Native Sons Lost: Milledgeville's Vietnam War Dead

Willie Lee Freeman was born in Milledgeville, Georgia on January 3, 1947 to Willie B. Freeman and Mozelle Sims. Willie grew up in the Harrisburg community on the southeast side of Milledgeville with his two brothers, Charles and Marion. Willie’s father was a World War II veteran, having served in Battery C, 76th Anti-Aircraft Battalion, first on the West Coast and then in the Pacific Theater.

Willie attended J.F. Boddie High School, which served the segregated Black community of Milledgeville. After graduation in 1965, Willie enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps on February 24, 1966. When he started of his tour of duty in Vietnam, Willie had risen to the rank of Lance Corporal, the lowest non-commissioned officer rank. This rank would have given Willie charge of a small group of Marines, serving as their combat leader and handing him the responsibility for the actions and behaviors of his team members. 

Willie began his tour of duty on March 27, 1968, assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division (Reinforced), Fleet Marine Force. At the time, the Marines occupied strategically important points along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), an area of demarcation along the 17th parallel that marked the boundary between North and South Vietnam. The mission of the Marines was to cut off North Vietnamese soldiers and supplies from flowing into South Vietnam. 

As Willie arrived in-country, the Marines were coming out of the intense fighting of the Tet Offensive. The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong launched the offensive in late January 1968, hoping that a coordinated attack in the major cities across South Vietnam would force the U.S. to negotiate an end to the war. Although a tactical defeat for the North, the attack soured American public opinion on the war even further. During Tet, the Marines experienced intense attacks at Hue, and by March, were still fighting their way out of the siege of Khe Sanh. The beginning of Willie’s tour of duty would coincide with coordinated attacks launched by the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) against the 3rd Marine Division based in Dong Ha. These attacks threatened the supply network supporting the Marines along the DMZ. Willie was entering the scene of some of the heaviest fighting of the entire Vietnam War. 

Shortly after Willie’s arrival in late April 1968, elements of the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines (1/3) participated in the Battle of Dai Do, which spanned several days, resulting in the deaths of 81 Marines. Following the battle, all of 1/3 continued participating in Operation Napoleon/Saline and moved further north of the Cua Viet river, encountering heavy engagement with the enemy around the villages of Thanh Hoi and Lia An. 

Willie found himself in the middle of Phase II of the Tet Offensive. Although Phase II, known as “Mini-Tet,” or the May Offensive, is less remembered, it is considered bloodier than the attacks staged earlier in the year. May 1968 would be the deadliest month of the war; 2,169 U.S. servicemen would die. Between May 27 and May 31, Willie’s unit engaged in their second large battle of the month. On May 27, 1968, Willie was one of the seven 1/3 Marines killed in combat when his unit encountered a NVA battalion dug in along a tree line outside of the village of Lai An. As the Marines advanced on the enemy, they received heavy sustained mortar, recoilless rifle, and small arms fire from the heavily fortified enemy bunkers, trenches, and spider holes. NVA artillery fire also rained down on the attacking Marines. Willie fell victim to enemy mortar fire during the engagement. It would take the Marines three more days to capture the enemy positions. 

"I met Freeman, one day in Vietnam on hill, called LZ peanuts, that was abandoned by another unit, and used by the NVA as an ambush site, he told me he was a short timer, that he only had nine days left in country, he set up his M60 machine gun, and immediately took out one of the bunkers, then was hit with a browning automatic, left behind, I’m having a hard time, wording the details. I was with him...he died, that same day with some of the men in Company M 3/4 3rd Marine Div. In that one day knowing him in 1968, he will never be forgotten..." - Lee Kaiser

Lance Corporal Willie Lee Freeman is interned in Randolph Cemetery, Harrisburg, Baldwin County, Georgia. His location on the Vietnam Memorial is Panel 65W, Line 7.

Student research on Willie Lee Freeman, conducted by Eric Boyd, Alex Davison, and Carter Pitts, is available in the Georgia College  Knowledge Box