“ Sky Soldiers”

173rd MOVES NORTH

   The 173d conducted four smaller operations in the Xuan Loc and Bien Hoa area. Nearly 100 more VC were killed by the Sky Soldiers as they conducted Operations Newark, Ft Wayne, Dayton and Cincinnati during the two month period.
  Then on May 24, while conducting Operation Cincinnati, the Sky Soldiers were alerted for immediate deployment to the II Corps Tactical Zone. Within 24 hours of notifications the first elements of the Brigade were moving by C-130 aircraft from Bien Hoa to Pleiku. During the first 67 hours 2,239 personnel and 2,701 tons of supplies and equipment were transferred to the Central Highlands.
  The Brigade was placed under the operational control of the 4th Infantry Division and immediately began search and destroy tactics west of Pleiku during Operation Francis Marion.
  While Francis Marion was in progress, during which 173d Paratroopers made no significant contact, increased enemy activity was being observed in the Dak To area, some 54 miles farther north. A Special Forces and CIDG unit had made contact with an estimated North Vietnamese Company. Within a few days, the entire Brigade was deployed to Dak To by airlift and convoy to begin Operation Greeley.

JUNE 22

  On June 22, Company A, 2nd Battalion, made contact with and was soon surrounded by a North Vietnamese Army Battalion. On a nearby ridge overlooking the Brigade Base Camp, two more Companies of Paratroopers were lifted into the area and began hacking their way through the mountainous terrain toward Alpha Company. Their movement became bogged down by heavy enemy sniper fire.
  Although greatly outnumbered by the wel trained North Vietnamese regulars, the men of Alpha Company fought valiantly. The communists threw several human wave assaults at the Sky Soldier perimeter. The battle raged for seven hours. Although A Company itself suffered heavy casualties, its Paratroopers dealt a crippling blow to the North Vietnamese Battalion. General William C. Westmoreland, Allied Commander, later told the Sky Soldiers at Dak To that their efforts prevented the North Vietnamese from overrunning the Special Forces camp there. He saluted the 173d as one of the finest units in the history of the American fighting man.
  After completing a successful operation aimed at protecting the Vietnamese rice harvest west of Tuy Hoa during September and October, the Brigade once again deployed to Dak To, to join the 4th Infantry Division in Operation McArthur. During the ensuing battle for Dak To, the Sky Soldiers fought during their finest hour.

The Airborne Infantrymen made repeated heavy contact with large forces of North Vietnamese over a bitterly fought 20 day period.

 

                     BONG SON- A Helicopter Pilot from the 61st Assault Helicopter Company recently braved typhoon winds and rain to make a dramatic rescue of a 173d Airborne Brigade Long Range Patrol which was being tracked with dogs by a North Vietnamese Platoon.
    Team F of the 74th Infantry Detachment (LRP) had been searching for three reported NVA base camps in the northern An Lo Valley, an enemy stronghold 20 miles north of Bong Son when they detected enemy movement to their rear.
    "We set up in a hasty ambush," said Sergeant Peter G. Mossman of Stamford Conn, leader of the six-man combined American Vietnamese team. "My rear security man Specialist 4 Chase Riley of Wayne NJ, zapped their point man and two others fled. We searched the body, captured a Chinese bolt-action rifle and moved out about 150 meters." "We stopped and again and heard movement behind us, talking, and dogs barking," continued Mossman. "They must have been trying to track us with dogs and we couldn't get anyone on the radio, so we tried to break contact by moving as fast as possible."

Getting Closer

    During the next three hours, the NVA force kept closing with the team. The Paratroopers however finally made radio contact with elements of the Americal Division and told them their situation. The Americal passed the word on to the 173d. But, the team was told, that no helicopters could fly in the typhoon which had been building up for a week, and to continue on their escape and evasion course.
    Meanwhile, the decision was made to send four helicopters anyway in case the weather let up. A team ship piloted by Warrant Officer Sam M. Kyle of Castalion Springs Tn, a Command and Control ship piloted by Warrant Officer Dany Pennington of Crossett Ark and two Gunships were sent to the rescue. The LPR's were notified and headed for the closest suitable pick-up zone about 500 meters away while the weather and visibility got progressively worse.
    "When we got to the pick-up zone, the NVA were practically breathing down our necks," said Mossman. "They couldn't see us though because the visibility was down to about 25 meters. We couldn't see the Choppers either, but we could hear them, so we just kept signaling with a strobe light and just hoped."

Geer and Miesner reconned the area but couldn't locate the team, so we moved out to make room for Kyle. By this time, the team had made contact with the Choppers, and were told that the Gunships were leaving because the ceiling was so low they couldn't bring suppressive ground fire.
    "I made the decision to stay and try to get them out," said Kyle, "because I'd sure hate to be in their position and have the Choppers leave me. I figured this was their only chance because the weather probably wouldn't clear up for a couple of days, so I just kept circling lower and lower until I finally spotted their light."

Shocked Me

“ ContactCharlie “

             We spent plenty of Time in The Vietnam Jungles. Accordingly, we would spend sixty to ninety days out on Hawk Patrols or Village sweeps and then maybe we would get about a week of stand down time in the rear secure area`s. Thats when the fun began, where we rested up and p0t`ied… if we had no duty`s to report to. Then it was Back to the seriousness of

The Jungles and death

           ...again for another ninty days! Plenty time to "Short-Time" calender refrence and more time to be dead!

               Ohio Homecoming Events to

Mark The Vietnam War

Published: 1/5/05
 
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) - When Most of us came back from Vietnam, we were met by ant-war protesters - not exactly a warm and fuzzy hello.

Now, 30 years after the war ended, Some Veterans are helping to organize an event to finally welcome Vietnam veterans home.

        "You've got a whole segment of the population that went through the same thing I did," said Jackson, who wrote a war memoir titled "Naked in Da Nang."

"I just want somebody to say thank you, somebody to say welcome home. It would mean a lot."

Jackson is spearheading Operation Welcome Home, a four-day celebration Veterans Day weekend in Las Vegas. A similar event, Operation Homecoming USA, is set for June in Branson, Mo. A highlight of both will be a parade.

       There haven't been many ceremonies and parades over the years for the 7.9 million Vietnam veterans, though there was a homecoming parade 20 years ago in New York City that drew about 25,000 former soldiers.

Military historian J. Michael Wenger can't recall any official homecoming parades during or shortly after the war.

          "The military was just ready to have it done with," said Wenger, of Raleigh, N.C., who also has written about the Vietnam War. "It would have been a publicity nightmare. It would have attracted protesters like a magnet."

      Jackson, 57, vividly recalls his June 25, 1972, return to the United States. Anti-war protesters were at the airport in San Francisco to harass him and his fellow soldiers as they caught flights home.

"We walked a gantlet through these guys on either side of us, putting signs in front of your face and screaming at you," recalled Jackson, who flew 210 combat missions during the war. "Thas was our welcome home."

     When he returned to his hometown of Tipp City, just north of Dayton, there were no parades or any official welcome-home events. People were pleasant, he said, but not one asked him about his Vietnam experience.

    "Nobody wanted to hear it," he said.

     Clinical psychologist Steven Herman said many Vietnam veterans feel that their service was meaningless because of the way they were treated when they came home. This year's homecoming events could ease those feelings, he said.

"At the very least, it would provide some validation," said Herman, who practices at the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis.

      Vets Journey Home. Gene McMahon is a Vietnam Veteran and Directs This program for his former fellow soldiers to vent traumatic wartime experiences.

     The program has simulated homecomings for small groups of Vietnam veterans. McMahon said those homecomings that can be critical to helping them heal.

               "They have a missing piece," he said.

        McMahon appreciates this year's homecomings but questions whether the Las Vegas and Branson events will be able to heal the severe psychological wounds suffered by some veterans.

     "It will be too little too late," he said. "It's deeper work than that."

Jackson calls the Las Vegas event a start.

     "The time is right in the American psyche to do this," he said. "I think that there is a little bit of guilt in the American public on what they did  to these guys."

     Branson organizer Gary Linderer, of Festus, Mo., agrees the homecomings are late but better than nothing.

      "There still are a lot of vets that are bitter and angry to this day," he said. "How do you apologize for what happened 30 years ago? This doesn't make up for it."

                                   More Information

On The Õ¿Õ¬ Net~

               A 173rd Airborne Brigade Hawk Team's patience in a game of hide-and-seek paid off recently when Paratroopers surprised a group of VC and killed six of them.
   The 3rd Platoon, Co B, 1/503rd Inf received reports of enemy movement near the Nui Loi Mountains six miles northeast of Landing Zone Uplift. A Hawk Team set up an observation post on one of the mountain tops. From the mountain top, the team moved to within 300 meters of it's base, which overlooked a hamlet. The Sky Soldiers remained there until late the following day without seeing anything unusual.
   Then, while Pfc John M. a Whittenberg, Crescent Okla, was on guard, he noticed an old Vietnamese woman working in the rice fields. She was gathering wood and depositing it near a hedge row next to a large boulder. "At first I didn't pay any attention to her," he said. "I thought she was just another old woman collecting fire wood and let it go at that. But then I saw her look around and signal someone hidden from my view. I became suspicious and called one of the other Scouts to have a look."
   Then the 19 year old trooper saw a group of 20 people appear. In groups of two and three, they left their hiding places and approached the area where the woman had been working. Staff Sgt Francis S McMillan, Montpelier Vt, a Squad Leader remarked, "we watched them as they transported food and water to a hiding place, then return for more." The team informed its Commany Commander of the situation and kept watch until dark.
   The next day, the 2nd and 3rd Platoons searched the area. Four booby traps were found and destroyed by the element's Pointman, but no people were seen. The Platoons returned to their larger sites as the Hawk Team continued its vigilance. At almost the same time as before, the people returned and began inspecting the area where booby traps had been blown by the Paratroopers.
   From it's vantage point 300 leters away, the team watched and informed the CO once again. He told the Infantrymen to ambush the VC, and that he would send reinforcements. Since the team couldn't approach their foe without being seen, two men positioned themselves and opened up with Ml6 and a M79 grenade launcher. "I must have lobbed 25 to 30 rounds at them as they scurried for cover" said Sgt Charles M Radcliff, Shelbyville Ky. "I saw three or four of them go down. Some of the VC attempted to drag the bodies away."
   The 20yr old Sgt grabbed his rifle, a bandoleer of M16 ammunition, and ran down the mountain yelling for the men to follow him. Another Paratrooper was right beside him, both firing their weapons as they charged. When they reached the bottom, the two Paratroopers searched the hedge rows and the rocks. "There were numerous blood trails leading into some caves, so I followed them," continued Radcliff.
   Inside the caves, the Sergeant found the body of one VC who had been dragged off during the fire fight. He also found some rucksacks, a pistol belt with hand grenades attached, and miscellaneous documents. Because it was getting dark, the Security Squad sent to help the team, returned to its laager site. The Hawk Team remained until the next morning.
   That morning, the Team filed through the hamlet that the Scouts had been observing. As they did so, one of the soldiers noticed an old women crying and recognized her as the one who signaled the VC, she was detained. Later that day a Cheiu Hoi, wounded in the previous day's encounter, informed the Company that six enemy soldiers were killed and many wounded.

                     The 173d Airborne Brigade, the first U.S. Combat Unit to arrive in Vietnam, fought the enemy throughout the II and III Tactical Zones during eleven Combat operations.
     It was highlighted at the very beginning when the hard fighting Paratroopers were picked to lead two multi-unit operations directed at the Viet Cong's two strongest sanctuaries -- the Iron Triangle and War Zone C near the Cambodian border. On February 22, 780 Paratroopers of the 2nd Battalion, 503d Infantry made the first Combat Jump of the war and the first since Korea to spearhead Operation Junction City.
  During the past year, Airborne Infantrymen of the 173d Brigade have accounted for 1,778 VC and NVA deaths and killed a possible 735 more of the enemy. Although participating in some of the heaviest fighting in Vietnam for a unit of its size, Paratroopers suffered relatively very few casualties.

Altogether, 484 Sky Soldiers had made the supreme sacrifice for their country while 1,460 were wounded on the Field of Battle.

LEADING THE WAY

  In early January, American military leaders were determined to destroy a Viet Cong stronghold since 1950, north of Saigon known as the Iron Triangle. On January 5, elements of the 173d were moved to the Cau Dinh Jungle at the southern tip of the Triangle to launch Operation Cedar Falls. The strategy of Cedar Falls was to seal off the entire Iron Triangle, penetrate and saturate the area and destroy all enemy forces and installations.
  With most of the other units occupying blocking positions, the 173d's three Infantry Battalions swept and cleared the Triangle -- locating and destroying small troop concentrations and tunnel systems. Many VC elected to seek refuge in the vast underground complexes, but volunteer tunnel rat teams fearlessly explored the enemy tunnels, bringing out large caches of weapons and supplies and VC captives. During the operation, the Sky Soldiers killed 185 enemy, captured 65 prisoners and 200 weapons and uncovered 1,000 tons of rice.

                           Then in February, 780 Sky Soldiers jumped from streaking C-130 aircraft from 1,000 feet in the air to land on a 1000 by 6000 foot rice paddy near the Cambodian border. The 2nd Battalion, 'We Try Harder' Sky Soldiers received only light sniper fire as they descended on the huge clearing. Simultaneously, two more Battalions of Sky Soldiers were heli-lifted to adjacent landing zones and immediately the biggest Allied offensive of the war was on.
              The first part of their mission was complete: with lighting speed the Airborne task force had jumped into combat, blocking the VC from the refuge of the Cambodian border. As Junction City moved into March and subsequently led to Junction City II, the hard fighting Paratroopers were credited with killing 304 VC soldiers.

  With the completion of Junction City II and the return of the Paratroopers to Bien Hoa to begin a new operation, the 173rd had already that year demonstrated its fighting ability. The Rest, as we say Is

History.

An AC-130H (post -SOFI mod) dispenses IRCM flares

The AC-130H Spectre Gunship is an extensively modified version of the Lockheed C-130. It is armed with two 20mm Vulcan cannons that can fire up to 2500 rounds per minute each, one 40mm Bofors cannon set to fire 100 rounds per minute and one 105mm Howitzer.

The AC-130H is air refuelable and can loiter on station almost indefinitely with tanker support.

During Vietnam the AC-130A and AC-130E/H each destroyed more than 10,000 enemy vehicles and were credited with many life-saving close air support missions.

The Spectre Gunship has been a vital member in Vietnam, Grenada (Operation URGENT FURY), Panama (Operation JUST CAUSE), Iraq (DESERT SHIELD/DESERT STORM), Somalia (Operation CONTINUE HOPE), Haiti, Bosnia (Operation DENY FLIGHT), Liberia and elsewhere.

                1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade (Separate), showed that it could operate as an effective fighting force anywhere in Vietnam. From the hot, sweltering jungles of War Zones "C and D" and the Iron Triangle in the South, to the rugged, heavily vegetated mountains of Kontum Province, to the fertile coastal areas around Tuy Hoa, the Battalion decisively overwhelmed all opposition.

 
  The pride of the Men of the First Battalion of Sky Soldiers is drawn from their knowledge that they successfully completed the most difficult tasks assigned to anyone in Vietnam hand that they  engaged and defeated the best trained and best equipped forces the enemy could put in the field.