It is with sadness that I bring you this news: at 0400 this morning, Command Sergeant Major Basil Plumley, veteran of three wars, and one of the biggest bad asses that ever lived, passed away. For the unenlightened or unknowing, CSM Plumley survived all four combat jumps with the 82nd Airborne (Sicily, Salerno, Normandy and, Holland) as well as one more combat jump with the 187th regimental combat team in Korea. This is all before he became the Sergeant Major for 1st squadron 7th Cavalry, and helicoptered into LZ X-ray armed with nothing but a .45.
Just listing his awards is a litany of awesomeness. 3rd award for a Combat Infantry Badge, Master Parachutist Badge with 5 combat jump stars, Vietnam Parachutist Badge, 2 Silver Stars, a Legion of Merit, Bronze star with V and three oak leaf clusters, Purple Heart with three oak leafs, Air Medal with one silver three bronze oak leafs, ARCOM, 11 Good Conduct Medals, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal (8 campaigns and an arrowhead) Korean Service Medal (5 campaigns and an arrowhead), Vietnam Service Medal (8 campaigns) Armed Forces Expeditionary medal, French Croix de Guerh, Belgian Croix de Guerre, Vietnam Cross of Gallantry. This is saying nothing of his unit awards, and all the accolades thrown upon him.
He was so much of a bad ass that they had to hire one of the biggest bad asses in Hollywood, Sam Elliot, to play him, and if you actually read the book “We Were Soldiers Once. . . And Young” you’ll know that even Sam freaking Elliot just couldn’t do Sergeant Major Plumley justice. This man lived, ate and, breathed the NCO creed before it ever even existed. He was the perfect Sergeant Major for LTC (later LTG) Hal Moore, and the two men forged from scratch a battalion that held its own against overwhelming odds. He motivated his troopers to keep on fighting long after most military scholars agree they should have capitulated.
