“Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion had good, solid, professional noncoms, and its troops had served together for a long time. It was a good rifle company and I was happy to get it. Captain Diduryk was twenty-seven years old, a native-born Ukrainian who had come to the United States with his family in 1950. He was ROTC graduate of St. Peter’s College in Jersey City, New Jersey, and was commissioned in July of 1960. He had completed paratrooper and Ranger training and had served tours in Germany and at Fort Benning. Diduryk was married and the father of two children, He was with his mortar platoon at Plei Me camp when he got word by radio of his company’s new mission.” This was how Hal Moore introduced Diduryk in the very beginning of ‘Fix Bayonets’ chapter. That is possibly the reason why in his speech he mentions “Captain from Ukraine” first among other nations who fought alongside the Americans in the Vietnam War. One can listen to that speech pronounced by Mel Gibson in the movie:
