July 14, 1962 - Several hundred Viet Cong guerrillas ambushed a large convoy of Government troops along a main road 40 miles north of Saigon today and killed a U.S. Army captain. Seventeen Vietnamese soldiers were also killed and fourteen wounded in the ambush. Captain Don J. York (pictured) of Asheville, N.C., was the seventh U.S. serviceman slain by the Communists in the South Vietnam action since December. Today’s ambush was touched off by the explosion of a mine under the vehicle leading the convoy. This is believed to have been the Jeep in which Captain York was riding. The Jeep was demolished, and two troop-carrying trucks were damaged. The Viet Cong then opened fire with machine guns and automatic rifles. Captain York, who had been scheduled to return to the U.S. within a few weeks, is survived by his wife, two children, 7 and 5, and his parents in Asheville.
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