2RHPZ
06-22-2004, 12:22 PM
Screaming Eagles Through Time - The 101st Airborne (Airmobile) during Vietnam
http://www.screamingeaglesthroughtime.com/id95.html
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"Nevada Eagle"
Withdrawing from their thrust into the A Shau Valley, the Screaming Eagles concentrated their efforts refining their already famous cordon tactics into a new artillery preparation followed by air strikes. While this procedure eliminated much of the hostile fire power, it also meant considerable damage to the enclosed terrain and structures.
Under the new concept, a minimum of artillery and air power was to be used. In its place, tight encirclements and surprise tactics were employed to trap any enemy elements in the suspected area. A prime example of this new concept was the operation around Vinh Loc district.
A superb example of careful prior planning and close coordina- tion between allied units, the battle of Vinh Loc lasted 10 days. During that time 153 enemy were killed, 178 individual and crew- served weapons captured and 370 prisoners taken, of which 126 were identified as members of the local Viet Cong infrastructure. In addition, 56 Hoi Chanhs rallied to the South Vietnamese Government and 139 enemy soldiers volunteered for the ARVN forces.
Immediately following the close of the operation, two Vietnamese revolutionary development teams moved into Vinh Loc district to help the people resettle. Since then, Regional and Popular Forces have been assigned to protect the district and its people.
Following the operation in Vinh Loc district, the Division carried it fight to all fields with an aggressive Chieu Hoi program, coupled with extensive civil affairs projects.
The Division's lone southern brigade rejoined the Screaming Eagles in I Corps. They soon deployed to Camp Evans as the 1st Air Cavalry Division moved south to another area.
With all the Screaming Eagles fighting together for the first time in the same operation, enemy units continued to avoid contact with the searching paratroopers. The lull in fighting aided units in continuing their civil affairs projects and the PsyOps effort.
The increased emphases in the Hoi Chanh program brought the Screaming Eagle teams 231 ralliers during the month of September and a record of 251 ralliers in October.
Operation Nevada Eagle ended Feb. 28, 1969. The Division accounted for 3,299 enemy killed 798 VC and 55 NVA prisoners, and 3,702 weapons captured.
More than 667 tons of rice was seized, succeeding Nevada Eagle is Operation Kentucky Jumper, which leaped off with another Screaming Eagle thrust into the A Shaw Valley, Coded Massachusetts Striken.
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"Operation Montgomery Rendezvous"
When Screaming Eagles air-assaulted back into the A Shau Valley June 8, they showed some intention of staying for a long time to be a thorn in the enemy's side. Within two weeks a new airstrip had been built and a new road was complete from the lowlands to the valley floor.
The road and airstrip added new logistical capabilities to the usual airmobile leaps around the valley, the garrisoning of fire bases in critical areas, and the continual reconnaissance-in-force operations.
The construction of the airstrip is the 326th Engr. Bn.'s largest project so far in the war. A company of infantry secured some landing zones near the old French strip at Ta Bat, some engineers were airlifted in and the next day Flying Cranes and Chinooks flew 48 sorties to bring every major piece of engineer equipment together for the first time for one job.
Equipment marshalled for the project ranged from the light-weight mini-dozer to the 15,000-pound D5A bulldozer. For the first few days the dozers floundered in the sticky bog created by the soaked clay found under the covering of elephant grass and topsoil.
Trenches were cut on either side of the strip to allow the water to drain away, parts of the bog were filled in, trees were "blown" and cleared away. Fifty-four working hours later, the strip complete, the first C-7A Caribou, a twin-engined transport, touched down in a cloud of dust.
For several weeks previously, engineers of the 27th Engr. Bn., 18th Engr. Bde. had been slowly cutting their way from FB Birmingham through the wilderness to create a graded road all the way from Camp Eagle to the A Shau. Most of the road, Route 547, was cut into the sides of steep jungled hills. The mountainous terrain forced the engoineers to build some wide loops and some narrow hairpin turns.
On June 20 the road was initiated momentously with the entrance into the valley of the first armor in history. A column of 80 tracked vehicles of the 3rd Sqdn., 5th Cav., 9th Inf. Div. and 7th Cav., 1st ARVN Div. left FB Blaze and Cannon early in the morning. The lead APCs reached the new Ta Bat airstrip seven hours later without incident.
Maj. Gen. John M. Wright Jr., commanding general of the 101st, commented on the importance of the road and airstrip. "We're stronger now in the sense that we have more alternatives available to us to resupply whatever forces we commit out there.
"It's more economical and more efficient to resupply our troops via ground vehicle whenever we can... It's also efficient to resupply by fixed-wing aircraft."
Meanwhile, with our Screaming Eagle battalions and two 1st ARVN Div. battalions engaged in sweeps on the eastern approaches of the valley, the enemy reacted to the allied presence with two vicious sapper attacks.
Just after 4 a.m. on June 14 at FB Berchtesgaden, Sfc. Angel M. Rosado, Jacksonville, Fla., was standing outside the CP of B Co., 1st Bn., 506th Abn. Inf. when he spotted a figure inside the barbed wire perimeter.
"Who are you?" Rosado challenged. "Quan," the figure replied. Rosado yelled a warning and rushed the startled NVA, throwing him over the wire and down a 20-foot embankment. With that the battle spread quickly as other sappers infiltrated.
Sgt. Maj. Robert D. Bryson, Houston, Mo., the 3rd Brigade operations sergeant major, killed three sappers while on his way to the brigade TOC, then wounded a fourth. The enemy managed to crawl close enough to the entrance to throw a satchel charge through it. Col. Joseph B. Conmy, brigade commander, was wounded in the blast.
Two hours later the battle was over. Thirty-two NVA had been killed, two prisoners captured, and eight RPG launchers and eight AK-47s taken.
The next night FB Currahee, three and a half kilometers away, was attacked by an estimated 200 NVA believed to have come from the 29th Regt., which was decimated the month before on Dong Ap Bia. The attack was repelled by infantrymen of B Co., 2nd Bn., 502nd Abn. Inf. and two artillery batteries. No enemy managed to breach the perimeter, and the next day 54 enemy dead were found outside the wire.
As of August 5, with Montgomery Rendezvous continuing, a total of 323 enemy had been killed, 39 crew-served weapons and 144 individual weapons captured.
By Spec. 5 Alan Magary, Rendezvous With Destiny magazine, Summer Issue 1969.
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Operation APACHE SNOW
10 May 1969 - 7 June 1969
During the early morning hours of May 10, anticipation heightened as the 3rd Brigade troopers made ready for their long-awaited invasion of the A Shau Valley. They were going after the enemy where he lived.
The XXIV Corps operation, codenamed Apache Snow, was designed to destroy those enemy forces in the steep mountains rising abruptly from the lush A Shau Valley separating I Corps from Laos. There was good reason for a massive strike there.
In mid-January the brigades intelligence section began receiving the information which would lead to the operation. A prisoner captured by the 3rd Bn., 187th Abn. Inf. in January, and another picked up by the 1st Bn., 506th Abn. Inf., both spoke freely of their activities and traced their routes of infiltration from their A Shau base "warehouse area" into the coastal lowlands of Thua Thien and Quang Nam Provinces. With other intelligence data, this was enough to pinpoint the warehouse and send Air Force fighters screaming in.
In two days of ripping up the landscape, the jets caused 16 secondary explosions while opening up much of the canopy. This allowed forward air controllers (FACs) and recon teams of the 2nd Sqdrn., 17th Cav., to accurately plot numerous bunker and hooch positions.
While Operation Massachusetts Striker continued in the extreme southern portion of the valley, plans were amended to exploit the warehouse area after the Cav made significant contacts and cache discoveries while making a B-52 strike assessment.
The Third Bn., 187th Abn. Inf., was selected to raid the warehouse and construct a new fire base - named Airborne - on the infiltration route nearby. The final touches were put on the plans for a new thrust into the valley. By May 9 the 3rd Brigade and elements of the 1st ARVN Division were poised to launch the largest airmobile assault of the Vietnam War. Precise timing and surprise were the main considerations of the operation's success.
Ten artillery batteries were placed at Fire Base Bradley, Airborne, Currahee, Brechtesgaden and Cannon only 16 hours before the invasion. Weeks before D-Day, in order to confuse the enemy and disguise plans, more than 30 landing zones were "prepped" by the Air Force. Jets dropped "daisy-cutter" bombs designed to detonate above the ground, clearing vegetation without making craters.
H-hour was 7:30 a.m. on May 10. At marshalling points at Fore Base Blaze were gathered quiet groups of men of the 3rd Bn., 187th Inf., the 1st Bn., 506th Inf., and two ARVN battalions. Pilots and door-gunners stood by the 65 Hueys that would take the men into battle. When the time came the troops boarded the helicopters - and Apache Snow was under way.
The choppers crossed the valley in the south and then, using the terrain as a screen, turned north along the Laotian border to the selected LZs. In the hour before, jets had bombed the landing zones for 50 minutes, artillery had followed with a 15-minute barrage, then came aerial rocket artillery helicopter for a one-minute frosting on the cake.
Covered by Cobra gunships, the lead elements of the two battalions were inserted in a 45-minute period, with Cos. B, C, and D and the command post of the 1st of the 506th hitting the ground at 8:12. Within minutes the soldiers were pushing from the west - to the enemys complete surprise.
It was a flawless combat assault, Col. Joseph B. Conmy Jr., Pembina, S. Dak., the 3rd Brigade commander, who was also responsible for coordinating Apache Snow, termed it :an outstanding example of the capabilities of an airmobile division. We effected complete surprise on the enemy by landing behind him, getting in without taking any casualties or losing any choppers," said Conmy.
The allied battalions were to block enemy escape routes into Laos along Highway 922 and to interdict the enemy-built Highway 548, which runs the length of the A Shau. RIF operations would find the enemy and his caches and destroy them. Enemy resistance was light the first day. "He knew we were in the area," said Maj. Kenneth H. Montgomery, the brigades S-3 (operations) officer, "but he didn't know in what force or exactly where. and thus he was unable to organize any kind of counterattack."
For three days Rakkasans of the 3rd of the 187th engaged trail-watchers and then began receiving automatic weapons fire from a hillmass called Dong Ap Bia. Lt. Col. Weldon F. Honeycutt, Columbus, Ga., maneuvered his companies along ridges leading to the top of the hill in an exploratory assault to determine the strength of the enemy.
That evening the 1st Currahee battalion, under the command of Lt. Col. James Bowers, Springfield, Va., was ordered to reinforce the 187th in taking the hill. Almost immediately the men came under heavy fire from enemy gunners and progress was slow.
For the next three days the combat situation remained static. The NVA units held the hilltop while Screaming Eagles probed and looked for weaknesses. At the same time, the hill was bombarded continually with artillery, ARA and air strikes as the Currahee battalion continued to meet resistance in their drive on the hill.
On the 18th, Rakkasans assaulted the enemy stronghold for the second time in an effort to drive him from his well constructed bunker complex. One unit, Delta Company, reported being within 25 meters of the top when a torrential rainstorm struck and forced the paratroopers to move off the hill, which rain turned into a barren mudslide.
Two additional battalions, the 2nd of the 501st and 2nd of the 3rd ARVN, along with A Co., 2nd Bn., 506th Abn. Inf., were ordered to move to the hill, virtually surrounding it, and join the other two battalions for a final assault to secure Hill 937, the highest point on Dong Ap Bia. At 10 in the morning on the 20th they started up the hill once more and by early afternoon had defeated the enemy and secured the objective, thus ending the ten-day battle and decimating the 29th NVA Regt.
As the battle raged the other three companies of the 2nd of the 506th were helilifted into the warehouse area discovered prior to the start of Apache Snow. Their mission was to locate and destroy an enemy command post complex thought to be in the area, and capture his food and munitions caches. Co. C quickly discovered both a hospital and the CP complex. More than 10 tons of rice and 75,000 round of ammunition for individual and crew-served weapons were also captured.
"A North Vietnamese prisoner said he had walked for two days along the valley floor and turned northwest for a few hundred meters to a hospital complex where he received treatment for his ounds," said Sgt. Alan Austin, Homosassa, Fla., point man for C Co. "He was only about 750 meters off from the location he pointed out to us on a map, and we found the caches and command post in the same area."
The month-long operation accounted for 675 enemy killed, three prisoners, 241 individual and crew-served weapons captured, and more than 100,000 rounds of ammunition discovered. "This operation," said Conmy, "just proved again that the ultimate weapon is the infantry rifleman. Victory achieved by the heroism of the rifleman going in and digging out the enemy."
Written by Lt. Harry Oyler for Rendezvous With Destiny magazine Summer 1969 issue.
http://www.screamingeaglesthroughtime.com/id95.html
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"Nevada Eagle"
Withdrawing from their thrust into the A Shau Valley, the Screaming Eagles concentrated their efforts refining their already famous cordon tactics into a new artillery preparation followed by air strikes. While this procedure eliminated much of the hostile fire power, it also meant considerable damage to the enclosed terrain and structures.
Under the new concept, a minimum of artillery and air power was to be used. In its place, tight encirclements and surprise tactics were employed to trap any enemy elements in the suspected area. A prime example of this new concept was the operation around Vinh Loc district.
A superb example of careful prior planning and close coordina- tion between allied units, the battle of Vinh Loc lasted 10 days. During that time 153 enemy were killed, 178 individual and crew- served weapons captured and 370 prisoners taken, of which 126 were identified as members of the local Viet Cong infrastructure. In addition, 56 Hoi Chanhs rallied to the South Vietnamese Government and 139 enemy soldiers volunteered for the ARVN forces.
Immediately following the close of the operation, two Vietnamese revolutionary development teams moved into Vinh Loc district to help the people resettle. Since then, Regional and Popular Forces have been assigned to protect the district and its people.
Following the operation in Vinh Loc district, the Division carried it fight to all fields with an aggressive Chieu Hoi program, coupled with extensive civil affairs projects.
The Division's lone southern brigade rejoined the Screaming Eagles in I Corps. They soon deployed to Camp Evans as the 1st Air Cavalry Division moved south to another area.
With all the Screaming Eagles fighting together for the first time in the same operation, enemy units continued to avoid contact with the searching paratroopers. The lull in fighting aided units in continuing their civil affairs projects and the PsyOps effort.
The increased emphases in the Hoi Chanh program brought the Screaming Eagle teams 231 ralliers during the month of September and a record of 251 ralliers in October.
Operation Nevada Eagle ended Feb. 28, 1969. The Division accounted for 3,299 enemy killed 798 VC and 55 NVA prisoners, and 3,702 weapons captured.
More than 667 tons of rice was seized, succeeding Nevada Eagle is Operation Kentucky Jumper, which leaped off with another Screaming Eagle thrust into the A Shaw Valley, Coded Massachusetts Striken.
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"Operation Montgomery Rendezvous"
When Screaming Eagles air-assaulted back into the A Shau Valley June 8, they showed some intention of staying for a long time to be a thorn in the enemy's side. Within two weeks a new airstrip had been built and a new road was complete from the lowlands to the valley floor.
The road and airstrip added new logistical capabilities to the usual airmobile leaps around the valley, the garrisoning of fire bases in critical areas, and the continual reconnaissance-in-force operations.
The construction of the airstrip is the 326th Engr. Bn.'s largest project so far in the war. A company of infantry secured some landing zones near the old French strip at Ta Bat, some engineers were airlifted in and the next day Flying Cranes and Chinooks flew 48 sorties to bring every major piece of engineer equipment together for the first time for one job.
Equipment marshalled for the project ranged from the light-weight mini-dozer to the 15,000-pound D5A bulldozer. For the first few days the dozers floundered in the sticky bog created by the soaked clay found under the covering of elephant grass and topsoil.
Trenches were cut on either side of the strip to allow the water to drain away, parts of the bog were filled in, trees were "blown" and cleared away. Fifty-four working hours later, the strip complete, the first C-7A Caribou, a twin-engined transport, touched down in a cloud of dust.
For several weeks previously, engineers of the 27th Engr. Bn., 18th Engr. Bde. had been slowly cutting their way from FB Birmingham through the wilderness to create a graded road all the way from Camp Eagle to the A Shau. Most of the road, Route 547, was cut into the sides of steep jungled hills. The mountainous terrain forced the engoineers to build some wide loops and some narrow hairpin turns.
On June 20 the road was initiated momentously with the entrance into the valley of the first armor in history. A column of 80 tracked vehicles of the 3rd Sqdn., 5th Cav., 9th Inf. Div. and 7th Cav., 1st ARVN Div. left FB Blaze and Cannon early in the morning. The lead APCs reached the new Ta Bat airstrip seven hours later without incident.
Maj. Gen. John M. Wright Jr., commanding general of the 101st, commented on the importance of the road and airstrip. "We're stronger now in the sense that we have more alternatives available to us to resupply whatever forces we commit out there.
"It's more economical and more efficient to resupply our troops via ground vehicle whenever we can... It's also efficient to resupply by fixed-wing aircraft."
Meanwhile, with our Screaming Eagle battalions and two 1st ARVN Div. battalions engaged in sweeps on the eastern approaches of the valley, the enemy reacted to the allied presence with two vicious sapper attacks.
Just after 4 a.m. on June 14 at FB Berchtesgaden, Sfc. Angel M. Rosado, Jacksonville, Fla., was standing outside the CP of B Co., 1st Bn., 506th Abn. Inf. when he spotted a figure inside the barbed wire perimeter.
"Who are you?" Rosado challenged. "Quan," the figure replied. Rosado yelled a warning and rushed the startled NVA, throwing him over the wire and down a 20-foot embankment. With that the battle spread quickly as other sappers infiltrated.
Sgt. Maj. Robert D. Bryson, Houston, Mo., the 3rd Brigade operations sergeant major, killed three sappers while on his way to the brigade TOC, then wounded a fourth. The enemy managed to crawl close enough to the entrance to throw a satchel charge through it. Col. Joseph B. Conmy, brigade commander, was wounded in the blast.
Two hours later the battle was over. Thirty-two NVA had been killed, two prisoners captured, and eight RPG launchers and eight AK-47s taken.
The next night FB Currahee, three and a half kilometers away, was attacked by an estimated 200 NVA believed to have come from the 29th Regt., which was decimated the month before on Dong Ap Bia. The attack was repelled by infantrymen of B Co., 2nd Bn., 502nd Abn. Inf. and two artillery batteries. No enemy managed to breach the perimeter, and the next day 54 enemy dead were found outside the wire.
As of August 5, with Montgomery Rendezvous continuing, a total of 323 enemy had been killed, 39 crew-served weapons and 144 individual weapons captured.
By Spec. 5 Alan Magary, Rendezvous With Destiny magazine, Summer Issue 1969.
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Operation APACHE SNOW
10 May 1969 - 7 June 1969
During the early morning hours of May 10, anticipation heightened as the 3rd Brigade troopers made ready for their long-awaited invasion of the A Shau Valley. They were going after the enemy where he lived.
The XXIV Corps operation, codenamed Apache Snow, was designed to destroy those enemy forces in the steep mountains rising abruptly from the lush A Shau Valley separating I Corps from Laos. There was good reason for a massive strike there.
In mid-January the brigades intelligence section began receiving the information which would lead to the operation. A prisoner captured by the 3rd Bn., 187th Abn. Inf. in January, and another picked up by the 1st Bn., 506th Abn. Inf., both spoke freely of their activities and traced their routes of infiltration from their A Shau base "warehouse area" into the coastal lowlands of Thua Thien and Quang Nam Provinces. With other intelligence data, this was enough to pinpoint the warehouse and send Air Force fighters screaming in.
In two days of ripping up the landscape, the jets caused 16 secondary explosions while opening up much of the canopy. This allowed forward air controllers (FACs) and recon teams of the 2nd Sqdrn., 17th Cav., to accurately plot numerous bunker and hooch positions.
While Operation Massachusetts Striker continued in the extreme southern portion of the valley, plans were amended to exploit the warehouse area after the Cav made significant contacts and cache discoveries while making a B-52 strike assessment.
The Third Bn., 187th Abn. Inf., was selected to raid the warehouse and construct a new fire base - named Airborne - on the infiltration route nearby. The final touches were put on the plans for a new thrust into the valley. By May 9 the 3rd Brigade and elements of the 1st ARVN Division were poised to launch the largest airmobile assault of the Vietnam War. Precise timing and surprise were the main considerations of the operation's success.
Ten artillery batteries were placed at Fire Base Bradley, Airborne, Currahee, Brechtesgaden and Cannon only 16 hours before the invasion. Weeks before D-Day, in order to confuse the enemy and disguise plans, more than 30 landing zones were "prepped" by the Air Force. Jets dropped "daisy-cutter" bombs designed to detonate above the ground, clearing vegetation without making craters.
H-hour was 7:30 a.m. on May 10. At marshalling points at Fore Base Blaze were gathered quiet groups of men of the 3rd Bn., 187th Inf., the 1st Bn., 506th Inf., and two ARVN battalions. Pilots and door-gunners stood by the 65 Hueys that would take the men into battle. When the time came the troops boarded the helicopters - and Apache Snow was under way.
The choppers crossed the valley in the south and then, using the terrain as a screen, turned north along the Laotian border to the selected LZs. In the hour before, jets had bombed the landing zones for 50 minutes, artillery had followed with a 15-minute barrage, then came aerial rocket artillery helicopter for a one-minute frosting on the cake.
Covered by Cobra gunships, the lead elements of the two battalions were inserted in a 45-minute period, with Cos. B, C, and D and the command post of the 1st of the 506th hitting the ground at 8:12. Within minutes the soldiers were pushing from the west - to the enemys complete surprise.
It was a flawless combat assault, Col. Joseph B. Conmy Jr., Pembina, S. Dak., the 3rd Brigade commander, who was also responsible for coordinating Apache Snow, termed it :an outstanding example of the capabilities of an airmobile division. We effected complete surprise on the enemy by landing behind him, getting in without taking any casualties or losing any choppers," said Conmy.
The allied battalions were to block enemy escape routes into Laos along Highway 922 and to interdict the enemy-built Highway 548, which runs the length of the A Shau. RIF operations would find the enemy and his caches and destroy them. Enemy resistance was light the first day. "He knew we were in the area," said Maj. Kenneth H. Montgomery, the brigades S-3 (operations) officer, "but he didn't know in what force or exactly where. and thus he was unable to organize any kind of counterattack."
For three days Rakkasans of the 3rd of the 187th engaged trail-watchers and then began receiving automatic weapons fire from a hillmass called Dong Ap Bia. Lt. Col. Weldon F. Honeycutt, Columbus, Ga., maneuvered his companies along ridges leading to the top of the hill in an exploratory assault to determine the strength of the enemy.
That evening the 1st Currahee battalion, under the command of Lt. Col. James Bowers, Springfield, Va., was ordered to reinforce the 187th in taking the hill. Almost immediately the men came under heavy fire from enemy gunners and progress was slow.
For the next three days the combat situation remained static. The NVA units held the hilltop while Screaming Eagles probed and looked for weaknesses. At the same time, the hill was bombarded continually with artillery, ARA and air strikes as the Currahee battalion continued to meet resistance in their drive on the hill.
On the 18th, Rakkasans assaulted the enemy stronghold for the second time in an effort to drive him from his well constructed bunker complex. One unit, Delta Company, reported being within 25 meters of the top when a torrential rainstorm struck and forced the paratroopers to move off the hill, which rain turned into a barren mudslide.
Two additional battalions, the 2nd of the 501st and 2nd of the 3rd ARVN, along with A Co., 2nd Bn., 506th Abn. Inf., were ordered to move to the hill, virtually surrounding it, and join the other two battalions for a final assault to secure Hill 937, the highest point on Dong Ap Bia. At 10 in the morning on the 20th they started up the hill once more and by early afternoon had defeated the enemy and secured the objective, thus ending the ten-day battle and decimating the 29th NVA Regt.
As the battle raged the other three companies of the 2nd of the 506th were helilifted into the warehouse area discovered prior to the start of Apache Snow. Their mission was to locate and destroy an enemy command post complex thought to be in the area, and capture his food and munitions caches. Co. C quickly discovered both a hospital and the CP complex. More than 10 tons of rice and 75,000 round of ammunition for individual and crew-served weapons were also captured.
"A North Vietnamese prisoner said he had walked for two days along the valley floor and turned northwest for a few hundred meters to a hospital complex where he received treatment for his ounds," said Sgt. Alan Austin, Homosassa, Fla., point man for C Co. "He was only about 750 meters off from the location he pointed out to us on a map, and we found the caches and command post in the same area."
The month-long operation accounted for 675 enemy killed, three prisoners, 241 individual and crew-served weapons captured, and more than 100,000 rounds of ammunition discovered. "This operation," said Conmy, "just proved again that the ultimate weapon is the infantry rifleman. Victory achieved by the heroism of the rifleman going in and digging out the enemy."
Written by Lt. Harry Oyler for Rendezvous With Destiny magazine Summer 1969 issue.