On June 12, 1970, a mortar attack claimed 18 of his 23 platoon members. Each year on the anniversary, Paulson talks with the soldier who lost his legs. An award-winning film was produced documenting the attack. On December 12, 1969, an attack took the life of one of his soldiers, two legs from another and one more lost 1/3 of his brain. Since he was good at reading maps, he spent 11 months in combat instead of the usual six. They said if you make it the first 30 days, you’d be pretty good.”Īfter Charlie company suffered numerous officer losses, Paulson was transferred in as company commander. “I was smart enough that I listened to the Veterans who had been there a while. In October 1969, Paulson was deployed to Vietnam with the 1st Battalion 46th Infantry Regiment at Chu Lai where he became a platoon commander in Bravo company. There was a two-inch clearance and you had to drive down without knocking them out of the truck.” “For one test, I had to drive down a mountain with two-by-four sticking out. “We drove in the mountains and the desert,” Paulson said. He spent a year and a half at Eau Claire College before being drafted into the Army in 1968.Īfter basic training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, he qualified for Officer Candidate School and was eventually sent to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, for truck driving school. The 1966 Whitehall Memorial High School graduate wrestled, played football and woke up at 5:30 a.m. He is the oldest of four children: a sister, Rogene, who passed away in 1964 at the age of 14, and brothers, Ronnie and Verlyn. Tyrone “Tony” Paulson was born in Whitehall, Wisconsin, to Theron and Anna Ruth Paulson. The decorated Vietnam Veteran went on to serve as the operations officer for a basic training battalion at Fort Lewis and as a dispatch supervisor for the Wisconsin State Patrol for 31 years.
Army during Vietnam as part of the 1st Battalion, 46th Infantry Regiment. Tony Paulson into our “Hall of Heroes” on Thursday, May 25, 2023.Ī Whitehall, Wisconsin native, Capt. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital in Madison inducted Capt.
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