine, but his favorite weapon was the Browning BAR. He'd carry a 30-rd magazine full of tracers and would use them to direct his Yard's fire.
One of the photos on this website shows Larry carrying a Swedish K submachine gun and a Colt M1911A1 pistol in a holster. He told me that the Swedish K was "useless, but sure looked cool". Also, he soon pitched the Colt pistol in favor of being able to carry four (4) extra hand grenades.
Speaking of grenades, only Larry and another trusted Yard could throw the hand grenades. Everybody carried grenades, but only Larry and this Yard could throw them. There had been an incident where Larry told one of his Yards to pitch a grenade and the Yard did. Unfortunately, the Yard didn't check his surroundings. The grenade hit some overhead branches and bounced back near Larry's feet. There was a mad scramble to get out of the blast and Larry changed the policies so that only he or the trusted Yard could throw grenades.
Photo and remembrance from Henry A. Gill III
Larry shortly before his death in 1983. Seen here attending a Confederate Memorial Services at the Washington Light Infantry Park in Charleston, S.C. Photo coursity of John A. Morrow
Larry’s Ranger brick at the US Army Ranger Memorial, Fort Benning Ga.
Photo coursity of Maj. Hardy Housman
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Larry's final resting place, Beaufort, S.C.,
Section 58, Row O, Grave 195.
Photo coursity of John A. Morrow
"Please click on the photo to read"
Larry, Becky, David, and Larry III
Photo coursity of John A. Morrow
Capt. Larry Dring and Becky just befor their weding
