Southern Cross information
for 196 BDE 23 INF
2/1 INF
For date 710122
196 BDE 23 INF was a US Army unit
2/1 INF was a US Army unit
Primary service involved, US Army
Quang Tin Province, I Corps, South Vietnam
Location, LZ Hawk Hill
Description: The following is an edited version of an article titled "Eliminate evil enemy, taxman unemployed" by SP4 Zin Balaban 196th Inf. Bde. IO.
HAWK HILL - According to a well-known expression, there are only two things in this world a man had to do; and those are to die and pay taxes. Now, thanks to men of Company C, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry, of the 196th Infantry Brigade, villagers of an area northwest of Tam Ky won't have to worry about the "pay taxes" part for a while. It all started when 23rd Infantry Division soldiers of Company C's 1st Platoon were heading towards their night defensive perimeter. The point man, PFC Daniel Malter of Cleveland was first to enter the ville. "I started to circle around the back of this hootch, when I saw a papa-san trying to run away," said PFC Matler. "I grabbed him just as he was about to enter a tunnel." The papa-san was carrying a small black notebook and approximately 20,000 piastres. Also found in the area were four NVA ponchos, an aid bag and an NVA rucksack filled with rice. Not having an interpreter on hand, the platoon took the suspected Viet Cong to their night defensive perimeter in order to obtain more information. A radio summons to Company E's reconnaissance element, who had night laagered not far from 1st Platoon, brought forth a few men with their Kit Carson scout to question the detainee. Glancing through the notebook, the Kit Carson Scout immediately announced that the man was the local Viet Cong tax collector and that the notebook contained a list of people from whom he planned to collect taxes. The Viet Cong was subsequently extracted to LZ Baldy, a firebase west of Tam Ky.
The source for this information was 7101_404_scr supplied by Les Hines 01/2000
Additional information is available on CD-ROM.
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Last updated
12/14/2000
Date posted on this site:
05/13/2023