unit history information
for 282 AHC
For date 680224
282 AHC was a US Army unit
Primary service involved, US Army
Thua Thien Province, I Corps, South Vietnam
Location, Hue
Description: The 282nd AHC unit history reported the TET offensive placed a burden on the unit that at times seemed almost impossible. During the siege of Hue, the company was assigned the task of keeping supplies flowing into the city. Communist forces had ringed the city closing off all supply routes except the Perefune River, which extends past Hue and empties into the South China Sea. All supplies and medical evacuations had to be transported over this river route by Navy LCU's or be heli-lifted to the Hue hospital pad. The ALLEYCATS were assigned the primary mission of providing aerial escort for the LCS's on the river and a secondary mission of proving close air support when a lull occurred in the primary mission. The weather during this period was below normal minimums for helicopter operations with ceilings of 500 feet or less and visibility of 1/2 to 1 mile with rain and fog. The ALLEYCATS continued to cover the boats on the river and the BLACK CATS continued to airlift supplies and medevac wounded despite the horrible weather and constant intense enemy ground fire attempting to cut the last supply route into Hue. 282nd helicopters engaged AAA emplacements and rocket launchers in an attempt to break the NVA stranglehold on Hue. At times the groundfire was so intense that ships were forced into the clouds for concealment. When the TET Offensive ended, ships of the 282nd had flown more than 1,200 hours in the defense of Hue, lifted more than 235,000 lbs of cargo, 237 medevacs and over 5,500 troops into the hospital pad. As a result of the 282nd heroic action during this period, 1 DSC,2 SSs,16 DFCs, 3 BSs, 31 AMs with "V", and 15 PHs were awarded to members of the company.
The source for this information was 282 AHC History 1 Jan - 31 Dec 68 by 1LT Thomas Prince
Additional information is available on CD-ROM.
Please send additions or corrections to: Gary Roush Email address: webmaster@vhpa.org
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Date posted on this site:
05/13/2023