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Staff Sergeant Babula was a member of the 1st Platoon, Company K, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division. On August 28, 1966, he was declared Missing in Action while on a fire team ambush in Hoa Hai village, South Vietnam. His remains were not recovered.
On the night of 27/28 August 1966, a four-man fire team from 1st Platoon, Kilo 3/1 Marines, was assigned to set up an ambush site about 500 meters south of their platoon night defensive position near Hoa Hai village just south of Danang. The fire team departed at 3:00 am with instructions to relocate in the same general area or return to their platoon patrol base in the event their ambush site was compromised, and in any case to return no later than 9:00 am that morning. The team failed to return as scheduled, and an immediate search was instituted by Kilo Company personnel but without results. A larger-scale effort was conducted by the 3rd Battalion between 29-31 August, but still without results. On 04 Sep, Kilo Company Marines located part of an American wrist watch and PFC Bodenschatz' identification tags and intensified the search in that area, but no further trace was found. On 13 Sep the Battalion cordoned a large area centered on the Marines' last known location, assembling, screening, and interrogating everyone within the cordon. No additional information concerning the four Marines was obtained.
Purple Heart