32nd Veteran of the Quarter, Capt. Joel Trautmann, US Army
September 7, 2018
Captain (retired) Joel R. Trautmann served in the U.S. Army from January of 1967 until November of 1970. He served as a Basic Training Officer at Ft. Polk, Louisiana, served with Co. C, 3/187, 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam, and was Commander of RVNPOR School in Ft. Riley, Kansas. He received various medals and commendations, among them being the Bronze Star with V Device, Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman Badge, Parachute Badge, and Valorous Unit Citation.
Joel’s friends and acquaintances know of his military service primarily as related to his time in Vietnam. He has written an extensive paper detailing his involvement there, in the battle involving Dong Ap Bia Mountain, or, as the troops involved named it, “The Battle of Hamburger Hill”, which took place in May of 1969. Joel was a 1st Lieutenant at the time and a platoon leader (1st Platoon, Charlie Company), one of twelve U.S. platoons involved in the battle. The battalion (the 3/187) suffered heavy losses in that 11-day battle, and Joel himself was badly wounded, as he led a group of men in a charge up the hill, under heavy fire. In the confusion of battle, Joel was reported dead and was left abandoned for several hours on the hill, with a shattered thigh bone, dehydrated, and having lost a lot of blood. He says he “did a lot of praying on that hill” and reconciled himself to the fact that he would die that night, either from his wound or at the hands of the North Vietnamese army, as they moved down the hill under the cover of darkness. He lived through it though, and was eventually rescued, flown on (MEDEVAC chopper), and put in a cast which “…started at the foot of my wounded left leg and went up over my torso to my armpits”. He spent seven months in traction. Joel was recognized by the Secretary of the Army as a “Distinguished Member of the 187th Infantry Regiment” (D.M.O.R.).
In 2003, Joel organized the Hamber Hill Chapter of the National Regimental Combat Team and served as its first president. Many of the men who served under him at Hamburger Hill attended the chapter’s annual reunion on the anniversary week of the battle. He is a life member of the Disabled Veteran’s Association (DAV), the 101st ABN Association, and the 187th Regimental Combat Team Association.
Joel, an attorney, worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Minnesota, Texas, and Arkansas. He was one of the veterans selected through the College of the Ozarks’ Patriotic Education program for a trip to Vietnam in 2016. Each of those veterans was honored with a tree planted in the College’s Veterans Grove, with their names attached.
Joel’s family consists of him and his wife Jan, and two daughters, Debra and Tarah. Joel has stated that “Something should be said about the wives of veterans, and the sacrifices they made, staying home and raising the families while their men were overseas fighting. They are the ones, like his wife, Jan, who really had it tough.” He and Jan live in the Branson area and are active in their church.
THE PROUD. THE STRONG. THE LOYAL. OUR VETERANS!