Portrait of an American Hero: Lt. Travis B. Lee by Paul Teague - Kindle Edition: In the pre-dawn hours of a blazing hot day in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, Lt. Travis B. Lee, Jr. set up his platoon for a planned attack on Vietcong forces. But suddenly, his forces came under fire, not from the enemy but from a South Vietnamese unit that was supposed to support him. He exposed himself to the “friendly fire” to stop it, but lost his life in the process. Through interviews with family, friends, and soldiers he trained in the Army’s OCS program, this book explores the background of this military hero and how, long before his final battle, he changed others’ lives for the better. Excerpt from Steel My Soldiers Heart by Col. David Hackworth with Jill England. Col. Hackworth was Lt. Lee's Battalion Commander (4/39th Infantry): On 17 April, Claymore Company conducted a Search and Clear operation with an ARVN unit. The two outfits had infiltrated behind a VC village platoon-size ambushes. The plan was for the South Viet unit to sweep through the village, hopefully flushing some R&Ring VC soldiers into Claymore's waiting guns. As the South Viets got closer to Claymore's positions, their small-arms fire smacked into Lieutenant Travis Lee's platoon's position. Lee tried to shut off the fire by calling the American adviser who was with the ARVN for that very purpose, but couldn't raise him on the radio. Next he tossed a smoke grenade to mark his platoon's location and when that failed, he tried to shout above the roar of the firing. Finally, he ran forward between his men and the advancing ARVN, shouting to them to cease fire-and was instantly cut down by their fire. A few weeks before, George Mergner had interviewed Lee, an engineer officer detailed infantry to relieve the shortage of grunt lieutenants, when the new replacement reported into the Hardcore. "He told me he wasn't telling his parents he'd been reassigned. He was afraid they'd worry," Mergner said. "It was one of the bravest acts I heard of in Vietnam. He literally died for his men," squad leader Sullivan says. "He was a wonderful leader who cared for his troops. Had he been infantry-trained he'd probably still be with us. He died before he learned the dos and don'ts." Lt. Travis Bertrand Lee was a 1963 graduate of Sprayberry High School, Marietta, GA. Lt. Lee's final resting place is in the Marietta National Cemetery in Marietta, GA.