1ST CAV’S RETURN TO IA DRANG
I joined Charlie Company’s 1st Platoon as a private first class around Labor Day 1966, about two weeks after six men in the company were killed and others wounded in the Ia Drang Valley of South Vietnam’s Central Highlands. I was one of about 30 to 35 replacements sent in late August and early September to the company, part of 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). Charlie Company returned to the valley on a reconnaissance mission a few days before Thanksgiving.
During September and October, we had been operating in the central coastal mountains and plains of Binh Dinh province, where we lost 11 men to combat, drowning and friendly fire. We then flew on short notice to the Cambodian border to join the 4th and 25th Infantry divisions in Operation Paul Revere IV, a search-and-destroy mission focused on the Plei Trap Valley northwest of the Duc Co Special Forces camp. Two 1st Cav battalions were sent to cover the infantry divisions’ rear and block enemy movements through the Ia Drang Valley south of the camp. When we learned where we were going, the older guys told the new men they would be earning their Combat Infantry Badge soon.
The 1st Cav had a history in that valley. The first clash between battalion-sized units of the U.S. Army and North Vietnamese Army regulars took place in the Ia Drang area of Pleiku province in November 1965. Helicopter-borne 1st Cav troops dropped at Landing Zone X-Ray on Nov. 14 soon were attacked by the NVA but eventually repulsed the enemy. On Nov. 17, 1st Cav troops at nearby LZ Albany were ambushed and suffered severe losses before reinforcements arrived. Close to 300 Americans were killed at those two sites and related fighting.
Both sides learned lessons from that fight. We learned to rely on massive supporting fire and quick reinforcement from the air, while the enemy learned to fight us as close as possible—to “cling to our belts,” making it harder for U.S. air support to target the enemy without hitting our own
