AO Winchester—Night of 6–7 May
As darkness descended on the area around FSB Stephanie, the sniper fire continued. Charlie Company sent out three listening posts north, west, and southeast of the perimeter. The listening posts were meant to provide early warning if enemy infiltrators tried to penetrate the perimeter. LTC Mastoris ordered Alpha, Bravo, and Delta Companies to establish platoon-size ambushes throughout the Warrior battalion’s AO. As night fell, the ambush patrols moved stealthily into their ambush sites to wait for the enemy.
One of Alpha Company’s ambushes was sprung shortly after 2000 hours. Four enemy soldiers were killed. Less than an hour later, the Charlie Company LP on the southeastern side of the perimeter spotted three enemy slipping out of the village headed toward the perimeter wire. The infiltrators were driven back to the village by M79 fire from the perimeter. As the night progressed, enemy movement was also detected north of FSB Stephanie. Shortly before midnight, Delta Company killed an NVA machine-gun team as it moved to a position near their night defensive position. More groups of NVA were spotted moving east to west between FSB Stephanie and Delta Company’s positions to the north. LTC Mastoris ordered a 100 percent alert at FSB Stephanie.
Captain Smith’s Bravo Company was deployed a few hundred meters to the south of Tan Thanh/Binh Tri Dong village. Between 0100 and 0300 hours, 7 May, the company intercepted several enemy squads moving toward the village. Seven insurgents were killed, and four AK-47 rifles and a B40 rocket launcher were recovered. Meanwhile, intelligence reports received at brigade level confirmed that there was a large enemy force in Tan Thanh. The brigade S3, LTC Don Bolduc, alerted the 3/7th Infantry to a change in mission. The brigade commander ordered the Cottonbalers to move three rifle companies to the south of Tan Thanh village in preparation for an attack. Captain Smith’s Bravo Company was placed under the operational control of the 3/7th Infantry until the village was cleared.
In the meantime, Captain Dabney’s Delta Company was attacked in its NDP by an estimated 200 NVA regulars. The attack began just after 0300 hours. With four ambush patrols positioned outside the company’s primary NDP, the NVA unit outnumbered Captain Dabney’s force and was able to quickly establish fire superiority. Dabney radioed the battalion headquarters for assistance and a resupply of ammo while his FO adjusted the artillery and mortar DEFCONs. Battalion commander Bill Mastoris responded immediately, ordering five ACAV stationed at FSB Stephanie to reinforce Delta Company. A flareship, gunship team, and a FAC were also launched to support Delta, arriving overhead of the company’s night defensive position by 0400 hours. As the Spooky flareship illuminated the paddies below, Cobra gunships blasted the enemy positions with rockets and mini-gun fires. Captain Dabney attempted to direct a medevac helicopter into his position to evacuate casualties, but the incoming fire was too intense.
With the arrival of the Armored Cav platoon and gunship strikes, the tide of battle began to shift. At 0500 hours, a USAF FAC radioed Dabney that two F-100s were on station. After marking his own positions with strobe lights, Dabney pinpointed the enemy locations for the FAC. Moments later, the F-100s roared through the night sky strafing the NVA positions. On each run, the high-performance aircraft dropped canisters of napalm and followed up with 20mm cannon fire before kicking in their after-burners and soaring off for another pass. The airstrike broke the back of the NVA attack.
As dawn broke over the smoke-covered battlefield, the enemy survivors began to withdraw. Dust-offs were finally able to land to evacuate Delta Company’s 15 WIAs and one KIA. On a sweep of the area outside their perimeter, the Delta Company grunts found 56 NVA bodies and one man wounded. The prisoner later identified himself as a member of the 5th Regiment, 7th NVA Division. During interrogation the wounded soldier stated that his battalion had moved into the area during the night, but he had no knowledge of where it was headed or the nature of its mission. Delta Company acquitted itself well in the fight, but it was only a preview of what lay ahead for the Warriors.
FSB Stephanie continued to receive intermittent sniper fire from the village to the south throughout the morning of 7 May. An enemy 12.75 machine gun firing from the village poured fire into Charlie Company’s bunkers on the southern perimeter. A Charlie Company soldier was severely wounded when a round from the heavy machine gun shattered the man’s knee joint, nearly severing his lower leg. Artillery crewmen from Charlie Battery 2/40th Artillery and Charlie Battery 2/35th Artillery were particularly at risk as they manned their howitzers during fire missions. LTC Meyer, the 2/40th Artillery commander, ordered his battery commander to engage suspected enemy sniper locations in the village with direct fire.
Beginning at 1055 hours, Alpha, Charlie, and Delta Companies of the 3/7th air-assaulted onto LZs south of the villages of Binh Tri Dong, Ap Tan Thanh, and Ap Tan Hoi. During the airmobile operation, Bravo Company, 4/12th was in a hot firefight with the enemy force in Tan Thanh village. Advancing on the village from the south, the Bravo Company grunts were hit with a barrage of small arms, RPG, and mortar fire.
Twenty-five-year-old Staff Sergeant Johnny Velasquez was platoon sergeant of Bravo’s 4th Platoon. The San Francisco native had joined the 199th LIB in February 1968 after a tour with the 101st Airborne Division. Velasquez wrote, “That morning we began to move out towards the village. We all knew that we were going to be in a firefight. However, we didn’t realize how bad it was going to be, and how hard we were going to get hit.”
Caught in the open rice paddies, the Bravo Company Warriors hit the ground and began to return fire. According to Johnny Velasquez, his friend and fellow platoon sergeant, Sergeant First Class Lloyd Tribbett of 2nd Platoon, “stood to pull down two brand new sergeants, and all three were killed by machine-gun fire.”
Bill Hill from Columbus, Georgia was a member of Velasquez’s platoon. When the platoon was pinned down in the open, Hill hit the dirt and opened up with his M60. After engaging a house where most of the fire was coming from, he yelled to his buddy Johnny Chambers to engage the house with a LAW. As Chambers zeroed in on the house, Hill provided the gunner with covering fire. The pair then moved to another location and repeated the action. After Hill spotted a target, he shouted the location to Chambers using a “direction on the clock.” Chambers would then fire a LAW at the target from the kneeling position while Hill provided covering fire with his M60.
Taking advantage of Hill and Chambers’ covering fire, Bravo Company pulled back and took cover behind a series of dikes south of the village. As his men returned fire, Captain Smith called for artillery, gunship, and TAC air support to suppress the enemy fire. The fire was so intense that it was not possible for a medevac chopper to land near Bravo’s positions.
When he received the order to pull back, Sergeant Bobby Hill and his platoon fell back and took cover behind a rice paddy dike about 100 yards from the southern edge of the village. From the new position, Hill’s platoon began to deliver a heavy volume of fire on the insurgents’ positions in the village. Platoon Sergeant Hill, a lanky North Carolinian, had bagged a POW earlier in the day, but had no way to evacuate the man. Fearing that the enemy soldier would attempt to escape during the firefight, Hill grabbed the VC and held him in a headlock with one arm while he fired his M16 with his free arm. The VC was determined to escape his captor, and reached for Sergeant Hill’s holstered .45 caliber pistol. The two wrestled for the loaded pistol in a life-and-death struggle. Hill grasped the weapon by the barrel, wresting it away from the VC. Then he slammed the butt of the pistol into the VCs head, fracturing the man’s skull. Still under heavy incoming enemy fire, Sergeant Hill grabbed his M16 and resumed firing on the enemy positions.
Alpha, Bravo, and Delta companies from 3/7th Infantry were on the ground by 1315 hours, and headed north toward positions around the Tan Thanh village. Heavy fighting continued throughout the afternoon in the Bravo, 4/12th sector. Despite gunship and air strikes on their positions, the enemy resistance continued. Attacking again across flat open rice paddies, the B
ravo Company grunts were unable to gain a foothold in the village. Two more Bravo Company soldiers, Staff Sergeant Roger Ackerman of Lowell, Wisconsin, and PFC Gary Howard of Quincy, Florida were killed, and eight men, including the Bravo Company CO, Captain Lee Smith, were wounded. Smith refused medical evacuation, opting to stay with his men.
When Bravo Company’s ground attacks faltered, a platoon of ACAVs from Delta Troop, 17th Cav moved through the company toward the village. As they drove into the village, the ACAVs were met with a barrage of machine-gun and RPG fire. The lead ACAV was struck by an enemy anti-tank rocket and burst into flames. Three of the crewmembers were seriously wounded and needed help. Specialist Leonard Sargent, a Bravo Company fire team leader, dashed across the paddies to rescue the wounded troopers who were in danger of being burned alive in the track. After carrying one of the troopers to safety, Specialist Sargent again exposed himself to intense enemy fire and returned to rescue another wounded crewman. When he reached the burning ACAV, three VC charged the vehicle, firing their AK47s as they ran. Sargent opened fire on the trio with his M16, dropping all three. As he placed the wounded trooper on his shoulder, another VC charged toward him. Repeating his previous action, Sargent shot the VC with his M16 rifle. Returning to his fire team’s position, he then administered first aid to the wounded troopers. Specialist Sargent was awarded the Silver Star for his heroism in rescuing the wounded cavalrymen.
Tan Thanh village was a well-prepared defensive position, and every avenue of approach was covered by anti-tank and automatic weapons fire. The enemy was fully prepared to die defending their positions. After an aerial reconnaissance, LTC Hall was convinced that daylight ground assaults against the heavily fortified positions without additional air and artillery support were doomed to failure. The Cottonbalers needed overwhelming air and artillery support. Hall put his artillery LNO and S3 Air to work preparing requests for additional artillery and air strikes. The Cottonbaler commander ordered a fullscale attack on Tan Thanh village on the following morning.
Fire Support Base Stephanie continued to receive fire from the northern perimeter of the village throughout the afternoon, despite the direct artillery fire, gunship strikes, and air strikes. Three men were hit by sniper fire on the firebase, including the Charlie Company First Sergeant, George Holmes. Holmes was hit with a ricocheting AK-47 round and was not seriously hurt. After treatment at the battalion aid station he was returned to duty.
As dusk fell, fires started by the air strikes on the village illuminated the night sky, and smoke drifted from the destroyed houses. To the northeast, fires could be seen burning in Saigon. The Warriors and Cottonbalers prepared for night operations. The Cottonbalers established positions both east and west of Tan Thanh village, while Bravo Company held its position to the south. The enemy occupying the village were cordoned off, since FSB Stephanie was located directly to the north. Ambush positions and listening posts were established throughout the area to prevent any enemy from reinforcing or escaping from the village. Additionally, Spooky flareships orbited the area and provided illumination for the ground troops. Lieutenant Colonel Hall and his staff continued planning and preparations for the final assault on Tan Thanh village.
While LTC Hall and his Cottonbalers focused on Tan Thanh village, LTC Mastoris’ main concern was the area to the north and west of FSB Stephanie. The Warrior commander continued to receive reports of enemy units transiting the area to reinforce their forces fighting around Tan Son Nhut Airbase. Mastoris was also concerned with enemy attempts to reinforce units in Tan Thanh village. An enemy platoon-size force was spotted moving about 300 meters from the southeastern edge of the firebase perimeter headed for the village. The enemy was engaged with mortar and M79 fire that killed several of the insurgents and scattered the rest before the platoon reached the village. The remainder of the night passed without any major contacts in the Warrior AO.
Tan Thanh Village—8 May
At dawn on 8 May, Bravo Company, 4/12th, still held positions behind the paddy dikes south of Tan Thanh. Before the sun was totally above the horizon, the company was hit with a barrage of mortar and RPG fire that killed one man and wounded fourteen others.
Johnny Velasquez wrote, “After yelling ‘incoming,’ I dove into the large hole we had dug. However, a mortar round exploded in front of our Chu Hoi (former VC), who was killed instantly. Lieutenant Nixon (4th Platoon leader) was standing next to him and was severely wounded.” It was an odd twist of fate that Nixon was nearly killed that morning.
Lieutenant Dan Nixon had completed his six months as a rifle platoon leader in Bravo Company at the beginning of May. The men of his platoon were disappointed when their lieutenant was reassigned to advise an ARVN unit. In their opinion, his replacement just didn’t measure up. Lieutenant Nixon was surprised when a several men from his former platoon showed up at the ARVN compound and asked him to return to Bravo Company. Nixon hitched a ride back to his company where he spoke with Captain Lee Smith, Bravo’s newly assigned commander. Smith agreed to let Nixon return to the company, but not to his old platoon. Lieutenant Nixon returned as Bravo’s 4th Platoon leader just in time for the fight for Tan Thanh village.
After Nixon was patched up by the company medics, his platoon sergeant, Johnny Velasquez, carried the young lieutenant to the medevac chopper, assuring him that they would meet again someday. They did, 32 years later.
Nixon was not the only officer wounded in the mortar attack. The Bravo CO, Captain Lee Smith, was wounded by shrapnel for the second time in two days. Ignoring his painful wounds, Smith called for gunship and TAC air support to suppress the enemy fire. He then radioed for two dust-offs to evacuate the wounded and KIA.
When the dust-off ships arrived on station, gunships covered the evacuations with rocket and machine-gun fire. Eight litter patients and nine ambulatory patients along with the KIA were loaded aboard two medevac helicopters. Captain Smith and those with minor wounds were flown to FSB Stephanie for treatment at the battalion aid station. The others were flown directly to 3d Field Hospital in Saigon.
Captain Smith was the third Bravo Company officer to be wounded and evacuated. Two platoon leaders, Lieutenants Dan Nixon and Jim Macy, were also out of the fight. LTC Mastoris called upon Captain Bob Tyson, the Echo Company commander, to fill in for Smith as temporary commander of Bravo Company. Tyson hopped on the battalion resupply Huey that was hauling a supply of ammunition out to the company and took command. In addition to the officers, all of the Bravo medics were wounded in action, and only one was able to stay with the company. It was a bad day for Bravo Company.
At 0845 hours, the first in a series of six air strikes hit the enemy positions in Tan Thanh village. A pair of F100 fighters dropped four 500 lb. bombs, and four napalm canisters on the enemy positions. Eight structures were destroyed and five were damaged. Prior to the air strikes, psychological warfare aircraft dropped leaflets and used loudspeakers to warn all civilians to vacate the area. Between the air strikes, artillery and 106mm recoilless rifles pounded the enemy positions in the village.
When the air strikes were complete, Alpha, Bravo, and Delta Companies of the 3/7th, and Bravo 4/12th launched a coordinated assault on the village to dislodge the enemy. The day was blistering hot as the Cottonbalers and Warriors moved out under the midday sun. Bravo and Delta Companies of the Cottonbaler battalion began their assaults from the western side of the village, while Alpha 3/7, and Bravo 4/12 attacked from the south.
Captain Fred Gentile had flown in to Alpha Company’s night defensive position the night before the attack with battalion commander LTC Hall. Gentile had been newly promoted to Captain and LTC Hall asked Gentile if he would “stay the night with Alpha Company.” Gentile, who was wearing his first set of clean jungle fatigues in months, and had no field gear with him, understood what his battalion commander meant. He was giving him command of Alpha Company on the spot. First Sergeant Ford, the Alpha Company top kick, welcomed Gentile aboard. He knew Gentile was one of the most e
xperienced officers in the battalion. The new Alpha CO had some big shoes to fill. His predecessor, Captain Tony Smaldone, had been one of the best company commanders in the 199th LIB.
When Captain Zimmerman’s Delta Company entered the village, it immediately ran into stiff enemy resistance. Captain Frank Slaughter’s Bravo Company moved forward to support Delta. After more than an hour of heavy fighting to dislodge the enemy from their underground bunkers and fighting positions, Delta Company had eight men WIA and one KIA, Sergeant Michael Connolly.
Twenty-one-year-old Sergeant Mike Connolly, a native of Woodside, New York, had been walking point for his platoon as it advanced into the village. Connolly was a fire team leader and not required to walk point, but he had volunteered. As he moved forward, he sensed that his platoon was headed directly into an enemy ambush kill zone. Looking around, he spotted an enemy machine-gun barrel protruding from a bunker hidden beneath a pile of rubble. Rather than diving for cover, he turned and shouted a warning to his comrades. Then he threw his body into the line of fire of the machine gun, absorbing the initial burst of fire. Sergeant Mike Connolly was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action.
By 1530 hours, all three Cottonbaler companies and Bravo 4/12 were still struggling to take control of the village. Taking cover behind piles of rubble, the grunts tried to isolate the enemy fighting positions and take them out with hand grenades and small arms fire. It was tough going. In addition to casualties from hostile fire, heat casualties became a major problem as the temperature soared into the high nineties. Among the heat casualties was the interim Bravo 4/12 commander, Captain Tyson. Tyson was evacuated due to heat stroke and a ruptured eardrum. Captain Lee Smith, who was under treatment for shrapnel wounds at the battalion aid station at FSB Stephanie, flew back to his company to reassume command.
Days of Valor Page 27