Army Reporter information
for 1 BDE 5 MECH
1/11 INF 5 INF

For date 710301


1 BDE 5 MECH was a US Army unit
1/11 INF 5 INF was a US Army unit
Primary service involved, US Army
Operation DEWEY CANYON II
Quang Tri Province, I Corps, South Vietnam
Location, Khe Sanh
Description: 01Mar71- Pioneers spearhead Dewey Canyon II KHE SANH - Men of the 1st Bn., 11th Inf., 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized), are called the Pioneers. For the last two years, they have worked to defend the northeastern most section of the Republic of Vietnam, in the Quang Tri area. In the colde, g... dawn of Jan. 30, however, the Pioneers began to follow the ways of their old namesakes. They started moving west. This sudden migration for the Pioneers was the first step in the brigade's participation in operation Dewey Canyon II, the combined U.S-South Vietnamese effort to clear western Military Region I of enemy troops. U.S. Army elements from all over South Vietnam were to help in the operation, but the Pioneers led the assault, and the men of Charlie Company were the first of the Pioneers. Each laden with more than 50 pounds of field equipment, the men of Charlie Company crouched in dozens of helicopters heading into the western mountains that morning. They peered out the open landing doors, looking for the first signs of their objective, the damaged and abandoned airstrip at Khe Sanh. As the huge chopper convoy broke through the mountain pass and began to descend onto the hill-ringed plain, the soldiers inside began their final preparations, rechecking weapons and tightening rucksacks. The pilots came in low and fast to the landing zone and, before the skids even hit the ground, the Pioneers came pouring out. As each chopper emptied, it rose back into the sky, wheeled around, and headed back for another load. There were hundreds more soldiers to be brought in, and a road convoy of engineering equipment was approaching the area too. The mission of this first waive of troopers was to secure the area for the later arrivals. One of the first men to jump out at Khe Sanh was Maj. Harlow Stevens, the battalion operations officer. Eight years earlier, when he was with the Special Forces, he had been among the first U.S. soldiers in the area. He saw a far different scene this time, for the bloody fighting of Tet 1968 had killed or scattered the civilian population and leveled the nearby town. The men of Charlie company, as they quickly began to set up their defensive perimeter and sweep the area, were surprised and relieved to encounter no enemy fire. Soon, the engineers with their tractors, trucks and graders began arriving at the airstrip. In a few days, they were to construct a dirt airstrip parallel to the old metal one. When that was done and the cargo planes started coming in, the engineers would turn their attention to repairing the existing strip. The Charlie Company soldiers could see what a job the engineers had. Walking along the old strip, they had to weave their way around scattered scraps of twisted metal plate. Like a field sown with dragons's teeth, the rubble of war lay everywhere. There was hardly a square foot of ground that didn't hold expended machine gun shells, grenade fragments, shrapnel or even unexploded dud artillery rounds. Capt. Barry Buckley, commanding officer of Charlie Company, soon had his men stationed in platoon-size elements at strategic spots along the north side of the runway. They started digging their defensive positions, refined examples of the classic foxhole. By filling sandbags and using the rusted sheets blown from the runway, the men quickly built miniature bunkers for protection against possible mortar or rocket attack. The morale of the American soldier in Vietnam has been questioned by some lately, but spirit was high in Charlie Company. Said Buckley, "I don't have any trouble getting these guys going. In fact, it's sometimes hard holding them back." The next several days were quiet ones for the Pioneers, the time had taken up by guard duty, weapons maintenance and personal chores, but mostly by waiting. They were waiting for the word to start moving west again. Though Charlie Company had little to do most of that week, the rest of Khe Sanh was busy well into the nights. The dirt airstrip, 3,100 feet long, was laid out and graded. A steady procession of heavy vehicles moved up and down the runway, packing the freshly graded earth to the necessary hardness. Giant, twin-rotored Chinook helicopters drifted over the area carrying loads of supplies, heavy machinery, communications equipment and fuel tanks slung underneath. As each would approach where its load was to go, a goggled soldier would pop a smoke grenade. The pilot would then hover his machine over the colored cloud and slowly lower the cargo until the chopper was motionless 20 feet off the ground. Picking up a fresh load was even trickier, for the dust storm kicked up by the rotor wash would nearly obscure the pilot's view of the ground crew trying to catch his dangling hook. On the afternoon of Feb. 4, word spread across Khe Sanh that the first cargo plane would be landing within a couple hours. As 4 o'clock approached, the last of the vehicles left the runway and cameramen south vantage points on the small hills of dirt scraped from the strip. Soon the plane appeared. The pilot made one wide pass over the area, abruptly wheeled, and then set the roaring C130 right down the middle without a bounce. As the camouflaged bird decelerated down the strip, its wings hanging well over the edges, the grinning pilot flashed the "thumbs up" to the cheering spectators. "Wow," said one, "he did it! They couldn't have drug me onto that plane." Within hours, the cargo had been taken off the plane and it was turned around for takeoff. Fewer watched as it lifted into the air, for the runway's capability was now an accomplished fact. It was time to get on to other things. It was time for the men of Charlie Company, too. They were to conduct security patrols near the Laotian border. They would be moving out the next morning heading west.-Stephen K. Doig

The source for this information was 7103AR.AVN supplied by Les Hines


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Date posted on this site: 05/13/2023