Americal Daily News Sheets information
for 23 INF DIV

For date 690103


23 INF DIV was a US Army unit
Primary service involved, US Army
Quang Tin Province, I Corps, South Vietnam
Location, Chu Lai
Description: The following is an edited version from the Americal Daily News Sheets Vol. 3. No. 4 Saturday January 4. CHU LAI (AMERICAL IO) - Only moderate action was reported throughout the Americal Division yesterday with the companies of the 198th Inf. Bde. accounting for more than half of all enemy soldiers killed. Three NVA and 25 VC were killed 19 VC suspects detained, seven individual and one crew-served weapon captured 145 refugees relocated, and more than 14 tons of rice discovered in southern I Corps. A/3-21 Inf. and A/4-31 Inf. engaged 22 VC and killed 15 in seven incidents, all firefights, as 196th Inf. Bde. units killed three NVA and 17 VC, captured four weapons and 4200 pounds of rice, and moved 145 refugees. A/3-21, led by CPT Thomas Ruffing (Pittsburgh, PA), raised its two-day total of VC dead to 11 by killing seven in six incidents during a seven-hour search and clear mission in a rice paddy area 16 miles northwest of Tam Ky. A/4-31 Inf. engaged 12 VC and killed eight 22 miles northwest of Tam Ky and captured two M-1 carbines, an AK-47 rifle and documents. A recon element of the 4-31 Inf. killed two VC and an NVA in three incidents 20 miles northwest of Tam Ky. Items captured in the actions included an AK-47 rifle, five magazines, and 150 round of small arms ammunition. Two NVA were killed by fire from B/3-16 Arty. 19 miles southwest of Tam Ky. Vietnamese refugees were relocated in three large groups by F Trp., 17th Cav. and B/4-31 Inf. F Trp. moved two groups totaling 105 refugees from an area 25 miles west of Tam Ky to Nui Loc Son, while Co. B relocated 40 from 29 miles northwest of Tam Ky to An Hoa. Units of the 11th Inf. Bde. killed six VC, detained 19 VC suspects, and captured four weapons and 12 tons of rice. Elements of the 1-20 Inf. killed three VC in as many encounters from five to 14 miles north of Duc Pho. A/1-20 Inf., on a search and clear mission six miles northwest of Duc Pho, detained eight female VC suspects who admitted they had sniped and thrown grenades at American forces. C/4-3 Inf., led by SGT James a Cooper (Carthage, NY) and PFC Charles D. Darling (Sheffield, AL) killed an evading VC, detained two VC suspects, and captured an SKS rifle and a 12-gauge shotgun in three incidents in a rice paddy and near hootches five miles south of Duc Pho. In the afternoon, Co. C discovered 12 tons of rice under a hut four miles south of Duc Pho. On a hill nine miles southwest of Quang Ngai City, a recon element of the 3-1 Inf. killed one VC and took his M-1 rifle. B/4-21 Inf. found a 7.62 mm Chicom machinegun on a hill 23 miles west of Duc Pho. The other VC kill was logged by an Americal Long Range Patrol, led by SGt Dick Roth (Billings, MT), which engaged an unknown-size enemy force 27 miles west of Duc Pho and killed one VC. Action was very light and scattered for the third consecutive day in the 198th Inf. Bde. area where two VC were killed by artillery fire. C/1-14 Arty., firing for B/1-52 Inf., killed the VC in firing missions on two small groups of VC moving along a valley floor five miles southeast of Tien Phuoc. One Americal Division soldier was killed, and three were wounded and evacuated for medical treatment, according to an initial report.

The source for this information was NEWS6901.AML & AVN supplied by Les Hines


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Date posted on this site: 05/13/2023