Army Reporter information
for 3 BDE 101 ABN

For date 680127


3 BDE 101 ABN was a US Army unit
Primary service involved, US Army
Binh Duong Province, III Corps, South Vietnam
Location, Phuoc Vinh
Description: The following is an edited version of an article titled "101st Abn Paratroopers Battle Enemy 'Phantom Force' Kills Eleven VC" dated 27 Jan 1968. Nearly 3000 feet below, a 101st Abn Div Phantom Force was under attack by a company-sized force of VC when a bullet smashed into a hovering helicopter, barely missing its co-pilot. WO Joseph M. Potvin co-pilot of the control ship carrying 3rd Bde commander, COL Lawrence L. Mowery, kept maneuvering the chopper back and forth as he studied the river basin below. The Phantom Force, the 3rd Bde LRRP, was taking fire from a tree line on its right flank, fire from automatic rifles and grenade and rocket launchers, as well as small arms. Mowery and members of his staff were coordinating the attack. About 1000 feet below them, Air Force CPT Dick Salazar circled in a forward air controller Bird Dog aircraft and made calculations for another airstrike. "Get down?" somebody was yelling on the river bank. Two Air Force F-100 jets suddenly screamed in out of the sun. Crouched in the mud, SP4 Edward P. Crowley and David Jones were blown off their feet by an explosion four feet away. They got up shaken but unhurt. Smoke billowed up in their wake as a violent secondary explosion from a bomb rocked a VC bunker. Salazar fired rockets to mark the targets and moved on, replaced by a second Bird Dog piloted by Air Force MAJ Oscar Unser. "Hey, we're getting it from the trees over to the left now," Unser's radio blared. On the river bank, medic SGT Larry Hall, wounded in the thigh by the explosion which had dazed Crowley and Jones, was getting himself patched up. Somebody suddenly said another man, more seriously wounded by grenade fragments, was lying 45 yards to the front. His own bandaging still unfinished, Hall jumped up and ran out into the VC gunfire, dashing the distance to the wounded man. After a few moments he came back, bringing the other man, a radio telephone operator, with him. "To help the Phantoms, I walked in 105mm artillery rounds toward their position 375 yards out to within less than 100 yards, MAJ Unser explained later. Red flashes followed by gray smoke-puffs were visible from the air as the loud sound boomed up toward the helicopters. The artillery rounds were hitting four abreast and gradually edging along the tree line to the left of the embattled paratroopers. Meanwhile Mowery appearing calm but very concerned, was conferring with staff officers. He suddenly signaled, and his command chopper banked to land at Phuoc Vinh airstrip. The colonel jumped out. Within minutes, a reaction force of paratroopers of D/2/506th Abn was on its way by chopper to link up with the Phantoms. As 10 helicopters brought them in, the F-100s, their bombs all expended, were diving in on strafing runs, spraying bullets along the tree line. Another forward air control pilot, Air Force CPT Marlin Siegwalt, took over Bird Dog duties, directing two more air attacks into the enemy positions before being succeeded by still another forward air controller, Air Force LTC John Rider. In the hot afternoon flight, members of the Phantom Force reported killing 11 VC. They also reported seeing numerous blood trails where VC had dragged away their dead and wounded.
Comments: WO Potvin, Joseph M.; Bde pilot; ; COL Mowery, Lawrence L.; 3 BDE 101 ABN CO; ;

The source for this information was 6801AR.AVN supplied by Les Hines


Additional information is available on CD-ROM.

Please send additions or corrections to: Gary Roush Email address: webmaster@vhpa.org


Return to panel index

Return to Helicopter Pilot KIA index

Return to VHPA Home Page

Copyright © 1998 - 2023 Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association

Date posted on this site: 05/13/2023