Southern Cross information
for 11 BDE 23 INF
123 CAB
F/8 CAV
174 AHC

For date 710115


11 BDE 23 INF was a US Army unit
123 CAB was a US Army unit
F/8 CAV was a US Army unit
174 AHC was a US Army unit
Primary service involved, US Army
Operation IRON MOUNTAIN
Quang Ngai Province, I Corps, South Vietnam
Location, Quang Ngai
Description: The following is an edited version of started "Division Recap Weekly Action" column. The subtitle reads "division counts 82." As part of Operation Iron Mountain, Bronco action was moderate this week as men of the 11th Infantry Brigade killed 26 enemy soldiers. The Night Hawks of the 123rd Aviation Battalion started out the week as they received small arms fire while flying over the foothills west of Quang Ngai City. Searching the area, they spotted, engaged and killed two VC. Later in the day while reacting to a radar, the 'Night Hawks' spotted two more VC in the lowlands west of Duc Pho. The results of the ensuing action were two dead VC. Later in the week, a LOH from the battalion spotted a lone VC over the foothills southwest of Duc Pho. The LOH engaged and killed him. In the same area, the "Blues", an aerial rifle platoon of the battalion were inserted. The platoon rapidly engaged and killed two enemy soldiers. Early in the week, while patrolling the lowlands southeast of Duc Pho, a recon element of the 4th Battalion, 21st Infantry found one Viet Cong inside a tunnel. He was asked to come out but he refused. The tunnel was destroyed resulting in one VC killed. The next day, reacting to a radar sighting, the men of F Troop, 7th Cavalry [should be 8th Cavalry] checked an area in the lowlands northwest of Duc Pho and spotted three VC. They engaged the enemy resulting in three Viet Cong dead. During a patrol of the foothills west of Duc Pho, the 69th Rangers engaged an unknown size enemy force resulting in three enemy dead. While on a search and clear mission in the foothills northwest of Duc Pho, Company B of the 4th Battalion, 3rd Infantry engaged one NVA. He was killed. Elements of the 4th Battalion, 3rd Infantry, working with the 70th Rangers, an ARVN unit, observed a small size enemy force in the foothills northwest of Duc Pho. After receiving fire support from the 6th Battalion, 11th Artillery, the infantrymen swept the area finding four VC killed in action. Also found was a shotgun, an AK-47 and 35 huts. After investigating the area, the huts were destroyed. A LOH teamed up with the fire support from the 6th Battalion, 11th Artillery to kill two NVA and one VC over the foothills west of Quang Ngai City. Patrolling the foothills of Duc Pho, G Company of the 75th Rangers, a long range patrol unit engaged two enemy soldiers, killing both. On the last day of the week, a gunship from the 174th Aviation Company spotted and engaged a lone VC in the lowlands west of Duc Pho, killing him.

The source for this information was 7101_402_scr supplied by Les Hines 04/05/2000


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Last updated 12/11/2000

Date posted on this site: 05/13/2023