Some witnesses continue the story, however. As the firefight continued, with the patrol cut off from the rest of the US force, ammunition began running low. Sabo then repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire in order to retrieve ammunition from the American dead and wounded, and redistributed it among the combat effectives still engaged with the NVA. By nightfall, the reserve platoon of B Company broke through as medevac helicopters began landing to extract the wounded, drawing heavy fire from the NVA. Sabo stepped into the open to provide covering fire for the helicopters as they sought to recover two of his wounded comrades, and continued to fire until his ammunition was exhausted. He was killed by the NVA while trying to reload. The ambush resulted in 7 KIA and 28 WIA.
Sabo was born in Austria in 1948, to Hungarian parents who were refugees from the Communist takeover of their country. Growing up in a small town in Pennsylvania, he proposed to his high school sweetheart, Rose Mary Bucelli, and married her while on leave after basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia. He shipped out within a few weeks. His new wife said she begged him to stay, but he replied that he had seen Communism tear apart his native Hungary, and the result that it had had on his family. He felt obligated to fight against it and he understood the reason for the war.
Oddly, the Army told his widow and family that he had been shot by a sniper while guarding an ammunition dump, possibly to shield the news that the action had taken place in Cambodia. His company commander, Captain Jim Waybright, recommended him for the Medal of Honor, but there is no explanation as to why the recommendation became lost. Years later, 101st veteran Alton Mabb found the documents while digging through the National Archives and made it his goal to see that SGT Sabo received his recognition, ultimately pushing it through by act of Congress with the help of Representatives Corrine Brown and Jason Altmire. The Army offers no explanation for the delay other than to say that the recommendation "more or less fell through the cracks."
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