Army Reporter information
for 101 ENG 101 ABN
2/17 CAV 101 ABN
3/187 ABN 101 ABN

For date 710308


101 ENG 101 ABN was a US Army unit
2/17 CAV 101 ABN was a US Army unit
3/187 ABN 101 ABN 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: 08Mar71- 101st Engrs rebuild airstrip VC KHE SANH - For nearly 2 1/2 years the airstrip here had remained a desolate tract of dust and aluminum plank, dotted with shell craters. These remnants of Khe Sanh's famous siege greeted Screaming Eagles from the 326th Engineer Bn., 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile), on arriving by helicopter and road at this remote outpost in northern Military Region I. Leaving their staging area at Mai Loc, west of Quang Tri, the airmobile engineers and their equipment were airlifted to Khe Sanh during the initial phase of Operation Dewey Canyon II to clear an area and construct a new airstrip a scant 50 yards from the existing shell-scarred runway. From a point 12 miles northwest of Khe Sanh, an engineer platoon readied highway QL9 for convoy traffic by mine-sweeping the road, making necessary repairs and constructing bridges. As the engineers toiled, Screaming Eagles from the 2nd Squadron, 17th Cav., and the 3rd Bn., 187th Inf., patrolled the perimeter and outlying mountains surrounding the construction area. Working around-the-clock shifts from Jan. 30 until Feb. 4, the 101st's bulldozers, earthmovers and graders carved away at the scarred terrain, unearthing mortar rounds and mines, and tearing through rusting concertina wire. After six days and nights of continuous laboring, 2 1/2 years of the past were transformed into a smooth, flat, 3,800-foot runway which saw the landing and takeoff of a U.S. Air Force C130 transport airplane on the afternoon of Feb. 4. "Our mission was to build an airstrip in an area covered with elephant grass, craters and debris," said Spec. 5 Fernando Jove. "It was quite a climax to our team effort seeing the C130 set down on our airstrip." Screaming Eagle pathfinders stationed at the airstrip directed incoming helicopters resupplying the 101st; 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized); the 27th Engineers; 45th Corps; and the 23rd Infantry Division. The task of clearing embedded mines from the surrounding base area also fell to the men of the 326th. Clearing the fields of overgrown brush with heavy bulldozers, six antitank and five antipersonnel mines were either discharged by the earth-moving machinery or blown in place by the explosive ordnance demolition (EOD) teams attached to the engineers.

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


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Date posted on this site: 05/13/2023