At 13:32, C Company under Capt. Ladner and Pfc. They were to be shuttled by 16 Huey transport helicopters, which could generally carry 10 to 12 equipped troopers, so the battalion would have to be delivered in several "lifts" carrying just less than one complete company each time. "[3]:285,286 After marching about 2,000 meters, Alpha Company (2/7) leading 2/7, headed northwest, while 2/5 continued on to LZ Columbus. The American soldiers finally left LZ Albany for LZ Crooks at 13405.6N 1073910E / 13.668222N 107.65278E / 13.668222; 107.65278 (LZ Crooks), 6 miles (9.7km) away, on November 19. The insertion took place with intense PAVN fire pouring into the landing zone, and the Huey crews and newly arrived 1/7 troopers suffered many casualties. At 18:50, II Corps Commanding General concurred with the Arc Light request. This move known as Operation Blue Light was the longest and largest military airlift to a combat zone in history to date. He wanted to withdraw the units but Westmoreland demanded that the 2/7 and 2/5 stay at X-Ray to avoid the appearance of a retreat. New York: St. Martin's Press, page 219, Merle L. Pribbenow Military Review JanuaryFebruary 2001, Pribblenow, The Fog of War, footnote 53 citing, McChristian, page 41; Vinh Loc, pages 97, 111, "Joseph L. Galloway Biography", We Were Soldiers, Open Road Integrated Media, "Vietnam War Battle of Ia Drang (1965)", "Cng tc hu cn trong Chin dch Plyme nm 1965", "Colonel Hieu and LTC Hal Moore re: LZ X-Ray After Action Report (m)", Military and the Media Speech Prepared for delivery Oct. 22, 1996, at the Air War College Commandant's Lecture Series, http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=22030101001, "generalhieu.com-generalhieu Resources and Information", "Vietnam story: The word was the Ia Drang would be a walk. In late 1967, U.S. Military Assistance Command-Vietnam (MACV) placed a 50,000-watt AM radio transmitter in Pleiku to broadcast to the northern provinces of South Vietnam. The PAVN forces withdrew west towards the Chu Pong Massif. PAVN histories claim the United States suffered 1,500 to 1,700 casualties during the Ia Drang Campaign. Willie Godboldt (who died of his wounds shortly thereafter). Savage, suffered three sizable assaults of the night (one just before midnight, one at 03:15, and one at 04:30). If we could defeat your tactics your helicopters then we could defeat your strategy. 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry's intelligence officer Capt. The fire was so heavy that if you tried to raise up to dig you were dead. of the Vietnam War The attack on Camp Holloway occurred during the early hours of 7 February 1965, in the early stages of the Vietnam War. LZ X-Ray was approximately the size of a misshapen football field, some 100 meters in length (east to west). [3]:341343 Lt. Rick Rescorla, the sole remaining platoon leader in Bravo Company, led the reinforcements into the Albany perimeter, which was expanded to provide better security. During 1965, large groups of PAVN regulars moved into the area to conduct offensive operations. Attack on Camp Holloway | Military Wiki | Fandom Both sides claimed victory. Thus, the enemy will be caught in a dilemma: He has to drag out the war in order to win it and does not possess, on the other hand, the psychological and political means to fight a long-drawn-out war." At the end of these attacks, with daybreak approaching, Diduryk's Company had only six lightly wounded men among its ranks with none killed. In retaliation, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered bombing north of the Demilitarized Zone . [15]:12930, Because the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry stealthily closed in the battlefield by foot instead of by heli-lift, B3 Field Front was unaware that the opponent troop ratio had switched from 2:2 to 3:2. "[3]:368, Both sides routinely exaggerated the number of casualties inflicted on the other, and figures vary considerably depending on source. Diduryk's 2nd Platoon, B Company (under Lt. James Lane), was used to reinforce C/1/7's position (which was stretched over a disproportionately long line). [38], At 10:30 General DePuy, J3/MACV called Colonel Barrow to make sure that the B-52 had been cleared with General Vnh Lc, Commander General II Corps and if the elements of 1st Cavalry had received the time on target 16:00 hours restriction and would comply. [3], Stanton, Vietnam Order of Battle, page 73. [3]:416. Shortly after, Alpha and Bravo Companies began their advance from the creek bed toward 2nd Platoon, B Company and soon suffered casualties. Ambush in the Ia Drang Valley: The 1st Cavalry's Grim Fight - HistoryNet Despite Hastings' best efforts, several American soldiers were wounded or killed by this air strike. At the time the U.S. did not have diplomatic relations with Vietnam. Tet Offensive - 1968. Spec. Ray Lefebvre. George Gonzales (who, unknown to Lefebvre, had also been wounded). 1965-1971 Synopsis of the 299th in Vietnam. [16] This battle was one of the few set piece battles of the war and was one of the first battles to popularize the U.S. concept of the "body count" as a measure of success, as the U.S. claimed that the kill ratio was nearly 10 to 1. In so doing, Hastings was calling on all available support aircraft in South Vietnam to come to the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry's defense, drawing on a significant arsenal of heavy ordnance support. [15]:150, In the late 1940s, Gen. V Nguyn Gip wrote about the Vit Minh war against the French: "The enemy will pass slowly from the offensive to the defensive. The 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry (2/5), was to be flown into LZ Victor, about 3.5 kilometers east-southeast of LZ X-Ray. The prisoner revealed that there were three PAVN battalions on the Chu Pong Mountain an estimated 1,600 troops compared to fewer than 200 American soldiers on the ground at that point. Charlie Company suffered 45 dead and more than 50 wounded, the heaviest casualties of any unit that fought on Albany. Just before 13:00, Devney's 1st platoon was heavily assaulted on both flanks by the PAVN, taking casualties and becoming pinned down in the process. By 16:30, they came into contact with the Alpha Company (1/5) perimeter under Capt. [33], Using a plan devised by Moore, Tully (2/5) commanded B/1/7, A/2/5, and C/2/5 in a third major effort to relieve the lost B Company platoon of 1/7 under Sgt. United States 4th Infantry Division change of Command ceremony at camp Enari in Pleiku, South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Galloway later described Ia Drang as "the battle that convinced Ho Chi Minh he could win". The U.S. Army 4th Infantry Division in Vietnam | SOFREP Kroger and Geoghegan. [65][15]:145,150, According to ARVN, they lost 132 killed, 248 wounded, and 18 missing[68], Four American helicopters were shot down and 55 damaged. He vehemently objected to the order and was allowed to remain with his battalion until its withdrawal planned for the next morning. The city has a hospital, a commercial airfield, and several air bases that are a legacy of its strategic importance during the later stages of the Vietnam War (1965-75). By 10:00, the PAVN had begun to withdraw from the battle, although sporadic fire still continued to harass the Americans. The monument at the ambush site is on the south side of the road on the small pass. Attacks to the southwest from these bases threatened to cut South Vietnam in two. Some of them were stumbling, walking right into us. 2nd Lt. John Geoghegan was posthumously awarded the. [31] [15]:99 The initial attack was repulsed with the help of strong air support, and a small relief force reinforced the camp on the morning of the 22nd. The surviving PAVN made their way back to the creek bed, where they were cut down by fire from the rest of A Company. According to History.com: February 10, 1965: "Viet Cong guerrillas blow up the U.S. barracks at Qui Nhon, 75 miles east of Pleiku on the central coast, with a 100-pound explosive charge under the building. Camp Holloway was a helicopter facility constructed by the United States Army near Pleiku in 1962, to support the operations of Free World Military Forces in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. There was death and destruction all around. The Battle of Ph Lc took place from 28 August to 10 December 1974 when North Vietnamese forces captured a series of hills and installed artillery that closed Phu Bai Air Base and interdicted Highway 1. There was no way we could dig a foxhole. Brigadier General Chu Huy Man of the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) was tasked with drawing the U.S. Air Cavalry into battle, to learn about its . Charlie and Alpha companies lost 70 men in the first few minutes. LZ X-Ray involved the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment and supporting units under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore, and took place November 1416, at LZ X-Ray. Jarhead03 2,171 4 Sep 21, 2011 #2 Sep 21, 2011 #3 Sep 21, 2011 #4 Guest Herrick expressed concerns that he might become cut off from the battalion if he tried to skirt the clearing and therefore would be leading his men through it in pursuit of the enemy. Attack on Camp Holloway - Wikipedia Vietnam was under French control at that time (as was Laos and Cambodia), and the Vietnamese, under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh, wanted So the Vietnamese and French fought each other in Vietnam. Tully's men in 2/5 then began to push forward toward where the rest of the ambushed column would be. [15]:1245, Near 17:00, the lead elements of Bravo Company of 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry (2/7) arrived at LZ X-Ray to reinforce the embattled 1st Battalion; the company closed in at 18:00 hours. McDade and his group walked across the clearing and into a clump of trees. The two captured PAVN soldiers were policed up about 100 yards from the southwestern edge of the Albany clearing, the report of which reached division forward at Pleiku at 11:57. The 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry (1/7) was typical for U.S. Army units of the time, consisting of three rifle companies and a heavy weapons company: A-Alpha Company, B-Bravo Company, C-Charlie Company and D-Delta Company about 450 men in total of the 765 of the battalion's authorized strength. [66], Commenting later on the battle, Moore said, The "peasant soldiers [of North Vietnam] had withstood the terrible high-tech fire storm delivered against them by a superpower and had at least fought the Americans to a draw. The remainder of the battalion was in a dispersed column to the east of the LZ. The repulsion of the North Vietnamese assault immediately set the stage for the offensive in Ia Drang. D Company's reconnaissance platoon (commanded by Lieutenant James Rackstraw) was positioned along the north and east of the landing zone, establishing a 360-degree perimeter over X-Ray. Jimmy Nakayama of Rigby, Idaho who had been a 2nd Lt. in the National Guard. By early 1965, the majority of rural South Vietnam was under limited Viet Cong (VC) control, increasingly supported by People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) regulars from North Vietnam. The American column was halted in unprepared, open terrain and strung out in 550-yard (500m) line of march. [3]:309 USAF A-1E Skyraiders soon provided support by dropping napalm bombs, but because of the fog of war and the inter-mixing of American and PAVN troops, it is likely that air and artillery strikes killed NVA and American soldiers indiscriminately. [15]:145 Similarly, Moore also acknowledged that the PAVN casualty figures in the fight at LZ X-Ray were inaccurate. There were several dead NVA around his platoon command post. A total of 23 U.S. personnel were killed, as well as two Viet Cong. [3]:339,340. Anyone who travels along the QL19 between Pleiku and Quy Nhon will pass both locations. Moore arranged the lifts to deliver Bravo Company first, along with his command team, followed by Alpha and Charlie Companies, and finally Delta Company. Enemy fire started to hit the 1st Battalion command post, which suffered one medic killed and several other troops wounded (including one of Moore's own radio operators, Spec. The U.S. claim of 403 PAVN battle dead at Landing Zone Albany seems an overestimate. During August and September of 1965, the battalion received new vehicles, equipment, and filler personnel. Pleiku Air Base | Military Wiki | Fandom It was later discovered that the PAVN were mopping up, looking for wounded American soldiers in the tall grass and killing them. [31], At 09:10, the first elements of Alpha Company (2/7), under Capt. Battle of Peleliu - Wikipedia A Company took up positions to the rear and left flank of B Company along the dry creek bed, and to the west and to the south facing perpendicular down the creek bed. When Moore refused to relinquish the command of his battalion, Brown contented to notify him before leaving that the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry was withdrawn the next day. Delta Company, which comprised special weapons forces including mortar, recon, and machine gun units, was to be used as the battlefield reserve. Moore responded that he had plans to send in 1st Cav, although at the present time all units were engaged. Battle of Pleiku made a huge impact on the US army as well as its government. [15]:120, Knowles called Kinnard to report that the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry had engaged the enemy and requested an additional battalion the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry to counter the PAVN 7th and 9th Battalions. [16] The division's troopers dubbed themselves the "Air Cav" (Air Cavalry) and in July 1965 began deploying to Camp Radcliff, An Kh, Vietnam. Theron Ladner (with his assistant gunner PFC Rodriguez Rivera) and Spec. (1988). A one-helicopter landing zone was secured and the wounded were evacuated. [30] The second push had advanced just over 75 yards (70m) toward the lost platoon's position before being stopped by the PAVN. Under the light of a bright moon, the PAVN probed every company on the perimeter (with the exception of D/1/7) in small squad-sized units. Making use of four artillery batteries, Lund organized fire into separate concentrations along the battlefield with devastating consequences for the waves of advancing PAVN. Dak To 1967. Moore's wife, Julia Compton Moore, followed in the wake of the deliveries to widows in the Fort Benning housing complex, grieving with the wives and comforting the children and attended the funerals of all the men killed under her husband's command who were buried at Fort Benning. Delta Company, which was next in the column following Alpha Company, was holding in place; so was Charlie Company, which was next in line. After expending his M60 ammunition, Parish resorted to his .45 sidearm to repel PAVN forces that advanced within 20 yards (18m) of his foxhole. Attack on the Pleiku Radio Station - arsof-history.org It was established by the Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) 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. By early November 1965 three PAVN regiments the 32nd, 33rd and 66th and the H15 Local Force Battalion had been assembled in the area. Lt. Col. Bob Tully, commanding the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry, went to LZ Columbus about 4km (2mi) to the northeast, and Lt. Col. Robert McDade, commanding the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, went to LZ Albany about 4km (2mi) to the north-northeast, close to the Ia Drang. We had a strategy of people's war. Edwards (C Company) ordered SSgt. Phuoc Long Province 1974 - 1975. Simultaneously, about 10 yards away, his platoon sergeant captured a second PAVN soldier. [15]:1201, Under Savage's leadership, and with the extraordinary care of the 2nd Platoon's medic Charlie Lose, the platoon held the knoll for the duration of the battle at X-Ray. Pleiku AB about Feb 1968. [39] Lt. Col. Nguyn Hu An was on his way from his forward command post to the LZ X-Ray to meet with L Ngc Chu, 7th Battalion interim Commander, when he first saw the waves of B-52 carpet bombings raining down. '"[26], The battle was ostensibly over. Carl Palmer, ordered the signals codes to be destroyed and artillery support to be called in. They planned to resume the advance at daybreak. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) General William C. Westmoreland had secured the commitment of upward of 300,000 U.S. regulars from President Lyndon B. Johnson and a build-up of forces took place in the summer of 1965. Battle of Ph Lc - Wikipedia The U.S. ground forces had to move outside a 2 miles (3.2km) safety zone by midmorning to be clear of the bombardment. Soon, Herrick radioed in to ask whether he should enter or circumvent a clearing that his platoon had come across in the bush. Pleiku Map - Central Highlands, Vietnam - Mapcarta Helicopter-borne 1st Cav troops dropped at Landing Zone X-Ray on Nov. 14 soon were attacked by the NVA but eventually repulsed the enemy. Lt. Marm, 2nd Platoon, A Company, fired a light anti-tank weapon (LAW) at the machine-gun position, charged the position with grenades while under fire, and killed the remaining PAVN at the machine-gun position with rifle fire. [40], At 09:00, 1st Air Cavalry TOC submitted an Arc Light request to J3/MACV for 13:00 on 18 November. II Corps The Central Highlands area in South Vietnam, consisting of 12 provinces, and the largest of the four corps in size. [4] Air Cavalry units at the scene reported seeing three .50 caliber machine gun positions firing at the aircraft that were directly in path of strike. Operation Long Reach, which was the Chu Pong . Over the next several weeks, ferocious Japanese resistance. [3]:220, The American lines at X-Ray were harassed during the night of 15 November by PAVN probes. [15]:136, Lt. Pat Payne's reconnaissance platoon had walked to within 200 yards (180m) of the headquarters of the PAVN 3rd Battalion, 33rd Regiment; the 550 men of the 8th Battalion, 66th Regiment had been bivouacked to the northeast of the American column. Major General William R. Peers and General Charles P. stone in a jeep as they troop the line. The resulting exchange was particularly costly for the platoon its lead forces were quickly cut down. [58], A 1966 PAVN Central Highlands Front report claimed that in five major engagements with U.S. forces, PAVN forces suffered 559 soldiers killed and 669 wounded. The Pleiku Airbase Association Capt. It looked like they had died trying to help each other. A decisive factor in this stand, in addition to rifle and machine gun fire from B Company's lines, was the skilled placement of artillery strikes by Diduryk's forward observer, Lt. Bill Lund. Following their arrival, Herren ordered B Company to move west past the creek bed. [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] [15]:99103[19], At the end of October, after the siege of Plei Me was lifted, General Westmoreland ordered General Harry Kinnard to take his division on to the offensive and seize the initiative in Pleiku province. An Loc 1972. In preparation for a defensive position to last the night, Moore ordered Bravo Company's commander Capt. "[3]:369 While securing the battlefield, Rescorla recovered a large, battered, old French army bugle from a dying PAVN soldier. [34] News reporter Joe Galloway, who helped carry one of the badly wounded men (who died two days later) to an aid station, tried to attach a name to the death occurring around him, discovering that this particular soldier's name was Pfc. [15]:123. Ia Drang - LZ X-Ray - Vietnam War Travel [69], The U.S. Army had not set up casualty-notification teams this early in the war. Galloway later shared how that same week Nakayama became a father. Ia Drang comprised two main engagements, centered on two helicopter landing zones (LZs), the first known as LZ X-Ray, followed by LZ Albany, farther north in the Ia Drang Valley. 25th Infantry Division - US Army - Vietnam - Museum Lt. D. P. (Pat) Payne, the recon platoon leader, was walking around some termite hills when he suddenly came upon a PAVN soldier resting on the ground. The small contingent of D Company took up position on A Company's left flank. Buse Tully began marching from LZ Columbus to the rear of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry column that was about 2 miles (3.2km) away. Before leaving Pleiku, they also had a meeting with General Vinh Loc, II Corps Commander and General Larsen, IFFV Commander who were involved in the battle at corps level. On Charlie Company's broken lines, PAVN troops walked the lines for several minutes, killing wounded Americans and stripping their bodies of weapons and other items. The pilot of the second F-100, Lt.Col. Payne jumped on the soldier and took him prisoner. The Americans claimed LZ X-Ray as a tactical victory, citing a 10:1 kill ratio. Tully's men moved out at 09:00; McDade's followed 10 minutes later. Although many decorations have been awarded to veterans of the Battle of Ia Drang, in his book We Were Soldiers OnceAnd Young, Lt. Gen. Harold Moore writes: We had problems on the awards Too many men had died bravely and heroically, while the men who had witnessed their deeds had also been killed Acts of valor that, on other fields, on other days, would have been rewarded with the Medal of Honor or Distinguished Service Cross or a Silver Star were recognized only with a telegram saying,"The Secretary of the Army regrets" The same was true of our sister battalion, the 2nd of the 7th. Battalion SgtMaj. [51] The United States reported 403 PAVN troops were killed in this battle and an estimated 150 were wounded, probably a large overestimation. Jack Gell, brought his and the bodies of other Americans back to the creek bed under heavy fire. This followed on the heels of the deployment of 100 helicopter door-gunners in 1963 and . 1st Cavalry Division History - Vietnam War, 1965 - 1972 Under heavy attack on three sides, the battalion fought off repeated waves of PAVN infantry. [3]:292,293 Most of the units had flank security posted, but the men were worn out from almost 60 hours without sleep and four hours of marching. With Delta Company's weapons teams on the ground, its mortar units were concentrated with the rest of the battalion's in a single station to support Alpha and Bravo Companies. Gonzales who had been given command of D Company by its commander, to position D Company on C Company's left flank, extending the perimeter to cover the southeast side of X-Ray. Their advance was quickly stopped by Lt. Walter "Joe" Marm's 2nd Platoon, A Company, situated on B Company's left flank. While the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry was moving up northwest toward the position of 1st Battalion CP, 33rd Regiment nested at the east side of Ia Drang river, the 8th Company, 8th Battalion, 66th Regiment marched down southeast along the Ia Drang river, and the 6th Company, 8th Battalion, 66th Regiment and 7th Company, 8th Battalion, 66th Regiment marched down on a collision path toward the Air Cavalry unit. The PAVN forces had suffered hundreds of casualties and were no longer capable of fighting. According to History.com: February 10, 1965: "Viet Cong guerrillas blow up the U.S. barracks at Qui Nhon, 75 miles east of Pleiku on the central coast, with a 100-pound explosive charge under the building. As word of the capture reached him, McDade ordered a halt as he went forward from the rear of the column to interrogate the prisoners personally. Lt. Franklin was also seriously wounded. 4s Clinton Poley, Nathaniel Byrd and George Foxe) were instrumental in preventing the PAVN advance from completely overrunning Geoghegan's lines. The Americans at Albany then settled down for the night. Pleiku South Vietnam 1968 stock footage and images - CriticalPast At around 16:00, Capt. Battle of Pleiku - Oxford Reference Location: Central Highlands, Vietnam, Southeast Asia, Asia; View on OpenStreetMap; Latitude. [dubious discuss], Given the tempo of combat at LZ X-Ray and the losses being suffered, other units of the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) planned to land nearby and then move overland to X-Ray. John Mingo surprised and captured an unarmed deserter from the PAVN 33rd Regiment. On November 11, intelligence source revealed the disposition of the three PAVN regiments: the 66th at vicinity YA9104, the 33rd at YA 940010 and the 32nd at YA 820070. PAVN casualty figures advanced by II Corps Command relied especially on PAVN regimental command posts' own loss reports (as indicated by Maj. Gen. Kinnard),[61] intercepted by ARVN radio listening stations.
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