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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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Sorry!
Just saw something about it on History channel of all things, was somewhat jealous..
Canada threads?
My unit didn't find the stuff, we just hauled out a lot of the stuff the Cav captured.
Kerry in his "lucky CIA hat"
Ummm.. I deny involvement.
*chuckle*
Been making a bad name for myself elsewhere.
Have areputation to keep low.. er.. uphold.
If everyone found out that despite being a nexus of weirdness and odd events that I'm really a nice guy... why.. the whole thing would crumble!
/ joke.
Has anyone anywhere actually seen a photo of Kerry that doesn't make him look dorky or worse?
(And did you notice that when he salutes, his eyes go in divergent directions?)
Nothing worse than working hard to get a rep and then have it blown by some vicious rumor about being a "nice guy"
I guess it's not his fault for being born looking like a dork, we can blame him for being one though.
Yeah, all that work and it goes down the drain in seconds..
All because of ONE act of kindness 'because I could' and all that..
*sigh*
/ joke.
LOL!
This is true.
Evening Victoria. You gonna watch as much as possible?
On 5 May, Company C, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry, in response to the aerial reconnaissance sighting reports, displaced into the northern half of the complex which had been dubbed "the city". Immediately upon entering the suspected area, the Cavalry troopers reported finding numerous storage bunkers measuring 16 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 8 feet deep. Subsequent reports indicated that most of the bunkers contained large quantities of weapons and munitions and that the enemy had just recently evacuated the area. Throughout the period 5-13 May 182 storage bunkers, 18 mess halls, a training area and a small animal farm were discovered in the area. The logistical storage bunkers contained clothing, food stocks, medical supplies, weapons and munitions. The bulk consisted of ammunition. Generally, all types of equipment and supplies were
in an excellent state of preservation and in good operating condition when discovered. "The city" (Map 10) covered approximately three square kilometers and consisted of a well-organized storage depot that was capable of rapid receipt and issue of large quantities of supplies. Judging from the general condition of the oldest bunker and from translation of supply documents found in the area, it was apparent that the storage depot had been in operation for two to two and one-half years. Some bunkers had been constructed within the last six months.
Captured supply records indicated that the supply depot primarily supported the 7th North Vietnam Army Division. Based on the discovery of classroom facilities, numerous mess halls, firing ranges, as well as large stocks of items of personal clothing and equipment in the cache site area, it was determined that "the city" was also used to provide refresher military and political training to recent replacements from North Vietnam.
Selected items of equipment captured at this cache site complex included:
1,282 individual weapons
202 crew-served weapons
319,000 rounds of .51-caliber/12.7-mm ammunition
25,200 rounds of 14.5-mm antiaircraft machinegun ammunition
1,559,000 rounds of AK-47 ammunition
2,110 grenades
58,000 pounds of plastic explosives
400,000 rounds of .30-caliber ammunition
16,920 propelling charges for 120-mm mortar
22 cases of anti-personnel mines
30 tons of rice 8 tons of corn
1,100 pounds of salt
From the Center for Military History-Vietnam Studies Air Mobility 1961-71 Lt. General John J. Tolson
Above from Delta Company Photos
During May and June of 1970 the 1st Cavalry Division invaded Cambodia although a strategic success was somewhat hampered by a restriction of 30-kilometer advance.
" Mr. Michael O'Neil " (PILOT) - D/229th Avn Bn - "Cobra10
Chinese invent toilet paper--had to; Do You Know Who I Am snatched up all the copies of his book:
Excellent work.
Always wondered why the morons on the cover of Kerry's book looked like they were trying to look as stupid as possible.
I came to the conclusion: They are as stupid as possible.
And that was one big storage 'facility' city...
Yikes.
I sure do. I'm getting ready… bought wine, beer, and vodka. I don't intend drinking them all at once of course, but throughout the week since I have a few days off before I start teaching Spanish. Anyway, I workout everyday - so don't give me a hard time, LOL.
Evening Phil Dragoo
How long did it take the North Vietnamese to build and stock those supply depots? All those years of them just sitting across the border while our politicians twiddled their thumbs and US troops fought and died. It makes you want to puke thinking about it.
They were probably so high and brain dead that they didn't even know they were being put on the cover of a book.
Me? Give you a hard time? Never!!
Get some orange juice to go with that vodka and maybe I'll make some screwdrivers for ya. :-)
Four and a half years later Nixon granted a 30-kilometer incursion into Cambodia.
Soon Kerry would serve as Mme. Binh's errand boy, demanding that Nixon set a date certain for withdrawal.
Watergate was a single file; Filegate was a thousand--
Yet HRC will begin serving as Kerry's "truth czar" Sunday.
Set your clocks back thirty years.
Good evening Victoria. We'll be watching this convention!
Thanks Phil for the map and the link.
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