From the Bates County Wall That Heals:
Today we honor Troy Edward Hirni II from Warrensburg, Missouri.
Troy served in the United States Army. Sadly on January 31, 1968, at the age of 23, Troy lost his life serving his country in the Vietnam War.
Troy is honored on Panel 36E, Line 15 on The Wall. We will be forever grateful for Troy's bravery and sacrifice for our country.
SP4 Hirni served with Alpha 3/39 in the Riverine forces, where he earned his first two Purple Hearts, and subsequently was assigned to C Company, 52nd Infantry. That assignment is reflected in the Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii database and in SP4 Hirni's Letter of Condolences file at the LBJ Library. Further, he was not killed in Long An Province but in Gia Dinh Province.
C Company, 52nd Infantry was a rifle security company assigned to bolster the capabilities of the 716th MP Battalion, which was responsible for providing security to the US facilities in the Saigon area. The Status of Forces agreement between the US and the South Vietnamese government prohibited stationing US combat forces in Saigon; one result of that situation was that the 716th MP Battalion was equipped only with hand-held light arms. When The Tet Offensive assaults began on the night of 30/31 Jan 1968 the Military Police - and C/52nd Infantry - found themselves faced with not only superior numbers but superior armament as well.
Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, the 716th MP Battalion acquitted itself very well indeed - none of the facilities in their charge were captured during the VC assault. The Battalion's performance during Tet was recognized by the Presidential Unit Citation, but the award came at a high price indeed - including SP4 Hirni, 27 members of the Battalion are known to have died during the first day's fighting.
