Scope and Contents

The collection consists of approximately 1.25 linear feet of manuscript material, VHS tapes, DVDs, maps, artifacts, periodicals, newsletters, photographs, electronic media, and slides pertaining to the military service of Lieutenant Colonel Robert Sparks, who served with 3rd Platoon, B Troop, 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry (Armored). He served in Binh Thuan Province, 1969-1970.

The manuscript material includes Sparks' memoir about his Vietnam experience; unit histories; unit rosters; unit and individual orders; press releases and news articles; writings; unit operations logs; memorial service materials; personnel lists; KIA/WIA lists; reunion and other event programs; a booklet entitled Faces of the Famous Fighting Fourth; a booklet entitled 2nd Squadron 1st Cavalry; a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request on Captain Benjamin Robert Bostick; correspondence; change of command ceremony materials; materials pertaining to return trips to Vietnam; Christmas cards; poetry; website printouts; other Vietnam studies and reports; and information on other units associated with the 2-1 Cavalry, including D Troop (Air), which was assigned to the 173rd Airborne Infantry Brigade. Other materials document 2-1 Cavalry reunions from 1992 to 2006 and the 2-1 Cavalry's Operation Iraqi Freedom deployment.

The materials are dated 1967-2008, 2015, and 2021.

The collection also includes two roadside bomb pressure detonators planted by Viet Cong or North Vietnamese Army troops on Highway 1 between Phan Thiet and Song Mao in Binh Thuan Province during Fall 1969 through Winter 1970. They were discovered by troops of the 3rd Platoon, B Troop, 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Division, Task Force South, 1st Field Force during road clearing and security operations.

Biographical / Historical

Robert Sparks was born in 1945 in Winchester, Kentucky. He enrolled in the Army ROTC program and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Armor Corps upon graduation from the University of Kentucky in May 1968. He was called to active duty in late August 1968, and was assigned to the 6th Battalion, 32nd Armor in the 194th Armored Brigade at Fort Knox. He received orders to Vietnam in April 1969. First he attended the Jungle Operations Training Center in Panama. He later arrived in Vietnam where he learned that he would be serving in 3rd Platoon, B Troop, 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry (Armored). He served in Binh Thuan Province near Song Mao, Phan Rang and Whiskey Mountain, achieving the rank of First Lieutenant while in Vietnam. After almost two years of active duty, he stayed in the Army Reserves and National Guard for an additional 19 years. He went to graduate school on the GI Bill and received an MBA from the University of Dayton. He retired in 1994 at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.