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Posted on 08/25/2004 10:29:58 PM PDT by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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The long line of helicopters dropped into the landing zone. Overhead, Cobra gunships circled, ready to surpress any enemy fire. It was similar to the countless number of combat assaults the men of Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry of the 1st Air Cav Division had made before...with one difference. When the lead Huey set down in the clearing and Specialist 4 Terry Hayes jumped onto the ground the 1st Cav was ready to meet the enemy on a new frontier--in Cambodia.  The remainder of the battalion moved in behind Charlie Company. It was D-Day, May 1, 1970. The entire world would soon focus on the 1st Cav and units under its operational control as American troops plunged across the border looking for the enemy's major food and ammo sanctuaries. As President Nixon announced his decision to attack NVA ammo caches and other enemy sanctuaries, segments of the joint ARVN-US task force element moved across the border, led by elements of the 2nd Battalion, 47th Infantry (Mechanized) and the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, both under operational control of the 1st Air Cav.  Nixon announces invasion of Cambodia April 30, 1970 The day before, D-Day minus one, Skytroopers were able to boast of being first in Manila, Tokyo, Pyongyang, and the first U.S. division to receive the Presidential Unit Citation in Vietnam. Now, another first was to be recorded by the Cav--the first U.S. division to fight in Cambodia. On D-Day the men of the 2nd Bn, 7th Cav built Fire Support Base X-Ray, the first artillery fire base in Cambodia. X-Ray was named for the base where the Cav's first major battle in Vietnam took place in the Central Highlands during the 1965 Pleiku Campaign.  Other Cav units quickly moved into Cambodia's Fishhook to reinforce the operation. D-Day plus one brought Charlie Company, 2nd Bn, 5th Cav to X-Ray. The following day the 1st of the 5th combat assaulted into the northern sector of the Fishhook, setting up FSB Terri Lynn. The 1st Bn, 12th Cav established FSB Evans on D-Day plus four. Completing the first week, D-Day plus six, two additional battalions of Skytroopers smashed into Cambodia northwest of Song Be and established firebases north of Phuoc Long and Binh Long provinces. The Skytroopers moved from the bases to search for enemy sanctuaries. The new units were the 2nd Brigade's 2nd Bn, 12th Cav at FSB Myron and the 5th Bn, 7th Cav at FSB Brown.  The US 1st Air Cavalry Division attacked the Communist bases in the Fishook area after an extensive artillery and B-52-preparation. This UH-1H of the US Army is seen inserting troops on a newly created landing zone in the jungle Even before the Cav's ground troops were in Cambodia the Cobras and LOHs of the 1st Sqdn, 9th Cav were in the air, their sharp-eyed crews scouring the ground below for signs of enemy activity. They spotted plenty of movement, mostly Communists rapidly retreating from the contact area. Time after time the Hunter-Killer teams swooped down on the fleeing foe, accounting for many of the enemy killed by the Cav in the operation. The Pink Teams also frequently spotted the enemy complexes that contained huge stores of supplies. D-Day plus one, May 2, 1970, Hunter Killers of Bravo Troop, 1st of the 9th, found a major NVA military installation, soon to be nicknamed "The City," consisting of more than 300 buildings complete with all-weather bamboo walkways winding through the complex.  Airlifted into Cambodia Warrant Officer James Cyrus, a LOH pilot with Bravo Troop, discovered the complex during a routine mission. "We found the building complex almost by accident, 12 kilometers west and 25 north of the Cambodian border. We were looking for something in the area, but didn't see anything at first." "Then I spotted one hootch well camouflaged. Unless you were at treetop level, it would be almost invisible." "I just followed the bamboo walks from hootch to hootch, and saw the street signs, bridges with walkways and ropes and what looked like a motor pool and lumber yard" he added.  The 1st Bn, 5th Cav was inserted the following afternoon in an area four kilometers north of the complex area. Charlie Company deployed and swept toward the huge military installation. Refugees, flooding Highway 7 near the new FSB Terri Lynn in an attempt to escape North Vietnamese forces, confirmed the location of the installation and further described it as a major supply depot. Charlie Company moved out of the LZ and down Highway 7 toward the suspected enemy complex. Leaving the road, they entered extremely heavy underbrush, slowing movement to a crawl. Overhead, a light observation helicopter from Bravo Troop circled and called directions to the grunts below, leading them toward the gigantic complex.  That first night, Charlie Company Skytroopers set up their NDP (night defensive position) less than a kilometer from the installation's perimeter. The under growth below the triple canopy jungle was so dense that it took the company the entire following morning to move the final kilometer to the complex.
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hugs, duckie/sw
The FReeper Foxhole Profiles - Major Richard I. Bong - Top American Ace of WWII - August 8th, 2003
Yesterday the Automatic Updates once again offered to donwload and Widnows XP SP 2. I respectfully turned it down by removing the check box and closing the Window.
There was a report last week that a Danish computer found some security holes in XP SP 2. Later found another problem with IE. We'll have to see how all this is responded to.
I would encourage everyone to use their own descretion on installing XP SP 2. A good start would be to go to Yahoo and type in "Windows XP" and then click on news to read the latest headlines on it.
You can also type in "Windows XP" in the Fr search and read some threads on the subject. It contains information on some freepers experiences with XP SP 2.
My best advice with regards to XP SP 2; use you own descretion. If you encounter problems after installing, have a tech look at your computer and see what he or she can do to fix the problem.
Thanks for the cool daily pics aomagrat.
A question for you if you would not mind. Do you happen to know the rational for the midship turret on the Fletcher class destroyers. It seems, at least to this landlubber, to be of limitied value, good only for broadside action.
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
Morning tomball. It sure feels good to see so many of the Veterans fighting back and not sitting there "taking it" this time.
Morning aomagrat.
This is the first time I can remember seeing a Fletcher Class DD with some of the main gun turrets removed. I didn't know that they had converted the armament on them.
Thanks E.G.C.
For now I'm going to avoid any protential problems by not installing it.
I was just wondering the samething SAM, notice that the pic was taken in the 50s so it is quite possible that the Philip had undergone postwar modernazation. I did not see anything in the history of the USS Philip about that in this online history.
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/dafs/DD/dd498.html
Have taken a break fron the aeroplane for a few days but will get back to work shortly.
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
Morning!
I'll be back in a bit.
The 1st Cav may have been first into Manila and Pyongyang, but by golly they weren't first into Tokyo. The 187th Airborne Infantry (Rakkasans) landed at Atsugi Air Field shortly before dawn on 30 August, 1945. The first foreign troops to set foot on Japanese soil in 2000 years.
Glad to oblige, Sam. After all, you *were* singing the song yesterday. :)
Morning Darksheare.
I have a feeling I'm going to be in trouble for this one....
Good morning feather.
Good morning aomagrat. Still in CA?
!!!!!
hugs back atcha!
thanks for that post, I appreciate that.
off to work. DRAT!
free dixie,sw
Is this the same Cambodia that's seared into Kerry's brain?
Morning!
Nothing much going on here at the moment.
Just heard about a Naval Undersea museum supposedly not too far from you just across the way in Washington.
Didn't catch the name of it though.
Has the US Navy's Trieste II on static display.
(Yes, giving ideas for future threads..)
That ammo dump going up looked rather pretty in the topic pics.
Of course, I'm partial to that sort of thing.
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