Chapter 4

Operation Lamar Plain

At 0300 on the morning of May 15, 1969, I was awakened by Jim Matthews, the CQ. He told me to report to Major Dolin's hootch. On arrival, we (the other platoon leaders and I) were told that were to have our platoons ready for action at Chu Lai by noon. He stated that the Americal Division had declared a tactical emergency and the First Brigade was being sent to help out.

We arrived at Chu Lai around 1130, and were promptly put with our counterparts with the Americal. After an AO briefing, we were given our first mission. It was to fly out to Professional and try to find the unit that had attacked the base earlier.

That began an intensive hunt for the 2nd NVA Regiment. This unit had been in Vietnam for a long time, but had been recently reinforced and reorganized, with new bases and equipment. For the next two weeks we felt our way around the Song Thien River Valley. It was a particularly brutal and hostile landscape. It had been labeled "fifty cal valley" (or death valley, another of it's nicknames) by our predecessors. This was a reflection of the numerous (at least 50 were found) antiaircraft firing positions.

Exactly one week after entering the AO, we had our worst day yet. Ted Burns had been flying up the river trying to find the trail they were using for resupply. He took at least one 12.7 round and went down. The cobra and C & C a/c had lost sight of him. I was his replacement on station, and went to find him.

As I descended, I began receiving 12.7 fire. One round went just over the canopy of my loach, and another went just under. I leveled out just in time to see an arm waving from the riverbank. We threw smoke, and the next thing I knew things turned to hell. A 12.7 round went under my seat, wiped out the supports holding my cyclic, and hit Ed Barnes in the leg. I immediately lost commo, but, for some reason, the a/c was still flying.

I could lift the cyclic up and down, like it wasn't attached to the airframe. I never knew when it might quit flying, so I flew low and slow, turning toward Tam Ky north. Ed was screaming his head off, so I knew he was probably hurting pretty bad. The hospital was at Tam Ky north, so I intended to try and get there if possible. I slowed the a/c to about 50 knots and trucked on. We flew between FSB Young and Hill 376 just a few feet off the ground. We made it out onto the coastal plain and were still flying, so I began to think we might make it. I managed to land it at the medivac pad with our cobra just behind.

Ed was wounded, but not quite as bad as first thought. he spent a few days in the hospital and eventually returned to flying. Ted and his observer Sp4 Rodriguez were sent to Japan. Ted returned 4 months later.

Both aircraft were totaled and never flew again. The action along the river continued for the next 8 days unabated. A truce was declared for the 30th in commemoration of Buddha's birthday. We were told that we were not to initiate any action. That morning at about 0830 I was scouting on the side of Hill 376, a prominent hill that rose out of the valley. It overlooked the entire coastal plain, including the MAG 13 airstrip at Chu Lai. As far as I can tell, no one had ever bothered to look on top of the hill. At least nothing had ever been seen to be amiss.

I immediately began to notice signs of activity. Bare spots alongside rock formations suggested the possibility of bunker entrances. I had just reported what I had seen when I was amazed to see 6 NVA regulars standing in the open. They looked as startled to see me as I was to see them. I immediately called "taking fire" and swung around to get my minigun into position. Two fell immediately. The others disappeared into their nearby bunker entrance. The ceasefire was officially over. The amazing thing is, a short time later a brigade scout had a nearly identical experience a few klicks away!!

Hill 376 sits almost directly west of Chu Lai between the coastal plain and the Song Thien River. In retrospect, it's strategic importance is obvious. It overlooks both the huge military complex at Chu Lai and the province capital of Tam Ky. It sits about halfway between firebases Young and Professional. In order to get to our AO west of Professional, we flew right past it practically every day. For at least a year, no one had bothered to recon the top of the hill. As far as I can tell, very few shots were ever fired from the top of the hill at helicopters passing by. The reason would become painfully clear.

As I said before, the cease fire had been broken on Buddha's birthday by action on the west side of the hill. Major Dolin took a good look at all the spot reports sent by pink teams and decided that the hill might prove to be an interesting recon target for the Blues Platoon.

Everyone had assumed for months that the headquarters for the remnants of the 2nd NVA Division (actually reduced to two regiments) were to the west and south of Professional. That was where the F/8th and other Americal units were looking. We had been given a Zone for reconnaissance early on called Recon Zone Alpha. This was roughly a 20 square klick box that included the river valley and Hill 376. No one but us thought a major headquarters could be in our "box".

Major Dolin approached Gunslinger (1st Brigade commander, Col Dietrich) about putting in a company of the 1/501st on the hill. This was on June 1. The problem was that most 1st Bde assets were involved in another action in support of Americal in another part of the AO. He wanted to keep the 1/501st in reserve. He told Gary, in essence, that that was what his blues were for. If he developed something, he would then commit his reserves.

The next day we continued our recon around the military crest of the hill. It soon became obvious that we had something big. I and the other scouts told Gary we thought a battalion might be on the hill. As we began to get more and more involved in the recon, we came under the fire of the 12.7s that were entrenched to the west, north and south of the hill. We had been hitting them with artillery, ADA, 500 lb bombs and everything else but the kitchen sink for almost 3 weeks, yet we couldn't silence them. It was getting more and more obvious that they were protecting something.

Around noon on the 2nd, Gary made the decision to insert the blues. He chose a fairly open area right on top of the hill. It seemed like the safest place to insert. We had received no fire from right on top, so it was naturally assumed that most of the firing positions were on the military crest.

The insertion went according to plan. The Blues had been reduced in number to 17 soldiers by attrition, so it took only a stick of three for the insertion. At first there was no sign of enemy activity. The slicks made it out of the area without getting shot at. Then the shit hit the fan. Lt (now retired BG) Mike Burke ordered the men to get up and move out. The first man up was cut down immediately. It suddenly looked like a firepower demonstration. The only thing to hide behind were a few rocks a couple of feet high. The platoon, (which was relatively green) simply was not prepared for this intense a firefight. One man was actually shot when he, for reasons known only to him, took out after a chicken which went running through the LZ.

Sp4 Joseph (Guy) Lapointe was our medic. He was actually supposed to be on R & R in Hawaii. His replacement never showed up, so he came along with the platoon to the top of the hill. As soon as the first man was hit, he began low crawling to his side. He administered first aid to each man as he was hit until he himself was hit and killed while trying to cover Sgt. Reed's body with his own. He later received the MOH for his actions.

All in all, five of the 17 were KIA immediately, with 4 others wounded. When Mike called for help, Gary tried to fly into the AO in his "B" model. He was shot down immediately, and his FO was badly wounded. He was hit in the leg by a 12.7 round. I was flying around the perimeter doing the best job of suppression I could with my mini. Lonnie was firing out the other door with his Car-15. Two cobras made pass after pass firing everything they had. Two more cobras from ARA soon joined the daisy chain. Two of the loaches who came on station took rounds and were forced to return to Tam Ky. I took some rounds but was able to keep flying.

A desperate call for ammo resupply brought help from Fernando De Pierris and another slick. Fernando (our slick platoon leader) had volunteered for the job. Amazingly, they landed in the LZ without incident!

Gunslinger made the decision to commit the 1/501st as soon as the action started. B company landed about a klick away and began the recon by fire that would bring them to the top of the hill. About 1745, the linkup and relief was complete, although the platoon would remain on the hill until the following morning

The two remaining companies of the 1/501st were inserted on to the hill. The battle continued on unabated for about the next 15 days or so. Our pink teams continued the recon of the hill. After it was all over, it was discovered to be the headquarters of the 2nd NVA regiment of the 2^nd Division. The hill was honeycombed with tunnels, many of which emptied out at the river's edge. This, of course, explained all the 12.7 AA coverage.

The hill had been a major lookout for the regiment for almost two years. They were using it at least in part to monitor air activity out of Chu Lai and Tam Ky.