[optimistically_conservative]

It's where he earned his decoration, but his injury was 15 miles away. Did the battleground covered all of that terrain?

That's a good question. I reviewed maps of the area. One showing scale here, another of Khe Sanh here and the neighboring map section to the East here.

I'm guessing he came under fire at Hill 471 as part of the 2/12 Cav. I'm not sure how to square Lloyd's account of the accident at a hilltop where the Marines were clearing Route 9 and the Globe magazine's account of a hilltop 15 miles to the East. They can't both be true geographically. There are only two ridgelines East of Ca Lu and neither make much sense to me as a relay site, but I don't have enough information about the destination microwave shots to know.

[T'wit]

Thanks for looking. One presumes that Cleland was at some distance from the battleground because of his helicopter ride. However, we can safely leave the question open, and simply state that he was not injured in battle. All accounts, including his own, agree on the point.