GREENFIELD — After months of operations in the hostile jungles of Vietnam and preparing to head out on another patrol, U.S. Army Sgt. Norris Ray Borgman likely had a lot on his mind.
But on Jan. 5, 1970, as he penned a letter to his family in Mt. Comfort, his thoughts were not on the dangers that surrounded him. The 21-year-old wrote about a film he had recently seen that left him feeling patriotic. Photos he had recently seen of Washington, D.C., made him want to visit someday, he continued. He hoped insurance would pay for the television he learned had been recently stolen from his parents. At the most, he had 197 days left of service, he wrote in closing.
It would be his last letter home. He’d never get to go sightseeing in the nation’s capital, and those remaining days of service, along with the rest of his life, were cut short.
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The next day, while out on patrol, Borgman, 21, tripped a landmine booby trap while jumping out of a helicopter. He was killed instantly by the blast.
Fifty years later, family and friends continue to remember the Vietnam War soldier as a kind and helpful son, brother and friend. On Monday, Jan. 6, they gathered for a memorial service, part of a continuing series of 50th anniversary remembrances of the 11 Hancock County veterans who died in the war.
Borgman was born on April 7, 1948 to Raymond W. and Mary Kathryn Borgman of Mt. Comfort, joining elder sisters Barbara, Janet and Patricia.
He grew up on a farm and liked to play baseball, basketball and ride bicycles. He showed cattle in 4-H and was part of the second class to graduate from Mt. Vernon High School. After graduation, he continued helping on the family farm and worked at International Harvester.
Borgman was good to his nieces and was active at Mt. Comfort United Methodist Church, according to his sisters.
“He was a fun brother to have, I’ll have to say,” Pat Snodgrass said. “And he didn’t give Mother and Daddy any trouble ever that I know of. He was very respectful of them and our grandparents.”
Borgman was drafted in 1968 and completed basic training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He attended other Army advanced individual and non-commissioned officer training courses at Fort Lewis, Washington; Fort Gordon, Georgia; and Fort Benning, Georgia, before training as an 11B40 light weapons infantry sergeant.
Jim Craig, who grew up mostly in Kokomo and now lives in Noblesville, was drafted at the same time as Borgman. The two completed basic training together. Due to their last names’ alphabetic proximity, their bunks ended up one on top of the other.
Craig remembers Borgman as a quiet and reserved farm boy who didn’t do much joking around and to whom family meant a great deal.
“I never heard him whining about anything or complaining,” Craig said. “I had much the same personality, so we bonded quickly.”
When their families were able to visit, they bonded quickly, too.
“Our families got to know each other, and he and I leaned on each other for support, as you do,” Craig said.
They continued their preparations together at Fort Lewis and then at Fort Benning for non-commissioned officer training. Craig said it consisted of rigorous physical and mental training that included bouts of living off C-rations in the wilderness.
“They put us through everything you could possibly go through,” Craig said. “At the end of the day, he and I were buddies.”
Borgman and Craig then led basic training at Fort Gordon before getting their orders for Vietnam.
Bob Lane grew up with Borgman. The two often baled hay together in rural northwestern Hancock County. He has a fond memory of the two of them sitting on their cars before the old McCordsville High School while Borgman was on leave shortly before he shipped out. They spent hours talking about life, girls, cars, the Army and apprehension over joining the war effort, Lane recalled.
“He was a great guy,” Lane said. “Just very caring, would sit there and listen to you, add anything that he could to help if you had a problem.”
Borgman left for Vietnam on July 19, 1969 and was assigned to Company D, 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile).
Craig was assigned to a cavalry division. He and Borgman took off in different planes heading for Vietnam in opposite directions across the planet, thinking they’d never see each other again, Craig said.
When Craig landed at a processing center in Vietnam, it was pouring down rain and he was “feeling like the end of the world.”
“All of a sudden someone tapped me on the shoulder and it was Norris,” Craig said.
It was a happy but brief reunion before they parted ways.
Borgman was initially deployed to Camp Evans, which was south of Hue in Thua Thien Province, located in the far north of South Vietnam. He joined the unit two months after the 101st Airborne Division defeated North Vietnamese fighters in a hard-fought struggle for Dong Ap Bia, better known as “Hamburger Hill.”
Borgman was part of an operation patrolling steep, jungle-covered hills in the A Shau Valley in western Thua Thien Province. The valley parallels the Laotian border, running 30 miles long and two miles wide.
Later, he was part of an operation in the coastal region of Thua Thien and Quang Tri provinces conducting ambush patrols and training allied Vietnamese fighters. Much of the population in the area was pro-Viet Cong and openly hostile to U.S. military personnel and their allies.
After that, Borgman’s unit conducted combat operations and reconnaissance to deny the enemy access to populated areas while also upgrading Vietnamese allies’ forces via training and joint operations.
His family regularly sent him care packages and audio tapes of recorded greetings while he was serving overseas.
“He loved homemade ketchup, and so we even sent him homemade ketchup over there,” his sister, Barbara Olin, recalled with a laugh. “I don’t know if he got it or not, but it was sent.”
Borgman was patrolling in Phong Dien District, located northwest of Hue in the far north portion of Thua Thien Province, on Jan. 6, 1970, when he became the 1,186th Hoosier to die in the war.
Paul Grasmehr, a reference coordinator with the Chicago-based Pritzker Military Museum & Library, who provided research on Borgman and the Vietnam War, acknowledged Borgman’s assignment to an 11B40 slot as a sergeant. That’s two ranks above his authorized position, which Grasmehr called rare. He attributed it to a likely shortage of manpower or combat necessity.
“He must have been quite the natural leader,” Grasmehr said in an email.
At the 50-year remembrance ceremony for Borgman at the Hancock County Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Monday, Kurt Vetters, communications officer for the Dale E. Kuhn American Legion Post 119, echoed Grasmehr’s praise. Vetters said someone doesn’t move into such a position unless they “are a warrior.”
“This was a stalwart young man…” Vetters told the crowd that gathered at the memorial, shortly before a salute of shots rang out from the Greenfield Veterans Honor Guard. “We stand today to honor a warrior.”
Borgman’s family requested that Craig accompany his remains home. Craig remembers draping his friend’s casket with an American flag.
“It bothered me for a long time and still bothers me,” he said. “He and I were like brothers.”
He continues to miss the bunk mate-turned brother.
“We became good friends,” Craig said. “We would still be good friends if he was alive today.”
Borgman was interred on Jan. 19, 1970, at Park Cemetery in Greenfield.
“He’s missed, still to this day,” Olin said of her brother.
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- Bronze Star Medal
- Air Medal
- Army Commendation Medal
- Purple Heart
- Good Conduct Medal
Source: Pritzker Military Museum & Library
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Eleven men from Hancock County died during the Vietnam War, and one is missing in action. They are:
John Modglin on July 18, 1967
Rodger Haste on December 22, 1967
Frank W. Marks on March 9, 1968
Elvin Gose on March 18, 1968
Michael Ebert on March 21, 1968
Vaughn Brown on July 1, 1968
William Brees Jr. on Oct. 8, 1968
Huger Phelps on Feb. 10, 1969
Michael Terry on Oct. 12, 1969
Norris Borgman on Jan. 6, 1970
Mark Draper on July 22, 1970
Robert Harlan II, missing in action on Oct. 25, 1965
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