The Battle for Hearts and Minds

In May 1966, the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) moved two hamlets from inside Camp Radcliff in South Vietnam’s Central Highlands to locations outside the huge camp, which had a circumference of more than 25 miles and had engulfed hamlets that were there before the base was established in August 1965. The two hamlets, An Dan and Tan Tao, part of the village of An Khe, were moved so no Vietnamese homes would be inside the barbed wire-enclosed base. For many hamlet residents the move meant leaving behind deceased loved ones who had been buried next to their homes. The 1st Cavalry Division constructed roads in the village and assisted with the movement of furniture and transportation of building materials. The villagers were given money to purchase supplies for constructing new houses. Most upgraded their building materials from straw to bricks.

I served in An Khe as a captain leading a civic action team in the headquarters of the 1st Cavalry Division’s 11th Aviation Group from June 1966 to June 1967. For an entire year, we worked with the relocated hamlets in a variety of civic improvement programs and were committed to “winning the hearts and minds” of the Vietnamese people.

My team consisted of Staff Sgt. Leon Fletcher, a Huey door gunner and crew chief who had been shot down six times; Pfc. Dennis Heitman, a driver; Spc. 4 Henry Bonn, a medic; and Sgt. Rep, our Vietnamese interpreter, a college graduate who spoke fluent English. If Rep said he could make something happen, it happened.