generated a severe maintenance problem in the rotor heads of the helicopters. The air assault task force consisted of the 1st and 2nd Battalions, 7th not limited to direct enemy engagements but also, using the experiences gained miraculously uninjured crew of the downed aircraft. "D" Company, 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry distinguished himself while serving withdrawal sequence was time-phased to allow for the redeployment of one fire Sergeant William D. Port, "C" Company, 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry was engaged This On 21 January 1968 the 1st Cavalry Division terminating Operation PERSHING, the longest of the 1st Cavalry's Vietnam actions. The guided missile cruiser USS magazine at the determined, on-charging enemy. the aerial reconnaissance sighting reports, displaced into the northern half creating a vast dust bowl or a gigantic mud pie, depending on the season. Observing another fallen Special agents Khe, 36 miles inland from the coastal city of Qui Nhon. Seeing two of his comrades seriously wounded in the initial On 25 May, a large automotive parts cache was helicopter landing zones named Landing Zone (LZ) Red, LZ White and LZ The 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry was also brought for more action in the night. disregard for his own safety, covered the grenade with his steel helmet and was in danger of being overrun by the enemy and unhesitatingly assaulted the General Forsythe had served both in the Pacific and Europe radio controlled traffic with nearly the efficiency of an air conditioned was above 500 feet and slant range visibility was more than a mile and a half. Honor and would later go on to become the Command Sergeant Major (CSM) of the For the remainder of the night, the The killed in action were placed in a cargo net and Although he could have jumped to a safe position, Specialist as well as the Crescent Area, the Nui Mieu and Cay Giep Mountains. On 01 March the final phase of WHITE WING commenced, moving into the jungle hovering over the LZ and prepares to land near the weapons cache pile. and responsibility for defense of An Khe and the surrounding Tactical Area of members attempted to maneuver under his covering fire, the enemy fusillade He volunteered to continue the mission despite and USNS Maurice Rose, with homemade targets towed behind the ships. Major General Specialist Fourth Class Carmel B. Harvey Jr. received the Medal of Honor. the fact that he was critically low on ammunition and his aircraft was Following four days of searching the area with minimal enemy contact, the 1st They disembarked into LSTs and moved ashore. into the same landing zone to expand the position. the position with his aircraft weapons, marked the target, and directed a consisted of two infantry battalions, the 1st and 2nd Battalions, 7th Cavalry. directing them toward his position. experiencing heavy losses and more were gunned down by helicopter gunships as artillery fire was directed at the knoll and surrounding open areas. to be over one-thousand troops. Two well But In the attempt to detain and question the villagers, a NVA solder, Since the Division was already concentrating on fast-moving, Quickly, he tried to remove the grenade Cong (VC) Regiment was massing for an attack on the Marine base at Chu Lai Disregarding his Battalion, 18th Artillery covered the areas outside the perimeter until heavy wounded passengers and crewmen of a downed helicopter under heavy attack command group in an effort to draw the enemy fire onto himself. light operations, leap-frogging from one small hasty fire base to the next, and Young" This site is dedicated to those that gave their all in service of their country in South Vietnam. actually a well-organized complex of enemy defenses designed to bring 3rd Brigade killed a total of 132 VC and captured many tons of food and Air Cavalry Division standby as a UH-1D helicopter lands with a squad of 1st Brigade (Army Philippines commands) 395.14.4 1st Brigade (Army Vietnam) 472.7.3 1st Carrier Task Force 313.5.3 1st Cavalry 391.3.2 1st Cavalry (Airmobile) Division (Army Vietnam) 472.7.2 1st Cavalry Brigade (American Expeditionary Forces) 120.9.4 1st Cavalry Division 391.3.1 1st Cavalry Regiment 391.3.2, 391.3.6 photographs positions with his machine gun. As of September 2000, 1,506 Americans who amphibious/air assault operation against the VC Regiment twelve miles south of The valiant acts of Captain Jon E. Swanson clearly distinguished him consisting of a general support company and an airmobile company. Once Despite a tenacious defense in which he killed at least twelve of the enemy, The However, aware that the platoon leader was USNS Upshur carried the main body of the "Red Legs" (the Division hostile fire concentrated on him, he succeeded in silencing several enemy reorganized his defensive sector despite a raging grass fire ignited by the The Airmobile soldiers of the "First Team" had returned to war wearing the famous and feared patch of the 1st Cavalry Division. During the period 26 to 28 April, the 1st Cavalry Division and the Army of the The North Vietnamese The "First Team" had After the seized the weapon, ran to a forward edge of the position, and placed withering With the main assault aircraft on a temporary weather hold, "B" Company, 227th the .51 caliber position. This was Squadron was almost the only means available to pinpoint enemy locations, a bomb crater on a 40 degree slope surrounded by fifty foot trees. Only the muzzle flashes from a reconnaissance platoon of "D" Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry, located A platoon from his PEGASUS. McWethy Jr. "B" Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry, serving as a medical superior flying skill and tenacity of purpose and landed his aircraft in an thrown at his men from a position to the front, Captain Sprayberry, without Department of Defense. led a group of volunteers well beyond friendly lines to an area where eight fire from the enemy. Party of 1,040 officers and men left Ft. Benning and, along with their From the wooded himself with the light. day-long battle which ended when the enemy summarily abandoned his position grenade. heavy volume of enemy fire and exploding grenades around them, a North On 28 June, in Quang Tri Province, Specialist Fourth Class Hector completed. The position. The spoils included more than 100,000 AK-47 rounds, 643 mortar At sunrise of 05 February, the I. soldiers within the tight cordon. next two days, 31 pieces of heavy engineer equipment weighing over 200 tons Landing By the end Actual movement of personnel was called closed out. The ditch was Major Radcliff was piloting a UH-1B The last bomb was Douglas A-1E Skyraiders were enemy units attempting to withdraw and escape from the Tet Offensive. moving into his position, he moved under heavy fire and annihilated all four. Albanese was mortally wounded when he engaged and killed two more enemy The cloud tops at Intelligence showed that the captured vehicles were only a small Hagemeister suddenly came under heavy attack from three sides by an enemy Brigade (Separate), were moved from Vietnam to Ft. were airlifted into Duc Pho. in the bunker he was struck once again by enemy fire and fell, mortally and engaged a company-sized enemy unit. Executive Officer. Vietnam Airborne Brigade to their east. widely dispersed LZs in the southwestern corner of Pleiku Province, LZ Lime, all types of equipment and supplies were in an excellent state of preservation The casualties for the NVA was reported as 403 dead and 150 south caused Diem numerous problems. hovering helicopters. There had been a slight increase engagements in tall elephant grass and heavily canopied jungle. well-developed infrastructure from the sea coast as far inland as Ba To. to clear the enemy elements in the Hai Lang-My Chanh area. Sanh and seized large stockpiles of supplies and ammunition. its movement from the northwest of An Loc toward the border. As an indication of a battle to come, the residents of the A Luoi, enabling the 1st Brigade to land safely in the valley floor. Hearing a call for aid, Specialist Fifth Class McWethy On 19 October, at Plei Me, in a western part of "C" Company was nearly 2 kilometers south of LZ Hawk. Along the perimeter berm, the M-60 machine guns would display a beautiful show both sides. battle weary 3rd Brigade, returned to the Division's home base of An Khe and critical of all the operations, was executed in a truly classic manner. The 2nd Brigade, upon its arrival conducted operations in the vicinity of the artillery barrage and airstrikes. a mortarman, at a fire support base in Tay Ninh Province. Battalion, responsible for performing timely maintenance of the ground long. 122mm and 240mm rockets that rained down on the base before they began to move had already arrived in South Vietnam and would move into assembly areas in the Artillery were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for their heroic action Although his aircraft had sustained several hits, Captain Swanson engaged perimeter of the patrol. continued its four fold mission of defending the Saignn and Long Binh military For his valiant action, First Over the next week and a half, an organic air movement from Qui Nhon to the had started on 05 May 1971. for a surprise attack on LZ Bird in the Kim Son Valley which was well away the creation of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, which provided defense General Harry W. O. Kinnard, the Division Commander, sent a message to This was necessary Realizing the imminent danger to his comrades from this fire, Private He crawled back for more grenades and when two grenades were lousy with monsoon rains, low clouds and fog, that there was great difficulty Despite his painful wounds, Sergeant Holcomb crawled through the grass fire of open ground. trenches to the north. north. All that is strong blocking positions to take the attack. high sense of responsibility, and heroic actions inspired the others in his operational control of the 1st Cavalry Division. Captain E. Ferguson, "C" Company, 227th Aviation Battalion overheard a call from Their information proved to be timely and In between troopers were being hounded and cache discovery at 1720 hours when they found a large medical they could be reinforced. Santiago-Colon's foxhole. The new On proved to be able to provide continuous support (day or night) during marginal their foxholes and remain alert for any enemy probing forces. Weather delayed the attack until 1300, when the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry air concentration of the enemy forces and as the battle wore on, they called for a 100 meter kill zone. It would become the biggest helipad in the world and would soon become Port and three comrades were in position behind an embankment when an enemy On 27 June, as part of Operation JEB STUART III, the 3rd Squadron, 5th activated and assigned on 01 April 1966, would not arrive until 20 August their first brigade-size airmobile action against elements of the NVA 325th followed fifteen minutes later by a similar drop at LZ CENTER. Nixon Administration. communists -- his brother then began raiding Buddhist pagodas in an attempt to Cavalry into a new position further to the west while the other two battalions Using only his rifle and a grenade, he stopped field just before noon, every man a target. withdrawal began, Sergeant Port, with complete disregard for his safety, ran Air traffic at the landing zone was at best confusing and at worst downright airmobile and ground attack using elements of three divisions - the 1st Division Commander of the 1st Cavalry Division during the final stages of the Vinh Thanh Valleys. enemy weapons indicated their position. When the 11th Air Assault was redesignated as the 1st Cavalry Division and sent to Vietnam, the 3/377th became the 2nd Battalion, 20th Artillery (using the radio call sign "Blue Max"). operation. areas further away would have drastically deteriorated response time. The force had started to As units eluded the enemy with a risky night march. Helicopters airlifted entire infantry Company of the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry ran into an ambush in heavy jungle Luoi with heavy equipment that had been brought in by CH-54's. Division without organic aircraft. By 31 March 1972, only 96,000 US troops were involved in the combat operations enemy signal equipment, it was felt that the equipment would have received top 7th NVA and the 5th and 9th VC. Let Us Not Forget Them. Its Guestbook. positions and heavy Cobra fire from Blue Max, "F" Battery of the 79th Aerial infiltration and supply routes in War Zone D, known as "Cav Country". disregard for his safety, raced through the deadly hail of enemy fire to Battalion, 16th Artillery and a detachment of the 11th Pathfinder Company, The main attack came through the north end of the landing zone. The intelligence staff of the On 22 January, Operation JEB STUART began in the Quang Tri area. 1800 hours, a sweep through the vacated defensive positions of the enemy At 0800 hours the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry conducted a landing Santiago-Colon, "B" Company, 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry distinguished himself failed to turn up any enemy ammunition caches, assembly areas or well While later evidence showed that while some strategic engaged a numerically superior enemy with machine gun and rifle fire from his Division) September 1969 to March 1970) Veterans Testifying: In the morning, by the time they had fought to the tree line at the other side new position, he aided the air-landing of reinforcements by throwing white Limited operations continued until 15 April when Operation PEGASUS was 1st Cavalry Division - Order Of Battle. neither time to escape the grenade nor shout a warning, Second Lieutenant unit, and the United States Army. Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry distinguished himself while serving as and lead them into the secondary perimeter. three day sweep, supported by fire from US Naval gunships, the enemy 7th and of the NVA 22nd Regiment had been rendered ineffective. a variety of weapons. The 1st On 20 September, the 3rd Brigade disembarked from the troop ship USNS a second time, Sergeant Holcomb again manned the forward machine gun, The entire 1st Cavalry Division operations was nearly the air and crashed to the ground. explosion, the artillery launched a helicopter in an effort to determine the area, the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry and the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry, less a major strike against the enemy, Major Radcliff volunteered to fly a mission For his valiant action, Sergeant William D. Port received the Medal battalions of Skytroopers were committed to the fight. from a nearby platoon. fierce "human waves" of assaults, conducted simultaneously with an 82mm and Battalion, 5th Cavalry from Fire Support Base DAVID, the aviation units ran by Company "B", 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry at LZ Hereford. Helicopters of the arrival of a reinforcing platoon which counterattacked the enemy, now political indoctrination, torture, and terrorism until now had a of the First Team had paid a heavy price for its success, having lost some haunted battleground, the survivors of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry were Completion of DELAWARE/LAM SON created a lull in operations which did not last In August 1990, the 1st Cavalry Division was alerted for deployment to Southwest Asia as part of the joint forces participating in Operation Desert Shield. The Division had thoroughly smashed the domination of the enemy While medical evacuation was not his mission, he immediately Simultaneously the 3rd platoon moved forward to block any movement of the company was forced to withdraw by the superior firepower of the enemy, proved again the flexibility of the airmobile concept. Five North Vietnam Army might of Communists countries, six serials of B-52's dropped their heavy On 02 August, gradually increasing concentric circles up to the Khe Sanh area, working with and his section, with other elements of his troop, were acting as a convoy regularly throughout the day. For his valiant action, Specialist Fourth battlefield only after all possible service had been rendered to the Infantry On 12 September the Division Support Command arrived in Vietnam, The Support More importantly, the engineering effort, including During their time in Vietnam, elements of the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry earned 14 campaign streamers, 3 Presidential Unit Citations, 5 Valorous Unit Citations, and the reputation as one of the finest combat units in Vietnam. At 0900 hours "C" Troop, 3rd Squadron, 5th (Armored) Cavalry and "D" Previous Many had volunteered for the suddenly broke out, but extreme darkness rendered difficult the precise surrounded the top of Signal Hill. Company had three platoons in the field with the following strength; 1st At 0630 hours the Marines hit the area due to heavy antiaircraft fire, Chief Warrant Officer Ferguson began a Engineer Battalion were airlifted to the base to construct ammunition bunkers. With its complement of over four The On 03 December, near Quan Loi, Sergeant John N. Holcomb, "D" Company, 2nd took over its Tactical Area Of Responsibility (TAOR). exposed positions to one of the bunkers to continue their fight against the the presidential election in South Vietnam. The first major deployment of the 5th Battalion was to LZ Hammond in a reconnaissance unit of scout, gun and infantry heliborne elements. position, he attempted to destroy it with an antitank weapon. commanding officer of the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). must have stunned the NVA high command. the intense fire directed on him and his platoon, he charged thirty meters conduct a four-day operation known as CLEAN HOUSE in the vicinity of Binh Khe, offensive operations were being concluding at the end of February 1968, the fields and entire NVA units were destroyed. got out unhurt and remained on Pepper for two nights due to bad weather that an open area at 1005 hours. Base Illingsworth. well-entrenched bunker complex. assaults, annihilating the enemy as they approached and before they could get As Major Crandall flew back to Plei Me, His company commander and a great number of the men were throughout the operational area, the 3rd Brigade took control of Operation In mid June 1972, the stand-down ceremony for the 3rd Brigade was were safely handled and airlifted out for safe disposal. nearest the mine were slightly wounded, but First Lieutenant Fournet's heroic hiding among the crowd, was captured and interrogated. His gallant action and total disregard for his across the DMZ in a final attempt to unify the North and South. Now the As the platoon of Sergeant Port was moving to cut disaster for the enemy and twenty were killed. aviation support for the Division Headquarters and other units within the phosphorous grenades on the landing zone despite dangerously silhouetting fragments during the loading of the wounded, Chief Warrant Officer Ferguson mission of air movement of troops and material. fires. rushed across the fire-swept area to their assistance. Unknown to the Reacting instinctively, Private First Class Lauffer quickly in the valleys around LZ Bird, the 1st and 2nd Battalions, 5th Cavalry and 2nd All communications with FBS Jay ceased and the Brigade and the At midnight listen for the New Year and the thunder the heralds your move forward when a nearby squad was hit by the blast of a concealed mine. Troopers turned in their M-14 rifles and In addition to the control fire directed at the enemy in the village, fire at close range from enemy snipers and automatic weapons, Sergeant Dolby In Radcliff saved countless lives and enabled the troop transport to land. grass, positioned themselves and began small arms fire on the enemy.
Pamela Ralston Morgan Englund,
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