Army Reporter information
for 1 CAV DIV
For date 680113
1 CAV DIV was a US Army unit
Primary service involved, US Army
Binh Dinh Province, II Corps, South Vietnam
Location, My An
Description: The following is an edited version of an article titled "Cav Battle Kills 400 Enemy" dated 13 Jan 1968.
The 1/12th Cav, 1st Cav Div was walking across a battlefield, a small piece of land in central Vietnam where the enemy had been forced to stand and fight. A six-man squad had probed this area near the village of My An, four miles north of Bong Son, after NVA snipers fired on an observation helicopter. The squad spotted a sniper in a tree and moved in to flank him. Suddenly, a volley of fire burst out from their front and flank. Two of the U.S. soldiers were killed and two wounded. Two men, who might have pulled back but chose to stay with the wounded, were not hit. Much of the fighting to follow was centered around these men. The remainder of the company tried to rescue the ambushed squad, but intense NVA fire drove them back. APCs from the 1/50th Inf joined the battalion to assault the NVA positions. "We had the feeling we were just going in there and pull them out by the shirts," one soldier said. NVA automatic weapons opened up again as the American units pulled back, leaving behind one platoon pinned down when they tried to rescue the six men who had been ambushed. Only when jets brought in 750-pound bombs did enemy firepower fizzle. "It was frustrating," said PFC Eddie Hardee, a forward artillery observer, "Our artillery was right on target and the NVA just kept firing. But when those jets dropped bombs for two hours, they literally blew this area away. Every five to eight seconds you could hear bombs going off." When the APCs and the 1st of the 12th troopers assaulted again, they met no resistance. "These men were mad," Hardee said. "A battle like this hurts, but the morale stayed high." More than 400 NVA soldiers were killed in the fighting at My An. "A tour in Vietnam," one man said, "consists of extended periods of boredom punctuated by flashes of sheer terror." His company would climb aboard Chinooks the next morning, half going to LZ Laramie and half to LZ English for a rest, a regrouping and hopefully a little well-deserved boredom.
The source for this information was 6801AR.AVN supplied by Les Hines
Additional information is available on CD-ROM.
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Date posted on this site:
05/13/2023