The Herd Soldiers.

adragon.gif (6759 bytes)

The ~Herd~ Soldiers

SkyTroopers.jpg (17936 bytes)

Sky Soldier Staff

Captain Robert R. Brewer - - - - I.O.
Sp5 Roger E. Hester - - - - - Editor
Sp5 Michael J. Pappas - - - Reporter

squadPattiein.jpg (31952 bytes)

trooper2A.gif (13995 bytes)

47ka.gif (4388 bytes) The soldiers of The 173d Airborne Brigade were the first U.S. Combat Unit to arrive in Vietnam and fought the enemy throughout the II and III Tactical Zones during eleven Combat operations in 1967.
It was a year 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.

herd43.jpg (62432 bytes)

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 503rd.gif (8906 bytes) THE WAY

herd45.jpg (66558 bytes)

m79er.gif (37282 bytes) 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.

STAND IN THE DOOR !

Then on February 22, 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 helilifted to adjacent landing zones and immediately the biggest Allied offensive of the war was on.

herd6A.jpg (34059 bytes)
        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 173d had already that year demonstrated its fighting ability.
  From early April to the last week in May.

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

173d MOVES NORTH

gliderpatch.gif (8794 bytes)

RAguy.jpg (1587 bytes) 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.

herd59.jpg (49390 bytes)

TanksAlot.gif (43371 bytes) 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

herd3A.jpg (32083 bytes) NC.jpg (1914 bytes)

         RAguy2.jpg (2604 bytes) 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 well 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.

HILL 875

herd42.jpg (34747 bytes)

  On a remote bamboo covered hill designated 875, a Battalion of well dug in NVA made a last ditch effort to stop the hard hitting Paratroopers. Both sides took heavy casualties during the fight characterized by close quarter fighting and Communist human wave assaults. On Thanksgiving Day elements of the 4th Battalion, 503d Infantry, rose to the crest of the hill and ousted the last of the NVA defenders.
  Presently, the 173d Brigade is conducting two separate operations simultaneously, miles apart. The 3rd and 4th Battalions, 503d Infantry are carrying on Operation Bolling in the rice paddies and foothills northwest of Tuy Hoa, while the 1st and 2nd Battalions, 503d Infantry, are conducting Operation Corregidor near Kontum.
  The fighting strength of the 173d Airborne Brigade was increased to four Infantry Battalions when the 3rd Battalion, 503d Infantry joined the Sky Soldiers in October, after completing six months of extensive training at Ft. Bragg, N.C.
  It was a tough but gratifying year for the Sky Soldiers. They have smashed the enemy's forces in the South and in the Central Highlands too. Their deeds have made headlines all over the world.

RAguy2.jpg (2604 bytes) BRIGADE INFORMATION OFFICE

Opinions expressed in the Sky Soldier 0r in Our BunKer~s

are not necessarily those of

loadUp3.jpg (39669 bytes)

the Department of the Army.

Dr GraFiX

VOL. 1, NO. 9 11 NOV 1968

173D AIRBORNE BRIGADE

VC Tarzan Drops Pants, Flees 1/503

BONG SON- A Viet Cong guerilla was recently caught playing tarzan, and lost his pants in the ensuing excitement. The bizarre incident took place in the Suoi Ca Mountains along South Vietnam's north central coast as paratroopers of the 1st Battalion, 503d Infantry were moving along a jungle trail.
"It all happened so fast," said Sgt John H. Moorman of Ivanhoe Ca, a Paratrooper with Alpha Company, "the guy caught us completely by surprise." As Moorman described the scene, the enemy soldier, dressed in black pajamas suddenly came swinging out of the trees hanging onto a jungle vine, then dropped to the ground about 10 meters to their front and took off running. Firing in the escaping VC's direction, the Paratroopers saw him tumble down a ravine. After searching the area, the Infantrymen turned up an AK47 rifle and a pair of black pajama bottoms.

Rogers' Rangers Orders Prove

Worth with C/1/503d

By Sp4 Jed Rumble

    LZ UPLIFT- Words of wisdom phrased by a famed Indian fighter more than two centuries ago are still paying off today in Vietnam. The words, labeled Roger's Rangers' Standing Orders and composed in 1759 by Major Robert Rogers of French & Indian War fame, currently serve as the code of survival for Paratroopers of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion.
    "Our men know all 19 of the orders by heart," said 1Lt Kenneth P. Berquist, a Platoon Leader with Charlie Company. "We live by those orders here in Charlie Company," asserted Berquist. "They've gotten us out of a lot of tight jams." Berquist cited his Company Commander, Captain Robert J. Powell of Columbus Ga, as the man who made us believe in the wisdom of the 19 declarations.
    "Everyone who comes into Vietnam gets a copy of the orders," noted one Paratrooper. "I don't know what the other troops do with their's, but here Captain Powell drilled them into our heads."
    The orders which range from such stark phrases as: "DON'T NEVER TAKE A CHANCE YOU DON'T HAVE TO (Order # 5) to "IF WE TAKE PRISONERS WE KEEP 'EM SEPARATE 'TILL WE HAVE HAD TIME TO EXAMINE THEM SO THEY CAN'T COOK UP A STORY BETWEEN 'EM," cover the entire gamut of combat techniques against a guerilla force.
    Sgt Robert G. Obidzinski of Warren Mi, heartily agreed with his Platoon Leader and pointed out a recent incident where his unit used the 3rd Standing Orders to catch a small group of NVA by surprise.

Like Clockwork

    The 3rd Standing Order reads: "WHEN ON THE MARCH ACT THE WAY YOU WOULD IF YOU WERE SNEAKING UP ON A DEER. SEE THE ENEMY FIRST."
    "There was some evidence of NVA in the area," said Sgt Obidzinski, "so we were moving real quiet through the jungle, when suddenly we came upon a Montagnard village that was supposed to be abandoned. It wasn't." Because they had been undetected, the Paratroopers took the small supply outpost completely by surprise. They swept through the area, killed four NVA soldiers, detained a Medical Officer and confiscated a sizeable amount of equipment and rice.
    Indeed, most new arrivals to Vietnam get a chuckle when they are issued the Rogers' Rangers cards and usually throw them away. But, ask the Paratroopers of Charlie Company where they carry their's, and they'll undoubtedly show you that they "DON'T FORGET NOTHING", Junglejeep.gif (33720 bytes) Rogers' Rangers rule number ONE.

HHPan1.gif (1154225 bytes)

vnsermdl.gif (1747 bytes)

VOL. 1, NO. 11 25 DEC 1968

173D AIRBORNE BRIGADE

Sky Soldiers Earn
Top Honors

     LZ ENGLISH- Four of the Nation's highest awards for Valor were presented to Paratroopers of the 173d Airborne Brigade by General Creighton W. Abrams, Commander of United States Forces in Vietnam, in ceremonies recently.
   Sp5 James Anagnostopoulos, Senior Medic with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 503d Infantry, was presented our country's second highest award, the Distinguished Service Cross.
     While under automatic weapons fire and grenade bombardments from an NVA company, he saved the lives of six men, destroyed an enemy machine gun position and organized the helicopter evacuation of the wounded. Anagnostopoulos, of Okachee Wis, also aided in the rescue of five more Paratroopers again exposing himself to enemy fire.

silverstarFam.jpg (3303 bytes)

The Silver Star was presented to Sp5 Frederick W. Fassett of Newark NJ, for his actions while serving with Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 503d Infantry.

Exposed to Fire

Repeatedly exposing himself to enemy fire, Fassett, a Senior Medic, ran to aid wounded troopers of the 1st Battalion, 50th (Mech) Infantry. During the NVA counterattack, he remained with the forward element long enough to remove three of the men who had been wounded in the initial contact. Refusing to find cover, he helped evacuate the wounded to a safe landing zone where they could be recovered by evacuation helicopters.

The Distinguished Flying Cross for valor was awarded to Captain Stanley H. Streicher of Cincinnati Ohio, for his actions as a Helicopter Pilot in support of combat operations.

Answers SOS

Streicher heard a distress call over his radio to evacuate wounded troopers of a 4th Infantry Division unit in heavy enemy contact near Kontum. Hearing that a Medivac was not available for several hours, he requested to fly the mission although he was completely detached from the operation. Hindered by the tiny hillside landing zone and the ever darkening skies, he managed to hover low enough for the wounded soldiers to be placed aboard, a feat which four other pilots had tried but failed that same day.
Under constant fire, Cpt Streicher returned with a load of ammunition to carry the beleagured Company of the 4th Division through the night. Captain Streicher is currently in Command of the Casper Platoon Platoon of Helicopters, which aid in support of Brigade operations.

Sp4 Robin R. Titus, 19, then with Bravo Company, 173d Support Battalion, earned the Soldiers Medal for heroism for his actions when an Air Force C-123 cargo plane crashed on the runway at LZ English, 40 miles north of Qui Nhon.

Braves Danger

Although the aircraft was aflame and in danger of exploding from leaking fuel, Titus reentered the plane time and again until all casualities had been evacuated and received emergency medical treatment. As a result of this heroic action, the crash victims escaped with only moderate injuries. Specialist Titus is now serving as a Medical Aid with E troop, 17th Cavalry, operating along the north central coast of Vietnam.

VOL. 1, NO. 11 25 DEC 1968

3men.gif (31332 bytes) 173D AIRBORNE BRIGADE

HHPan3.gif (787889 bytes)

Trail Leads To NVA

     LZ UPLIFT- Tipped off by a well used trail that seemingly led to nowhere, Paratroopers of the 173d Airborne Brigade recently found four enemy base camps in three days along the north central coast of Vietnam.
     A Platoon of Bravo Company 1st Battalion, 503d Infantry were conducting operations in the rugged Suoi Ca Mountains, 35 miles northwest of Qui Nhon, as a recon-reaction force when they discovered the trail. "There was just no use for it," explained First Lieutenant Walter E. Mather of Fort Belvoir Va. "The heavy part of the trail didn't connect any villages, nor was their enough traffic to warrant the hard-packed sidewalk-like 'Expressway'."
     As they moved down the trail, signs of enemy activity became fresher. "We began to pass bunkers," said pointman Sp4 Richard Little of Akron Ohio. The trail soon led them into a Battalion-sized base camp. From all indications it had recently been used. Camp fires were still warm, and freshly used food cans were strewn about the 70 bunkers and over 60 straw hootches. Further down the same trail the next day Paratroopers found a second Battalion base camp. In the camp was a mess hall with hand-made furniture and running water by means of a bamboo trough from a nearby stream. The base camp covered two sides of the hill. "The bunker complexes and hootches were very well built," said Squad Leader Sgt David St John of Quapaw Okla.
     Retracing the steps of enemy soldiers spotted on the same trail by a sub-element of third Platoon led to the discovery of third Battalion base camp. This one was also equipped with a mess hall and running water. That afternoon the fourth base camp was found by another sub-element while on patrol in the area. This base camp was old and much smaller than the previous three.
     Equipment and ordnance captured included mortar rounds and 'butterfly' bombs used for making booby-traps. Documents and minor medical supplies were found in the first base camp.

VOL. 1, NO. 11 25 DEC 1968

173D AIRBORNE BRIGADE

Sky Soldiers Get Choice of Rations

   BONG SON- The American foot soldier in Vietnam undoubtedly has a much more diversified diet than any of his predecessors in other wars.
   There are two basic types of rations now offered to Infantry in the field, the C Ration, or standard canned meal, and the relatively new dehydrated Long Range Patrol (LRP) ration fondly called "lurp" and when mixed with water almost tastes like the real thing.
   When the rations are passed out in the 173d Airborne Brigade, it is always a big question who will get what. Many meals and desserts are in strong favor, but others are not quite so popular. Meals, like hash and desserts like apricots are seldom in demand.
   A trooper who enjoys apricots usually gets his fill. SP4 James Gavin of Wilkes Barre, Pa., says, "I'm sure glad my Mom brought me up liking those things."
   As far as favorite meals go spaghetti seems to be the most popular dehydrated meal with beef and rice running a close second. Beans and franks ranks high among the canned meals.
   Since the C-Rations have been changed (unpopular meals have been phased out of production), and lurps added, the food complaints have sharply declined among the Infantrymen. Together the C's and lurps make for a total of 20 different meals. Hot sauce is often added as seasoning.
   As one Paratrooper succinctly summed up his diet, "it ain't too good, but it ain't too bad either."

VOL. II, NO.5 1 March 1969

grunt.gif (2982 bytes) 173D AIRBORNE BRIGADE

HHPan4.gif (660732 bytes)

Hawks' Patience Is Rewarded In
Game of Hide-and-Seek

   A 173d 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.
   grunt.gif (2982 bytes) 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.

HHPan5.gif (1092265 bytes)

Paratroopers Quell Monkey Business

By Sp4 Ralph Dixon

    BAO LOC- This time there was more than monkeys on Monkey Mountain.
    At least, this is what Paratroopers of the 3rd Battalion, 503d Infantry, discovered as they climbed the heavily jungled hill 80 miles north of Saigon.
    Named for the abundance and variety of monkeys which lived there, 'Monkey Mountain', near Bao Loc, had been combed several times by the Infantrymen of the 3d Battalion. But, they had never found anything of significance.
    This time however, as the Paratroopers of Alpha Company, working as part of Task Force South, began their trek up the hillside, they noticed something different. Platoon Sergeant Carl Miller of Metropilis Ill, and Sergeant Jerome Lyford of Westport Conn, had moved to the head of the column when they spotted two figures retreating from them through the brush. "They were dressed in black pajamas and carrying weapons," said PSG Miller. "They sure weren't monkeys."
    First Lieutenant Stephan J.Tunks of Omaha Neb, quickly began pushing his Platoon up the hill toward the retreating enemy. "It was real thick foliage," said 1Lt Tunks, "and tough to move through. But, we were making pretty good progress until we came under fire." The barrage came from several hidden positions near the hillcrest and included everything from machine gun fire to B-40 rockets.
    Calling in Artillery support, the Paratroopers bombarded the crest for nearly two hours before moving up. At the summit they found a Company Headquarters base camp with 16 large camouflaged huts, a series of well fortified bunkers and a trench system.
    The Viet Cong had left behind a pile of documents, an AK47 rifle and several boxes of ammunition and grenades. "I guess they figured we wouldn't be coming up this way again," said 1Lt Tunks with a smile.

VOL. II, NO. 4 2 FEB 1969

173D AIRBORNE BRIGADE

HHPan6.gif (906080 bytes)

1/503 Catches Enemy Asleep

By SP4 James Stringer

    BONG SON- Three NVA soldiers recently had a rude awakening as an element of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 503d Infantry, 173d Airborne Brigade on a search and clear mission 40 miles north of Qui Nhon caught them in their hammocks.
    Hearing voices, Pfc Leroy Manuel of Jackson Ms, Pointman for Bravo, peered through a hedgerow and spied three NVA lounging in their hammocks and one was returning his stare. Simultaneously, Manuel and the NVA opened up, but before the rest of the Paratroopers could come on line, the three enemy escaped leaving their rucksacks, binoculars and one M-2 carbine.
    "I know I hit one of them because we found blood near their discarded gear," reported Manuel. Following the blood trails, the Sky Soldiers spotted the wounded man with his AK-47 hiding in one of the hedgerows. He was quickly eliminated by automatic weapons fire. "We returned to the point of initial contact and had called in a chopper to pick up the captured weapons," said 1Lt Charles Avakian of Whitinsville Mass, the Platoon Leader. As the men were putting up perimeter security, another NVA was spotted. "I saw him crouched in a spider hole," said Sp4 Ronald Germunson of Minneapolis, "so I opened up with my M-79." Upon searching the body, he was found to be an NVA officer and carried several documents, two Chicom grenades and a 32 caliber pistol.

HHPan7.gif (1035960 bytes)

Misfired AK 47 Helps 1st Bn

By PFC James Stringer

     The keen eye of a 1st Battalion Paratroopers Geer and Misner and a faulty magazine in an NVA's AK47 rifle recently led to the capture of an 82mm mortar with base plate and tripod, and the death of two NVA Officers.
     The Paratroopers were conducting a search and clear operation in the Suoi Ca Mountains. Charlie Company was searching a previously found NVA base camp when their OP (observation post) spotted three enemy soldiers, and wounded one.
     "We were following their trail when we came to a large rock formation and I thought I saw something moving," said Sgt Thomas Darden of Granger, Texas. "I told that Platoon Leader and we stopped to search the area."

Complex Found

     The men discovered a cave complex hidden in the rocks and later found a base plate and tripod to an 82mm mortar along with 24 mortar rounds, 6 cases of charge and 6 cans of fuses.
     Continuing the search, Pfc James Peden of Daytona Beach Fla, found a small tunnel leading out of the cave.
     "I had just gotten outside, when I heard what sounded like a rifle misfiring," recalled Pfc Peden. "I looked to my left and saw the three NVA soldiers hidden in some rocks about five feet away."
     Taking cover, Peden summoned the rest of the Company, who cut down the fleeing enemy, two of which turned out to be NVA Officers. "We later found out that the the magazine was bent and would a not project a round in to the chamber causing the rifle to misfire," said Peden. "I guess that is the only thing that saved my life."
     Returning to the cave complex the following morning to make a more thorough search, Sp4 Jack L. Joseph discovered the mortar tube hidden in a deeper section of the cave.

VOL. 1, NO. 10 25 NOV 1968

173D AIRBORNE BRIGADE

HHPan8.gif (765110 bytes)

Paratroopers Upset Viet Cong Ambush

By PFC John Donlon

    TUY HOA- Four enemy soldiers recently found that it doesn't pay to hunt or ambush Paratroopers of the 173d Airborne Brigade as two separate incidents proved near Tuy Hoa, about 300 miles north of Saigon.
    Conducting operations in Phu Yen Province, Sky Soldiers of Bravo Company, 4th Battalion, 503d Infantry discovered a small deserted enemy base camp. After setting up a night defensive position in the camp, one Squad went out to investigate what appeared to be a fresh grave about a hundred meters away. The Squad's security element spotted three Viet Cong following the trail the Paratroopers had made. A hasty ambush was set and the enemy soldiers were quickly destroyed.
    The following morning a Platoon from Bravo began sweeping the area to trap any other enemy in the area. "We had been following a trail for quite awhile when suddenly someone yelled ambush to the left," said Sp4 Terry M. Martin a machine gunner from Seelyville In, "We turned and charged the ambush before Charlie had a chance to fire a shot."
    One VC body was found but numerous blood trails indicated that many more had been wounded. In addition to the four enemy killed, numerous weapons were captured in the two day action. One AK-47, one SKS, one B-40 rocket launcher, one RPG machine gun, eight Chicom grenades, 260 rounds of AK-47 ammunition and a variety of field gear constituted the cache. One Paratrooper commented "I don't think their ambush worked out quite the way they intended."

VOL. II, NO.7 31 MARCH 1969

pat1a.jpg (24713 bytes)

173D AIRBORNE BRIGADE

Herd 3dskull.gif (40695 bytes) History:

herd62.jpg (50274 bytes)

bluflm.gif (5861 bytes) The 173rd Airborne ~Fire ~Brigade was constituted on 5th of August (Ricr0c`s BirthDay in `50)1917 as an infantry brigade and organized 25 August 1917 at Camp Pike, Arkansas as an element of the 87th Division.

The Brigade deployed to France in 1918 as part of the Division, but did not participate in any named campaigns. Returning to the United States the Brigade was demobilized January 1919 at Camp Dix, New Jersey.

Reconstituted 24 June 1921 in the Organized Reserves as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 173rd Infantry Brigade, and assigned to the 87th Division at Shreveport, Louisiana. Re-Organized in December 1921 at Mobile, Alabama….

Redesignated 23 March 1925 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 173d Brigade…

Redesignated 24 August 1936 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company 173d Infantry Brigade…

Converted and

redesignated 13 February 1942 as the 87th Reconnaissance Troop and ordered into active military service 15 December 1942.

anihook7d.gif (25385 bytes)

During World War II, when brigades were eliminated from divisions, Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 173d Infantry Brigade fought in three European campaigns as the 87th Reconnaissance Troop. After the war, the troop reverted to reserve status and was active from 1947 to 1951 at Birmingham, Alabama. It was inactivated 1 December 1951 at Birmingham, Alabama and released from assignment to the 87th Infantry Division.

In 1963 it was allotted to the Regular Army and activated on Okinawa 26 March 1963 as the 173d Airborne Brigade (Sep). Brigadier General Ellis W. Williamson commanded the unit, which was given the charter to serve as the quick reaction force for the Pacific Command. Under Williamson the unit trained extensively making mass parachute jumps and they earned the nickname “Tien Bien” or “Sky Soldiers,” from the Nationalist Chinese paratroopers.

smcibs.gif (2992 bytes)

Gattler.gif (40022 bytes) The troopers of the 173d Airborne Brigade wear their combat badges and decorations with pride. During more than six years of continuous combat, the brigade earned 14 campaign streamers and four unit citations. Sky Soldiers serving in Vietnam received 13 Medals of Honor, 32 Distinguished Service Crosses, 1736 Silver Stars and over 6,000
Purple Hearts. There are over 1,790 Sky Soldiers' names on the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington D.C. The brigade was deactivated on 14 January 1972 at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

us-pow-mia-flag1.gif (25675 bytes)

dogtag.gif (10638 bytes)

gettinoff.gif (340848 bytes)

Deployed to Vietnam in May 1965, the brigade was the first major ground combat unit of the United States Army to serve there. The 173rd Engineers were the first to go into War Zone D to destroy enemy base camps, introduced the use of small long-range patrols, and conducted the only combat parachute jump in the Vietnam conflict on 22 February 1967 (Operation Junction City). They fought in the Iron Triangle and blocked NVA incursions at Dak To during some of the bloodiest fighting of the war in the summer and fall of 1967, culminating in the capture of Hill 875.

RocKets.gif (13709 bytes) Elements of the brigade conducted an amphibious assault against NVA and VC forces as part of an operation to clear the rice-growing lowlands along the Bong Song littoral. The 1st and 2nd Battalions, 503d Infantry were the first Army combat units from the 173d sent to the Republic of South Vietnam, accompanied by the 3rd Battalion, 319th Artillery. They were supported by the 173d Support Battalion, 173d Engineers, Troop E, 17th Cavalry and Co D, 16th Armor. The First Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment and the 161st Field Battery of the Royal New Zealand Army were later attached to the Brigade during the first year.

In late August 1966, the 173d received another infantry battalion, the 4/503d from Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The 3/503d joined the Brigade at Tuy Hoa in September 1967 following its reactivation and training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Another unit assigned was the Co N, 75th Infantry (Ranger). At its peak in Vietnam, the 173d Airborne Brigade (Sep) had nearly 3,000 soldiers assigned.

skydriverRK.gif (6786 bytes)

The 173rd Airborne Brigade was then reactivated on 12 June 2000 on Caserma Ederle in Vicenza, Italy, where it serves as European Command’s only conventional airborne strategic response force for the European Theater.

grunt.gif (2982 bytes) On March 26, 2003, the 173d added to its distinguished history by making the largest mass combat jump since WWII when the brigade’s Soldiers landed in the Bashur Drop zone effectively opening a northern front in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The actions of the brigade caused the Iraqi defenses to commit forces to the area making it safer for swift progress to Baghdad by other U.S. forces. Nine Sky Soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

littlemanpunch.gif (9400 bytes) In the spring of 2005, the 173d began its second deployment in three years to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom VI. The 1-508th spearheaded the deployment in February by deploying forces along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in Regional Command East. The remainder of the brigade deployed to Regional Command South, with all elements of the brigade demonstrating unparalleled bravery fighting anti-coalition forces in the bloodiest spring since original invasion in 2001. The brigade excelled in all aspects of the deployment to include facilitating a peaceful parliamentary election process in the fall of 2005. 17 Sky Soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice in support of operation Enduring Freedom VI.

Today's Sky Soldiers continue the distinction of honored service earned through service dating back to World War I, and proudly represent the airborne fighting spirit with routine training deployments to Bosnia, Kosovo, Hungary, Tunisia, Morocco, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, and more. These deployments are an important part of CINCEUR’S theater engagement strategy, demonstrating both a commitment to preserving stability in Europe and the ability to provide immediate response to crisis situations throughout the theater.

Ricr0c gernad.gif (35666 bytes) 0ut!

flagani.gif (14562 bytes) eagle2A.jpg (7070 bytes)

v22bz.jpg (29028 bytes)

1st, 4th Bats Score Heavily

    RAguy2.jpg (2604 bytes) The final weeks of September found Paratroopers of the 173d Airborne Brigade encountering heavy contact in areas of operation 200 miles apart. The most significant activity was registered by the 1st and 4th Battalions, 503d Infantry, who struggled against stubbornly entrenched North Vietnamese regulars.
    The 4th Battalion, working with elements of the 4th Infantry Division in Operation MacArthur along the Cambodian Border west of Ban Me Thuot, ventured into heavily jungled mountains that had previously been the undisputed domain of the NVA. Two prominent battles were fought. After four weeks in their new AO, Colonel Frederick Weyand's 4th Battalion had accounted for 51 dead NVA, numerous weapons caches and several destroyed enemy base camps.
    In Operation Cochise/Dan Sinh, along the North Central Coast, the 1st Battalion, 503d Infantry and Armored units of 1/69th Armor reacted to contact made by the 41st ARVN Regiment on September 22, in the Suoi Ca mountains, 20 miles north of Qui Nhon. The ARVN's had been in contact for two days before the 173d arrived and had accounted for 87 enemy bodies. Plagued by heavy rains, the Brigade elements cordoned off one side of a mountain filled with NVA fortifications and began pushing up the incline. Over 20 air strikes had been leveled against the enemy positions.
    The heaviest initial contact was made by Contact Charlie 1/503d under the command of Captain Robert Powell. On their first day, Charlie Company killed 16 NVA, captured four AK 47's, two machine guns and several hundred rounds of ammunition while suffering only two killed.

SourT2.gif (115317 bytes)

LTC Percy New Boss For 1/503d

    RAguy.jpg (1587 bytes) LZ UPLIFT- Lieutenant Colonel Francis J. Percy has assumed command of the 1st Battalion, 503d Infantry in ceremonies at LZ Uplift.
   The 37 year old Colonel from Coeur d'Alene Idaho, takes over for Lieutenant Colonel Raymond E. Gunderson who has joined I Field Force Headquarters in Nha Trang. A 14-year Army Veteran, LTC Percy is a 1954 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and comes to the 173d Airborne Brigade from a staff assignment at I Field Force Headquarters, where he served as an assistant operations officer.
    In accepting the Battalion Colors, LTC Percy noted that while traveling throughout Vietnam he had heard many exemplary words in reference to the 173d Airborne Brigade and the 1st Battalion specifically. "The word I came to hear most often in connection with the Battalion was 'PROFESSIONAL,' said the new commander. "I only ask that you continue what you have done."
    LTC Gunderson in his departing remarks thanked the Battalion for their untiring devotion to duty. "I will remember this tour with great pride," said LTC Gunderson, "pride that comes from being the best. Airborne, all the way!"

Sunshine Superman.. ~ IN Light Speeder ~ Lights up the Night

       LZ UPLIFT- Night is very dark on the Binh Dinh Plains when there is no moon out. Behind sandbags and thick timbers, young American Paratroopers prepare for another night of bunker guard. Harsh shadows stretch their crinkled forms out over the claymores and concertina, to lose themselves in the gloom beyond. The long night begins.
   On top of Duster Hill, in the hours previous to darkness, three 'Redlegs' began once again their nightly equipment check. The trio of Artillerymen eyeballed dials and scoped out gauges, as they prepared their weapon for the coming night.
   In a drafty bunker tower a new trooper spends the first night of many long nights on guard. His thoughts turn toward home and a young wife. A slight scuffling in the wire turns him immediately alert. Something scurries into the shadows- only a rat. The Paratrooper's stomach muscles relax a little bit as he eases the M16 selector switch back to safe. Then a slight movement catches the corner of his eye, but just barely. Did he see it or didn't he? Hesitation, then a quick decision… He reaches for the bunker's field phone.
   “In light Speeder, In Light Speeder, This is Bunker 30'.... hey, This is Pigion from Connecticut… I think I have movement out there."
"Do you want illumination?" A radio hand set goes into action. The air in the distant orderly room tingles with sudden tension. The young Paratrooper's palms are getting moist, his phone feels slippery in his hand. 'Yeah.' "Where is the movement?" The radio crackles under the harsh light of the orderly room. "About 200 meters up the highway on the left, I think."
   "Roger, wait, out." The message goes up over the radio waves and a game of Rummy is terminated in mid-hand. Setting down his cards, the young soldier picks up his hand set. "This is Sunshine Superman. Send, over." Pfc Clarence Bishop of Newport News Va, responds to the call. Roger, I have that grid plotted; mission coming up, Out." The young artilleryman feels a breeze blow across his skin as he steps out of his hootch atop Duster Hill. The roar of the generator fills the night air. He flips a toggle switch on the "weapon" and 1.2 billion candle power rips away the velvet blackness of the protecting night. The rattling cough of M16 fire erupts from Bunker thirty.
   "I think I got him." The young Paratrooper puts his rifle back on safe. "This is Sunshine Superman, I roger end of mission. Out." The switch is flicked off and the generator noises die away. Bishop returns to his game of Rummy. The "weapon" cools in the evening wind. Lights twinkle aboard hundreds of tiny fishing boats bobbing in the South China Sea, twelve clicks away. Bishop thinks of home and the lights he used to see across the bay. Sp5 Leroy Brazfild checks out the huge searchlight. A native of Los Cannes New Mexico, Brazfild has been in charge of the light for three months. Inside the hootch mustachioed Sp4 Craig Huffman of Denver Co, sleeps on, undisturbed. With six months in country, he dreams of an early out to attend college. His goal, a teaching degree. On the wall over his head hangs a flag of black, yellow and red, an award for being a good unit.
   Painted across a breastwork of old "Duster" round shipping cases is the red lettered sign; "We light 'em, You fight 'em". With a range of 34 clicks, this big searchlight can definitely "light 'em". The big light sits upon a two-wheeled trailer, a black power cable snaking back up the hill to the big generator trailer. A sign on the light's side warns not to expose skin or eyes to the unshielded beam "Or damage will result-" A sniper, aiming his rifle at the beam of light, would have his eyeballs fried before he could pull the trigger.
   As Brazfild covers the big light with its tarp, he explains that he and his crew pull four-hour shifts every night. He points out a card with a list of coordinates on it and shows how his crew can dial areas to be illuminated by setting the azimuth and elevation wheels mounted on the light. In the quiet hours of the morning a young Paratrooper wakes his buddy, passes the watch and spreads his poncho liner over the newly vacated cot. He's asleep before his head touches the canvas. By the light of a dim lamp, Huffman gets up, rubbing his eyes, and walks over to the radio. He begins his guard with a commo check.
   On the South China Sea, two fishermen, one very young and one very old, drag in the last heavy net of a good night's haul. The lantern dances and bob from the small boat's bow. Laying on his cot, Bishop dreams of the lights of home as the sun rises on another day in Vietnam.

VOL. III, NO. 20 September 14, 1970

173D AIRBORNE BRIGADE

Veteran of 875 Returns

'I Wanted to Finish the Job I Started'

   salute.gif (10908 bytes) LZ ENGLISH- A third tour is usually nothing unusual, especially to the 173d's Troopers. It's just that this Sky Soldier was once medically retired from the Army...with 100 percent disability.
   He took four rounds from an RPD machine gun during the Battle of Dak To in November 1967. One bullet hit him in the side, the other three shattered his left arm. The Doctors managed to save the arm but he was left with the problem of limited movement and partial paralysis.
   Sgt Ralph A Raperto of Catonsville Md, is back with the 173d Airborne Brigade. The three-tour vet returned because, "I lost a lot of buddies here. I wanted to finish the job I started."
   The struggle to regain the use of his arm took nearly a year. The many hours spent in physical therapy were often painful. He had to train the remaining muscles to do the work that had been previously handled by a full set of healthy muscles. Still this was only the beginning. The Paratrooper was determined to return to his old unit. The miles and miles of red tape took seven months of full time work. The trail required him to correspond with scores of officials. His letters and telegrams were sent to everyone from Senators to clerks. Finally his Senator's office set him up with an appointment at the Surgeon General's office. After a brief interview he was granted a waiver allowing him to return to active duty and jump status.
   Of course the personnel involved had no idea what the gutty Paratrooper was up to. He was still planning on going back to combat with his old unit. But that would take time. The Army stationed him with the 82d Airborne at Ft Bragg, NC. The 21 year old Sergeant faced garrision duty for six months. He had been continually trying to get a reassignment to the 173d.
   When everyone had forgotten the facts concerning his case he was able to obtain a direct assignment to Vietnam, from the Department of the Army... and back to his old unit, the 173d Airborne Brigade. He wouldn't have anything to do with a rear job. He had returned for combat and that was where he was going. Finally Raperto was once again 'Humpin' in the Boonies', this time with A Co, 2d Bn, 503d Inf.
   The duty with a Combat Line Company is never easy, even for an athlete in tiptop shape. The hills, thick jungles, swamps, and intense heat give the best of men problems. Still Raperto has stuck it out for over 11 months. He's going home soon on normal rotation. "I always carried my own load," he says. "It was never easy and at times it hurt me a lot. Still, it was something I had to do." Sgt Ralph Raperto finished the job he started.

VOL. III, NO. 19 August 31, 1970

173D AIRBORNE BRIGADE

Lost Knife Turns Up on Dead NVA

compdig.gif (14818 bytes) AN KHE- Four months ago Captain Robert L Powell of Columbus Ga, an Infantry Company Commander with the 173d Airborne Brigade lost a knife while fording a stream near An Khe. This wasn't an ordinary knife for Captain Powell. It had been given to him as a small boy. His named was engraved on it, and he had carried the knife for nearly his entire life including two tours in Vietnam.
The chances of recovering his keepsake were minimal at best but when his Battalion left that particular area of operation he was certain he would never see it again. However, by a strange quirk of fate, the Captain's unit, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 503d Infantry, recently Combat Assaulted into his old locale. Approaching a Montagnard village only an hour after landing, the Company made contact with several NVA soldiers, killing four. On one of the bodies, believed to be an Officer, Captain Powell's knife was found.

VOL. I, NO.7 14 OCT 1968

173D AIRBORNE BRIGADE

Links:

- United States Army
- United States Army Europe
- U.S. European Command
- Southern European Task Force
- U.S. Army Garrison-Vicenza
- Army Knowledge Online
- My Pay
- SETAF Webmail

joe_bar.jpg (18291 bytes)

ArmyCheer_001.jpg (24609 bytes)

"The Greatest Generation"

   The rapidly disappearing cohort of Americans that endured the Great Depression and then fought World War II is receiving quite a send-off from the leading lights of the so-called ’60s generation. Tom Brokaw has published two oral histories of "The Greatest Generation" that feature ordinary people doing their duty and suggests that such conduct was historically unique.

Chris Matthews of "Hardball" is fond of writing columns praising the Navy service of his father while castigating his own baby boomer generation for its alleged softness and lack of struggle. William Bennett gave a startlingly condescending speech at the Naval Academy a few years ago comparing the heroism of the "D-Day Generation" to the drugs-and-sex nihilism of the "Woodstock Generation." And Steven Spielberg, in promoting his film Saving Private Ryan, was careful to justify his portrayals of soldiers in action based on the supposedly unique nature of World War II.

An irony is at work here. Lest we forget, the World War II generation now being lionized also brought us the Vietnam War, a conflict which today’s most conspicuous voices by and large opposed, and in which few of them served. The "best and brightest" of the Vietnam age group once made headlines by castigating their parents for bringing about the war in which they would not fight, which has become the war they refuse to remember.

Pundits back then invented a term for this animus: the "generation gap." Long, plaintive articles and even books were written examining its manifestations. Campus leaders, who claimed precocious wisdom through the magical process of reading a few controversial books, urged fellow baby boomers not to trust anyone over 30. Their elders who had survived the Depression and fought the largest war in history were looked down upon as shallow, materialistic, and out of touch.

Those of us who grew up on the other side of the picket line from that era’s counter-culture can’t help but feel a little leery of this sudden gush of appreciation for our elders from the leading lights of the old counter-culture. Then and now, the national conversation has proceeded from the dubious assumption that those who came of age during Vietnam are a unified generation in the same sense as their parents were, and thus are capable of being spoken for through these fickle elites.

In truth, the "Vietnam generation" is a misnomer. Those who came of age during that war are permanently divided by different reactions to a whole range of counter-cultural agendas, and nothing divides them more deeply than the personal ramifications of the war itself. The sizable portion of the Vietnam age group who declined to support the counter-cultural agenda, and especially the men and women who opted to serve in the military during the Vietnam War, are quite different from their peers who for decades have claimed to speak for them. In fact, they are much like the World War II generation itself. For them, Woodstock was a side show, college protestors were spoiled brats who would have benefited from having to work a few jobs in order to pay their tuition, and Vietnam represented not an intellectual exercise in draft avoidance or protest marches but a battlefield that was just as brutal as those their fathers faced in World War II and Korea.

Few who served during Vietnam ever complained of a generation gap. The men who fought World War II were their heroes and role models. They honored their fathers’ service by emulating it, and largely agreed with their fathers’ wisdom in attempting to stop Communism’s reach in Southeast Asia. The most accurate poll of their attitudes (Harris, 1980) showed that 91 percent were glad they’d served their country, 74 percent enjoyed their time in the service, and 89 percent agreed with the statement that "our troops were asked to fight in a war which our political leaders in Washington would not let them win." And most importantly, the castigation they received upon returning home was not from the World War II generation, but from the very elites in their age group who supposedly spoke for them.

Nine million men served in the military during the Vietnam war, three million of whom went to the Vietnam theater. Contrary to popular mythology, two-thirds of these were volunteers, and 73 percent of those who died were volunteers. While some attention has been paid recently to the plight of our prisoners of war, most of whom were pilots, there has been little recognition of how brutal the war was for those who fought it on the ground. Dropped onto the enemy’s terrain 12,000 miles away from home, America’s citizen-soldiers performed with a tenacity and quality that may never be truly understood. Those who believe the war was fought incompetently on a tactical level should consider Hanoi’s recent admission that 1.4 million of its soldiers died on the battlefield, compared to 58,000 total U.S. dead. Those who believe that it was a "dirty little war" where the bombs did all the work might contemplate that it was the most costly war the U.S. Marine Corps has ever fought—five times as many dead as World War I, three times as many dead as in Korea, and more total killed and wounded than in all of World War II.

Significantly, these sacrifices were being made at a time the United States was deeply divided over our effort in Vietnam. The baby-boom generation had cracked apart along class lines as America’s young men were making difficult, life-or-death choices about serving. The better academic institutions became focal points for vitriolic protest against the war, with few of their graduates going into the military. Harvard College, which had lost 691 alumni in World War II, lost a total of 12 men in Vietnam from the classes of 1962 through 1972 combined. Those classes at Princeton lost six, at MIT two. The media turned ever-more hostile. And frequently the reward for a young man’s having gone through the trauma of combat was to be greeted by his peers with studied indifference or outright hostility.

What is a hero? My heroes are the young men who faced the issues of war and possible death, and then weighed those concerns against obligations to their country. Citizen-soldiers who interrupted their personal and professional lives at their most formative stage, in the timeless phrase of the Confederate Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery, "not for fame or reward, not for place or for rank, but in simple obedience to duty, as they understood it." Who suffered loneliness, disease, and wounds with an often contagious 鬡n. And who deserve a far better place in history than that now offered them by the so-called spokesmen of our so-called generation.

Mr. Brokaw, Mr. Matthews, Mr. Bennett, Mr. Spielberg, meet my Marines.

•••

    1969 was an odd year to be in Vietnam. Second only to 1968 in terms of American casualties, it was the year made famous by Hamburger Hill, as well as the gut-wrenching Life cover story showing the pictures of 242 Americans who had been killed in one average week of fighting. Back home, it was the year of Woodstock, and of numerous anti-war rallies that culminated in the Moratorium march on Washington. The My Lai massacre hit the papers and was seized upon by the anti-war movement as the emblematic moment of the war. Lyndon Johnson left Washington in utter humiliation. Richard Nixon entered the scene, destined for an even worse fate.

In the An Hoa Basin southwest of DaNang, the Fifth Marine Regiment was in its third year of continuous combat operations. Combat is an unpredictable and inexact environment, but we were well-led. As a rifle platoon and company commander, I served under a succession of three regimental commanders who had cut their teeth in World War II, and four different battalion commanders, three of whom had seen combat in Korea. The company commanders were typically captains on their second combat tour in Vietnam, or young first lieutenants like myself who were given companies after many months of "bush time" as platoon commanders in the Basin’s tough and unforgiving environs.

The Basin was one of the most heavily contested areas in Vietnam, its torn, cratered earth offering every sort of wartime possibility. In the mountains just to the west, not far from the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the North Vietnamese Army operated an infantry division from an area called Base Area 112. In the valleys of the Basin, main-force Viet Cong battalions whose ranks were 80 percent North Vietnamese Army regulars moved against the Americans every day. Local Viet Cong units sniped and harassed. Ridge lines and paddy dikes were laced with sophisticated booby traps of every size, from a hand grenade to a 250-pound bomb. The villages sat in the rice paddies and tree lines like individual fortresses, criss-crossed with trenches and spider holes, their homes sporting bunkers capable of surviving direct hits from large-caliber artillery shells. The Viet Cong infrastructure was intricate and permeating. Except for the old and the very young, villagers who did not side with the Communists had either been killed or driven out to the government-controlled enclaves near DaNang.

In the rifle companies we spent the endless months patrolling ridge lines and villages and mountains, far away from any notion of tents, barbed wire, hot food, or electricity. Luxuries were limited to what would fit inside one’s pack, which after a few "humps" usually boiled down to letter-writing material, towel, soap, toothbrush, poncho liner, and a small transistor radio.

We moved through the boiling heat with 60 pounds of weapons and gear, causing a typical Marine to drop 20 percent of his body weight while in the bush. When we stopped we dug chest-deep fighting holes and slit trenches for toilets. We slept on the ground under makeshift poncho hootches, and when it rained we usually took our hootches down because wet ponchos shined under illumination flares, making great targets. Sleep itself was fitful, never more than an hour or two at a stretch for months at a time as we mixed daytime patrolling with night-time ambushes, listening posts, foxhole duty, and radio watches. Ringworm, hookworm, malaria, and dysentery were common, as was trench foot when the monsoons came. Respite was rotating back to the mud-filled regimental combat base at An Hoa for four or five days, where rocket and mortar attacks were frequent and our troops manned defensive bunkers at night.

Which makes it kind of hard to get excited about tales of Woodstock, or camping at the Vineyard during summer break.

We had been told while in training that Marine officers in the rifle companies had an 85 percent probability of being killed or wounded, and the experience of "Dying Delta," as our company was known, bore that out. Of the officers in the bush when I arrived, our company commander was wounded, the weapons platoon commander was wounded, the first platoon commander was killed, the second platoon commander was wounded twice, and I, commanding the third platoon, was wounded twice. The enlisted troops in the rifle platoons fared no better. Two of my original three squad leaders were killed, the third shot in the stomach. My platoon sergeant was severely wounded, as was my right guide. By the time I left my platoon I had gone through six radio operators, five of them casualties.

These figures were hardly unique; in fact, they were typical. Many other units—for instance, those who fought the hill battles around Khe Sanh, or were with the famed Walking Dead of the Ninth Marine Regiment, or were in the battle for Hue City or at Dai Do—had it far worse.

When I remember those days and the very young men who spent them with me, I am continually amazed, for these were mostly recent civilians barely out of high school, called up from the cities and the farms to do their year in Hell and then return. Visions haunt me every day, not of the nightmares of war but of the steady consistency with which my Marines faced their responsibilities, and of how uncomplaining most of them were in the face of constant danger. The salty, battle-hardened 20-year-olds teaching green 19-year-olds the intricate lessons of that hostile battlefield. The unerring skill of the young squad leaders as we moved through unfamiliar villages and weed-choked trails in the black of night. The quick certainty with which they moved when coming under enemy fire. Their sudden tenderness when a fellow Marine was wounded and needed help. Their willingness to risk their lives to save other Marines in peril. To this day it stuns me that their own countrymen have so completely missed the story of their service, lost in the bitter confusion of the war itself.

Like every military unit throughout history we had occasional laggards, cowards, and complainers. But in the aggregate these Marines were the finest people I have ever been around. It has been my privilege to keep up with many of them over the years since we all came home. One finds in them very little bitterness about the war in which they fought. The most common regret, almost to a man, is that they were not able to do more—for each other and for the people they came to help.

     It would be redundant to say that I would trust my life to these men. Because I already have, in more ways than I can ever recount. I am alive today because of their quiet, unaffected heroism. Such valor epitomizes the conduct of Americans at war from the first days of our existence. That the boomer elites can canonize this sort of conduct in our fathers’ generation while ignoring it in our own is more than simple oversight. It is a conscious, continuing travesty.

տլ
~~James Webb was an Assistant Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Navy in the Reagan Administration.