Southern Cross information
for 11 BDE 23 INF
1/20 INF 23 INF
For date 700626
11 BDE 23 INF was a US Army unit
1/20 INF 23 INF was a US Army unit
Primary service involved, US Army
Quang Ngai Province, I Corps, South Vietnam
Location, FSB LIZ
Description: The following is an edited version of an article titled "Uncover rice cache" by SP4 Toby Prodgers 11th INF BDE IO.
FSB LIZ - Rice is abundant in the fertile "515 valley" but "Jungle Warriors" of the 11th Infantry Brigade are making it scarce for VC and NVA rice carriers in Duc Pho District. A 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry element recently cleaned out an enemy supply cache and put two VC rice carriers out of the wholesale food business. On a routine search of the hamlet according to SP4 Stuart Robertson, Middletown, N.Y., the men were just poking around with their sticks and came across an 800 pound rice cache buried in the floor of one of the huts. The men then intensified their search and found two tunnels, each with a good sized room, one of which contained an enemy hand grenade. Just to the left of the first dwelling they found a larger, half-ton stash of rice buried about two feet underground. The platoon stayed in the area that night and moved back through the hamlet enroute to an ambush site to the west. On a trail leading to the hamlet, the men spotted two VC with packs and rice carrying bags. One of the enemy evaded during the contact but the other carrying a hand grenade, was wounded and evacuated. The next day the platoon detained a total of 13 Vietnamese suspected of being involved in the enemy supply operations in the area. The following day, the men moved to a larger hamlet 650 yards southwest and a search revealed almost two tons of rice. SP4 Robertson explained that the VC had hidden much of the rice in five gallon tins camouflaged by a thin layer of dried potatoes.
The source for this information was 7006_323_scr supplied by Les Hines 12/19/2000
Additional information is available on CD-ROM.
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Last updated
12/24/2000
Date posted on this site:
05/13/2023