The general said "absolutely not"air power could not possibly have done the job. [89] During the day, B-52 bombers continued carpet bombing the Chu Pong-Ia Drang complex. Phase III: 265 KIA(BC), n/a KIA(est), n/a WIA, 10 CIA, 19 weapons (crew served), 49 weapons(individual). It was assigned on 26 October by the II Corps Command to the 1st Air Cavalry Division with the mission to pursue the enemy into the Ia Drang-Chu Pong complex. "When an aircraft got hit in those times, we would use duct tape to cover the holes, and the purpose of covering the holes was so you knew what was a new hole and what was an old one that had been inspected," he said. There is still time to turn it around, but not much." Counting the skirmishes before and after the two major battles, 305 Americans died - more than in the entire first Gulf War, Galloway said. It is a mountain much like any other in that part of the Highlands, green, triple-canopied and spiked with thick stands of bamboo. The attack was a luring tactic aiming to attract the II Corps main force out of Pleiku to destroy it with an ambush. Camp Holloway was a helicopter facility constructed by the United States Army near Pleiku in 1962. Vietnam War 1969-1975 - The History Place [74][75][76] The B3 Field Front reacted by postponing the scheduled movement to attack the Pleime camp and threw in the battlefield to engage the Air Cavalry troops with the 7/66 and 9/66 Battalions. The pilot didn't even land the chopper. My bunker was only a few yards off the edge of the runway, and every landing and takeoff was a nerve-wracking adventure. They never saved us. [52][53], On 2 November, the 32nd Regiment Command Post had arrived at Hill 762, but the remaining of the regiment troops still stretched back to near Pleime, and the 66th Regiment was moving into assembly areas in the Chu Pong-Ia Drang area. =, "Finally I couldn't wait any longer and took off for the Quad 50 position with the sergeant right at my heels. (ret.) Easter 1969: One Crazy Night in Vietnam - Salem-News.Com Could he not have ordered B-52 strikes against the hill, rather than committing his paratroopers? The intense carpet-bombing took an incredible toll on the large NVA force surrounding Khe Sanh, and in hindsight can probably be credited with preventing the base from being overrun by the enemy. Pleiku Air Base - Military Wiki | Fandom It was secured by the 2/5 Air Cavalry Battalion conducting Operation Silver Bayonet II. B-52 bombers continued carpet bombing the Chu Pong-Ia Drang complex. Attacked the Ho Chi Minh Trail." =, First Lieutenant Bruce M. Geiger told NPR: "During good weather, tactical aircraft flew extensive missions, dropping napalm and high explosives on enemy positions across the hills and the plateau in front of our northern perimeter. We carefully traversed the turret and elevated the guns to engage the last known position of the target. [Source: Larry Shaughnessy, CNN, February 27, 2007]. (ret.) [63][64], On 10 November, the 3rd Air Cavalry Brigade replaced the 1st Air Cavalry Brigade and the operations were shifted from west to east in a diversionary maneuver to entice the B3 Field Front to regroup its three regiments in assembly area to regain its early advantage with a second attack of the Pleime camp. =, First Lieutenant Bruce M. Geiger told NPR: "The NVA had apparently gotten wind of Operation Pegasus, the counter offensive launched to lift the siege of Khe Sanh, and decided to cut their losses by moving the bulk of their troops out of the area. It was established by the South Vietnamese Air Force (SVNAF) in 1962 at an undeveloped airstrip, and was used by the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War in the II Corps Tactical Zone of South Vietnam. =, "Duster and Quad 50 crews were restricted from routine H&I fire missions to avoid being targeted by the surrounding NVA artillery pieces dug into the hills. Vietnam Pleiku - Pinterest Under LAPES (Low Altitude Parachute Extraction System) the aircraft made a low-level approach and a parachute dragged the cargo across rollers and out the rear doors. 's Co. B during the battle. In the darkness I tripped and fell several times as rounds shook the ground around me. As I got closer I screamed for a corpsmen, and a young Navy corpsmen ran toward me from his bunker. This was the second in a series of retaliations launched because of communist attacks on U.S. installations in South Vietnam. The crew chief lowered the tailgate to the ground as the chopper hovered and we were dumped out like a heap of garbage from the rear of a sanitation truck. So many unexploded bombs were left behind at Khe Sanh and other nearby battlefields that local hospitals took in wounded from these weapons at a rate of one a day long after the war was over. Div. I crouched in the doorway of the bunker, frozen in fear as the rounds exploded all around us. On 23 November, the Airborne Brigade planned an ambush for the following morning. [20], On 15 November, at 09:30, Colonel Brown landed at LZ X-Ray to make preparation to withdraw the 1/7 Air Cavalry Battalion, deeming its job of drawing the attention of the enemy away from attacking the Pleime camp[79] done. NVA casualty figures advanced by II Corps Command were relied especially on NVA regimental command posts' own loss reports,[63] intercepted by ARVN radio listening stations. [92], On 18 November, the Airborne Brigade set up its forward command post at the Duc Co camp alongside the five Airborne Battalions. Week of November 14 | Vietnam War Commemoration [41], On 26 October, while the relief of the Pleime camp was wrapping up, II Corps Command requested I Field Force Vietnam (IFFV) Command to have the 1st Air Cavalry Division to pursue the withdrawing troops belonging to the two attacking 32nd and 33rd Regiments. At Khe Sanh, my fatigues were always dirty from diving to the ground, and my men would jokingly ask if I had been playing in the mud or dirt again. Office of the S-3, 12th Aviation Group, MASCV, USA Pacific, Ryuku Islands. Attack on Camp Holloway - Wikipedia Our bunkers and gun revetments were well constructed and sandbagged, considering that two months earlier, the Marines at Khe Sanh were hardly dug in. This constitutes 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. Vietnamese Air Force (SVNAF) in 1962 at an undeveloped airstrip, and was used by the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War in the II Corps Tactical Zone of South Vietnam. The biggest and most important battle of all was the Tet Offensive in 1968, with a large battle in Vietnamese imperial capital of Hue. [96][97] Around 16:00H, the 3rd, 5th and 6th Battalions were ordered to march toward an assembly area located at YA822075. =, "First Lieutenant Lynn Grace had commanded the Duster and Quad 50 sections from late October through early December 1967. After the war, he would describe Khe Sanh to me as a "quiet, uneventful place viewed by ADA personnel as a welcome respite from the grueling barrages at Con Thien and Gio Linh, and the daily routine of mine sweeps and convoy escorts." [70][71] Colonel Brown, 3rd Air Cavalry Brigade Commander, issued order to Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore, 1/7 Air Cavalry Battalion to prepare for an air assault into LZ X-Ray the next day. They had retrieved a few men, but several others were buried inside the collapsed bunker. There was little contact at first, but the next day, conditions changed for Lieut. 6) Action. My command post bunker was situated near the runway's east end, behind the Quad 50 position and our ammunition trailer. Pleiku South Vietnam 1969 stock video footage and royalty free HD video Such material is made available in an effort to advance understanding of country or topic discussed in the article. The Communists might follow suit and U.S. casualties might be reduced. I had my crew chief shot through the throat," Crandall said recently. The NVA troops came out intent on killing us all," Moore said. He and several of his men had received shrapnel wounds and had been medevaced before we arrived. [69], On 13 November, some recon parties and transportation units had moved out heading toward Pleime. 4th Military Police Company 374th Army Security Agency Company (In Vietnam as the 374th Radio Research Company) Division Support Command and Band 4th Infantry Division Arrived Vietnam: 25 September 1966 from Fort Lewis, WA Confronted with both a deteriorating political and military situation, General Westmoreland directed his deputy, Lieutenant General John L. Throck-morton, USA, to determine what American ground forces were needed for base security. [39], On 25 October, the Relief Armored Task Force pushed through the ambush site and entered the camp at dusk. This grass was razor sharp, and I dare say that all of us experienced cuts that could be compared to severe paper cuts. I silently lined up my pistol and flashlight in the direction of the sound and waited for the complacent invader to begin chowing down. Then it closed because of the losses -- three 105s and one 155. [Source: NPR, pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam =], "The F-4 Phantoms immediately launched heavy air strikes with napalm and high explosive ordnance to destroy the trenches. Without medical intervention these men would certainly die, so I made the decision to run across the runway to retrieve medical help from "Charlie Med." [34], On 20 October, he immediately reacted by establishing a relief Armored Task Force to rescue the camp[35] and at the same time dispatched a two ARVN-US Special Forces company team to reinforce the camp. April 20, 1970. Credit. Operation McLain a security operation conducted by the U.S. 3rd . =, It's really amazing that I made it out of that place. For the most part it was fairly quiet there, but occasionally the VC liked to shake us up. [Source: NPR, pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam =], "NVA gunners had the airstrip zeroed in, and few fixed-wing aircraft were able to land without being hit or destroyed. Download Low Res Image. No Orders. Five weeks later after completing a thirty-day crash course in ADA automatic weapons, I was still in shock. Places of Pride, the National Register of War Memorials, is a new initiative designed to record the locations and photographs of every publicly accessible memorial . According to Bundy, the situation in South Vietnam was: " deteriorating, and without new U.S. action, defeat appears inevitable-probably not in a matter of weeks or perhaps even months, but within the next year or so. I never ignored or second-guessed my own instincts or those of others. We withdrew and ended up running into our own bushwhack that someone had sent behind us. If we did pull back and were quiet, they'd kill us in the night." [83], On 16 November, the 1/7 Air Cavalry Battalion was helilifted out of the LZ X-Ray, covered by the 2/7 and the 2/5 Air Cavalry Battalions. During the day, B-52 bombers continued carpet bombing the Chu Pong-Ia Drang complex.[98]. This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been authorized by the copyright owner. We traced the landline back to a break in the wire that we quickly repaired so we could regain communications with all of our other gun positions. [Source: eHistory archive, OSU Department of History], In mid-February, the South Vietnamese were in the midst of another power struggle. One is when the ammo dump was hit. See more Vietnam photos. The area around Khe Sanh would soon have the unenviable distinction of being "the most bombed place on earth." [30]. =, "During my first few days at Khe Sanh, I surveyed our positions and met briefly with Colonel Lownds, commander of the 26th Marine Regiment and its attached units. A firefight that only a few of us made it out of on January 20, 1968. An Khe Pass - Vietnam War Travel We would have suffered serious casualties. It was just PR for Westmoreland. Fortunately the round went through his cheek and out of his mouth, knocking out a few teeth, but otherwise leaving him in relatively good condition. On the fifth and final troop lift, which involved eight helicopters, the LZ was under horrific enemy fire by small arms, automatic weapons, mortars and rockets. January 1, 1969 - Henry Cabot Lodge, . The once dense foliage was burned out or blown away for miles around the roadway, and the ground was pockmarked with huge bomb craters for as far as the eye could see. Johnson also was worried and demanded, "I dont want any damn Dien Bien Phu" and told his generals to promise him the garrison would not be overun. The incident reinforced my resolve to crawl or "scurry on all fours" when moving across open ground in clear weather. The last one in my revetment. [73], At 10:48, the 1/7 Air Cavalry was inserted at LZ X-Ray, followed by the 2/7 Air Cavalry Battalion. When the helmet reappeared we fired and laid approximately eighty to one hundred rounds directly on the target area, obliterating everything within a 100-meter radius. Every morning at about 0500-0530, I would take care of bodily functions near our 155 artillery battery. [95], On 20 November, by noon the 3rd Battalion veered down toward the position of the 6th Battalion at YA 805080. In March, under cover of fog and darkness, enemy troops dug a network of tunnels and zig-zag trenches within a few meters of the perimeter wire on the east end of the runway. Crandall flew the lead helicopter into the attack at Landing Zone X-Ray. Its paws were the diameter of my head. In the battle the 1st Cavalry Division forced the North Vietnamese to lift their seige of Plei Mi, the site of a CIDG (Civilian Irregular Defense Group) camp. Caught in a sudden monsoon rain, part of a company of about 130 South Vietnamese soldiers moves downriver in sampans during a dawn attack on a Vietcong camp on 10 January 1966. Another memorable day, a night really, was when Kilo Company was nearly overrun on Hill 861. That was the most evil place I have ever been. VIETNAM PHOTO COLLECTION - E. Ray Austin's Photo World In my only conversation with him during my seven-week stay, I assured him that our automatic weapons crews had the experience and the firepower to accomplish the mission of defending the northern perimeter of the combat base. See more ideas about vietnam, vietnam war, vietnam veterans. My survival instincts and physical senses had reached a peak, having been sharpened for months under the routine bombardment at Con Thien and A3. =, Bruce M. Geiger First Lieutenant, 1st Battalion, 44th Artillery, 108th Artillery Group, 1st Field Force, U.S. Army Attached to the 3rd Marine Division led a column of Dusters and Quad 50s out of Khe Sanh at the end of a 75-day siege. The unit remained stationed at Pleiku, on Engineer Hill, for nearly the whole war, until . ISBN 978--8117-0071-9. I climbed out of the trenchline and ran for the runway. Regiment depended on then-MAJ Crandall's helicopters to insert his Soldiers of the 1st Bn. We watched and waited to confirm what had appeared to be an NVA soldier's pith helmet moving back and forth just beyond the drop-off to the Rao Quan River ravine. US Base at Plieku Attacked - Historycentral: History's Home on the Web =, "Incoming rounds slammed into the runway and apparently struck the C-130's left main landing gear, causing the aircraft to swerve and smash into a forklift. Additionally, one of Herren's platoons was cut off for 24 hours and suffered 20 casualties. After my section chief had gone to sleep, I lay awake waiting for the telltale scratching sounds of our nightly intruder, and I was not disappointed. It was approved and the operation was named Operation Long Reach (Trng Chinh in Vietnamese). "It was the longest day I ever experienced in any aircraft," Crandall said. PDF RETURN to PLEIKU AREA - David Termin Pleiku South Vietnam 1968 stock footage and images - CriticalPast I was in the 444th trans unie 88th trans co. drove for awhile then was gunner on the back of a jeep , then gunner on 2.5 ton truck. The base is on the right-hand side of the road, two and a half kilometers from the intersection. Vo Thi Phuong resting in a hospital, with one of her children standing by the bed. While senior military and civilian officials differed on what they regarded as the benefits of this programcode-named Operation Rolling Thunderall of them hoped that the bombing, which began on 2 March 1965, would have a salutary effect on the North Vietnamese leadership, leading Hanoi to end its support of the insurgency in South Vietnam. Bypassing the hill would have made no military sense, he explained, because it would have given the Communists control of the high ground. A battalion from the 101st Airbone Division sustained heavy casualties seizing a hill from the North Vietnamese and then were ordered to abandon it. We'd been friends for 10 years." I was a platoon leader responsible for up to eight "Dusters" -- M42A1 self-propelled light tanks (M41 Walker Bulldog) with a twin 40mm anti-aircraft gun system mounted in an open turret. 1968 in the Vietnam War - Wikipedia A few days later at Qui Nhon 23 Americans were killed and 21 were wounded. On March 15, 1970, the 633rd CSG and Pleiku Air Base was turned over to the former Republic of Vietnam Air Force under the Vietnamization program Operation Corona Harvest. The northeast gun positions overlooked a wide open, grassy plateau, and could easily maneuver to defend the east end of the runway which sat above the edge of a steep ravine. About 50 percent of his men were killed or seriously wounded. It also permitted the accurate scheduling of the B-52 strikes. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. "I had very experienced pilots," said Crandall, who served as a flight mission commander and was an Army engineer. This was devastating firepower used against enemy personnel and hard targets. =, "At the end of January, I was sent back to the main base by chopper with a shopping list for the platoon, I was only to be there a day or two at the most. [1] II Corps Command named it Pleime Campaign, with a slightly different starting date of 20 October instead of 23 October,[2] consisted of three operations:[3], This joint ARVN-US campaign was characterized by a special procedure of "common operational concept, common intelligence, common reserve, and separate command". Like other major decisions he made during the escalatory process, it was not one Johnson came to without a great deal of anxiety. United States 4th Infantry Division change of Command ceremony at camp Enari in Pleiku, South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. It was a grisly but all too appropriate description, for the battle in and around Ap Bia took the lives of 84 G.I.s and wounded 480 more. ////, "These helicopter crews were our lifeline, as they brought battalion units into the LZ," he said. I also worked in the Combat Operations Center (COC) sending and receiving messages to and from the Combat Base. It set the D-day for 16 November. "It's a myth that if we don't do anything, nothing will happen to us. It had been rumored for weeks that the NVA would launch a ground assault against the base to coincide with the anniversary of the March 1954 assault on the French stronghold at Dien Bien Phu. About half of some 300 American deaths in the 35-day Operation Silver Bayonet happened in just this one fight that lasted 16 hours. A couple weeks later 3,500 U.S. Marines arrived at Danang. By the time the forward elements of the 1st Air Cavalry and 3rd Marine Divisions reached the combat base, the NVA resistance had become light, and the main forces had no major difficulty routing the remaining elements from the surrounding hills. Originally set up by the Green Berets to recruit tribes people, the base the site of deadly "hill fights" between U.S. and North Vietnamese soldiers and a siege that lasted for 76 days. [19], A target becomes available for B-52 strike when it can be pinpointed in a one square kilometer spot. "They evacuated our wounded and brought in water and ammunition, despite intense enemy fire," Herren said. [Source: NPR, pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam =], "My route to Khe Sanh was a circuitous one that started in a Nike Hercules fire control center and led to a Duster turret. B3 Field Front Force (three regiments, ~5,500 men), Operation Dn Thng 21(20 to 26 October 1965), the first, G3 Journal/I Field Force Vietnam, November 1426, 1965, This page was last edited on 29 May 2022, at 20:44.

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