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24 May - 4 June 1966
Captain Robert J. O'Neill
Situation Phuoc Tuy Province May 1966
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On May 17th
the two battalions of the U.S. 173rd Brigade, the 1st/503rd
and the 2nd/503rd flew into the
Nui Dat area to commence
a sweep of the surrounding countryside. The 1st/503rd
Battalion was accompanied by Captains Peter Isaacs and Brian
Ledan. A few days later they reported back to Vung Tau with
news of the operation. The Americans had encountered several
groups of Viet Cong of company size and it was apparent that
there was at least one enemy battalion in the area of
Nui Dat, assisted by some companies
of guerillas. One of the American companies had been badly
mauled on the first day of the operation. At 3:30pm on May
17th, B Company of the 1st/503rd was moving up the western
slope of hill 72, one and a half miles north of
Nui Dat. They knew that
they were being followed by a Viet Cong rifleman carrying a
radio, but they did not know that in their path was a Viet
Cong company who were being guided by the man with the
radio. The Americans were caught in deadly cross fire of a
box ambush to which were quickly added 60mm. mortar bombs.
By the time that they had extricated themselves they had
lost eight killed and twenty three wounded -- a heavy blow
for an infantry company to sustain.
While the American sweep was continuing, the battalions' CO
Colonel Warr was
finalising his plans.
The tasks of the Fifth Battalion in Operation Hardihood was
first to clear the area to the north and east of
Nui Dat to a distance of
five thousand metres so the enemy mortar fire could not
reach the future base area, and second, to establish a
defensive position to give security to the
Nui Dat area while the other units
of the Task Force concentrated in the new base. Therefore,
the first part of the operation entailed a sweep over a
quadrant shaped piece of country with a radius of about
three miles. It was possible that Viet Cong forces up to
regimental size were in the area and therefore the battalion
had to be sufficiently concentrated to allow the companies
to reinforce each other within an hour or two. The area of
operation was divided into several sections so that all four
companies could search simultaneously. They were planned to
be at least several hundred yards apart to avoid the risk of
two companies clashingly unwittingly. The thickness of the
vegetation limited visibility to twenty yards in many places
and to make half a mile in an hour was pretty good progress.
Each of the company areas was given natural boundaries, such
as tracks or streams, rather then arbitrary lines drawn on a
map so that the searching patrols could see clearly when
they had reached the limit of their areas and the
commencement of the territory in which the next company
would be operating. The area to be searched was divided so
that D. Company moved to the southern area around
Nui Dat, C Company went
to the central area a mile north of Nui Dat, and A. and B.
Companies covered the northern edge of the area.
The morning
of May 24th was dull and misty. Reveille was very early as
the companies began taking off in helicopters shortly after
dawn, in approximately half company groups. My lift took off
at 0936 hours, punctual to a few seconds. The helicopters
seemed to be amazingly close together in the air. From a
distance they looked like a long line of cherry stones
hanging and bobbing on strings. From close up it was like
driving on a motorway with a third dimension added the
movements of the vehicles around one. The country looked
quite and sleepy, clad in small wraps of white mist which
clung around the tall trees. The landing area was a broad
flat hilltop in front of a rubber plantation which formed
the north-western extremity of the An Phu sector. Rubber
trees ran along two sides and low scrub on the other two.
This landing zone was code named Hudson. The name stuck
after the operation and whenever we referred to that ground
it was simply called Hudson. When we landed we saw a few
members of the 2nd/503rd Battalion standing around, washing
and smoking and looking very wet for the wet season was well
under way. As we waited in the rubber for the companies in
front to shake out and move off, we were deafened by the
American artillery and mortars which were firing in support
of an engagement taking place a mile and a half away.
 We moved off
at about 1 p.m. just as a group of eleven Vietnamese were
being escorted into
battalion
headquarters by members of A. Company, who had been
searching the houses of An Phu. We passed through the
bananas, around the hamlet and crossed Route 2. The narrow
strip of French bitumen looked a little forlorn in these
wild surroundings. On the eastern side of the road we moved
into scrub. The heat in the opening was punishing for no air
stirred in the tall grass and one had the feeling of being
stifled. We were saturated by perspiration in ten minutes so
that our jungle green shirts looked black. After clearing
nearly a mile of country we made camp near the crest of Hill
72 at 5 p.m. An hour later Bruce sent out a water party to
fill up our depleted water bottles from a creek some two
hundred yards to the south-east.
A. Company had found a number of Viet Cong further away to
our south-east during the afternoon and were following them
up, so the water party, members of Five Platoon under Sgt
Hassell, were treading warily. Shortly after reaching the
stream and posting scouts around the water point the party
were fired on. Everyone went to ground and the fire was
returned. During a pause
Private Noack, one of the water party, stood up to move
to another position. As soon as he rose up he was hit by a
burst of sub-machine gun fire. Just then, A. Company reached
the stream from the other side and drove the Viet Cong off
to the north. A stretcher was quickly assembled by Five
Platoon, while Corporal Ron Nichols, the company medic, had
dashed forward and dressed
Noack's wound. It was
my task to call battalion headquarters on the radio and
request a medical evacuation helicopter. For some peculiar
reason these helicopters were known as
Dust Off helicopters -
probably a code name which stuck because of its convenient
length and unambiguous sound when spoken over a poor radio
net.
The next forty minutes were crowded with activity as we
waited for the Dust Off.
The defences of the company had to be sighted properly and
checked to see that each of the three platoons were linked
in with each of the other two on its flanks. The siting of
each of the ten machine guns had to be individually checked
to see that the main approaches to the company position were
covered by fire and that each gun was capable of giving
mutual support to its neighbours by firing across their
front in the event of the latter receiving a frontal
assault. While I was doing this, Bruce was arranging for A.
Company to pass through our position so that they could make
camp to our north-west. A landing zone fifty yards across
was cut for the Dust Off
and Noack was carried
to the edge of the clearing. He had been hit in the side and
the back and the wound looked serious. Nichols had given him
some morphine but he was still in pain and complained of a
lack of feeling in his legs. Bruce spent several minutes
talking with Noack
and giving what comfort he could. We were very thankful to
see the helicopter appear overhead just as darkness was
gathering. The pilot saw our coloured smoke marker and
confirmed the colour so that he knew he was not being lured
to a killing ground by the Viet Cong. A huge Negro medic
jumped out of the aircraft when it landed. He looked jet
black in the gathering gloom. His direct brusqueness seemed
professional and reassuring. We returned to digging the
defences before darkness became complete, keenly aware that
we were close to the point at which the American company had
been attacked and feeling rather uneasy, wondering what Viet
Cong force be gathering to pounce on our position whose
location had been betrayed by the
Dust Off helicopter.
As events
turned out we need have had no worries, but we were shaken
by the realisation that death could come in this war without
warning and without knowledge of the assailant's intentions
or numbers. At 10 p.m. we received a call on the radio from
battalion headquarters.
Noack had died in the helicopter on the way to Vung Tau.
The worst had happened and its acceptance was very
difficult.
CONTINUE
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