1965: Lead elements of the 173rd Airborne Brigade depart Okinawa for South Vietnam, becoming the first Army ground combat units deployed in the Vietnam War. The “Sky Soldiers” will make the only major combat parachute jump of the war in February 1967 during Operation Junction City – the mission to locate the North Vietnamese political and military headquarters for South Vietnam.
I had just finished Jump School but was only 17 - many of my class were assigned to the 173rd while I went to the 101st - I turned 18 in October and got my orders to Viet Nam as a birthday present. I was in Saigon on Nov 5 waiting for my unit to return from the field.
November 8th the 173rd engaged the enemy. 48 paratroopers died that day and I got reassigned from armor to infantry. I was a replacement for one of those 48
I earned my Combat Infantryman Badge while I was receiving OJT as an infantryman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozpdBvB0hek
My stepdad was in the Herd(173rd Airborne) from 67-68. He fought in the Battle Of Dak To where the 4th ID and the 173rd Kicked ass and took names, but also lost a lot of good men. November 20, 1967 when the battle of Hill 875 started none of those Sky Soldiers imagined what was about to happen. Still proud of my Stepdad for being a Sky Soldier. Best Airborne Unit in Vietnam.
From the same site ...
On Oct. 5, 1918, Sgt. Michael B. Ellis single-handedly attacked a German machine gun nest near Exermount, France, killing two enemy soldiers and capturing 17. He then moved on to capture 27 more enemy troops and six machine guns. Two captured officers coughed up the locations of four additional machine gun positions, and the “Sgt. York of St. Louis” took them as well. In addition to numerous valor medals from foreign countries, Ellis was awarded the Medal of Honor.
> Lt. Gen. Frank Maxwell, the commander of all U.S. Forces in the European Theater...
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Frank M. Andrews
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/fmandrew.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Maxwell_Andrews
[snip] At the Casablanca Conference in January 1943, Lieut. Gen. Andrews was appointed commander of all United States forces in the European Theater of Operations, replacing Dwight D. Eisenhower. [/snip]
B-24s had longer range, but the B-17 had a higher flight ceiling, thus became more popular with flight crews and embedded journalists, as they were harder to hit.