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1967 Scrapbook

The scrapbooks on this page are organized by month. Scroll down and click each scrapbook for additional pictures and information. 

 

Note: The scrapbooks are not meant to tell the entire history but simply display pieces of the overall story. 100 percent accuracy is difficult to attain: division and brigade level reports do not contain details regarding the daily operations of the battalion (nor do articles); reports may have omissions and errors; soldiers who were at the same battle/event often remember things differently due to position, perspective, line of sight, fatigue and stress; and memories have often faded. With more information we become more accurate.

Operation Eagle Thrust

Pre-deployment

According to "Operational Report for Quarterly Period Ending 31 January 1968" from Headquarters 101st Airborne Division, dated March 31, 1968, Operation Eagle Thrust entailed the "pre-movement and movement of the 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Kentucky to the Republic of Vietnam" (page 1).  The dates for the operation are listed as August 2, 1967 to December 19, 1967.  August 2, 1967 being the date that the 101st Airborne Division was alerted for deployment to Southeast Asia. December 19, 1967 being the date that movement to the Republic of Vietnam was officially completed. The report indicates that the mission of Operation Eagle Thrust was: "To prepare for and to deploy from Fort Campbell, Kentucky to Bien Hoa, RVN (Republic of Vietnam); establish base camps, conduct a thirty day in-country training program, and at the conclusion of the training period assume combat commitments as directed by Commanding General, II Field Force, Vietnam", page 1. A Feeder Report indicates that the preparation and pre-movement portion of Operation Eagle Thrust ran from August 20, 1967, through December 1, 1967, and consisted of five phases: "a. Phase I: Initial planning and liaison was done with DA, TUSA, XVIII Airborne Corps, and the 82nnd Airborne Division. Policy on nondeployability criteria was formulated in coordination with DA and a program developed to encourage nondeployables to volunteer; b. Phase II: Nondeployables were identified, and personnel shortages requisitioned; c. Phase III: Approximately 4500 nondeployable personnel were outprocessed.  Plans were made for the reception of fillers and preparation for overseas movement (POM) processing of deployable personnel; d. Phase IV: In processing of approximately 5000 personnel was accomplished and unit training begun during this phase; e. Phase V: Training was terminated, and POM of individuals and units accomplished", page 55. The transfer of soldiers to the 101st Airborne Division to fill the ranks left by soldiers deemed "nondeployable" occurred in September and October of 1967.  A period of training was also occurring during this time, ending in November.  With the wrap up of training, soldiers were granted leave and POM processing began.  In late November of 1967, approximately 450 soldiers were pulled from the 101st Airborne Division and transferred to the 173rd Airborne Division.  The 173rd Airborne Division was already operating in the Republic of Vietnam and had faced tough fighting in and around Dak To (Central Highlands of Vietnam near the tri-border region - South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia).  Filling the ranks of the 101st Airborne Division to the minimum goal of 75 percent capacity, proved difficult and challenging.  To further complicate the manpower challenges, the Division added two additional companies to the existing three infantry battalions in each brigade.  At the time, 3rd Brigade had the following three infantry battalions (as well as artillery, aviation, engineer, medical, military police and other units): 1/506th, 2/506th and 3/187th.  Delta Company and Echo Company were created for each battalion in preparation for deployment.

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Operation Eagle Thrust - Deployment

According to "Combat Operations Staying the Course October 1967 to September 1968" by Erik B. Villard, US Army Center for Military History, 2017, Operation Eagle Thrust "was the largest and longest military airlift into a combat zone that the United States had ever attempted, requiring no fewer than 369 sorties by U.S. Air Force C-141 Starlifter transport aircraft.  All told, the aircraft carried 9, 794 passengers and 5,083 tons of equipment.  An additional 4,110 tons of equipment made the journey by sea", page 69.  Villard indicates that 3rd Brigade was airlifted to Bien Hoa Airbase the first week of December 1967.  ​ Note: The bulk of 2nd and 3rd Brigade soldiers deployed to the Republic of Vietnam in December of 1967.  However, an Advance Patry deployed in mid-November and a Rear Guard in late December 1967.   ​At the time of deployment, Major General Olinto M Barsanti commanded the 101st Airborne Division, COL Lawrence L Mowery commanded 3rd Brigade and LTC John Forrest commanded the 3/187th. ​The soldiers who deployed report that the battalion and companies were split between two flight routes.  Some transport planes flew a northern route from Washington to Alaska, Japan and then into Bien Hoa Airbase.  While others flew a more southern route from California to Hawaii, Wake Island, the Philippines and then into Bien Hoa Airbase.  Bien Hoa Airbase was the new headquarters for the 101st Airborne Division in the Republic of Vietnam. ​In his book, "Tiger Bravo's War: An Epic Year With an Elite Airborne Rifle Company of the 101st Airborne Division's Wandering Warriors, during the Height of the Vietnam War", Rick St John wrote: "...there was nothing typical about the sights and sounds that greeted the new arrivals, the company had landed in the belly of a vast war machine, running at full throttle.  A dozen other transports crowded the tarmac, some still discharging lines of paratroopers, others switching crews and refueling for the long trek back across the Pacific.  An endless stream of small tractors, pulling trailers stacked with 250 lbs. bombs and rockets, snaked around the arriving troops to an adjacent runway.  There tactical fighters roared off day and night, for battlefields with odd names like Ho Bo Woods, the Parrots Beak and Rocket Belt, leaving behind the stench of burnt JP-4 jet fuel", page 3.  Rick St John deployed with the 2/506th...but the experience was similar.

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Bien Hoa & Convoy to Phuoc Vinh

Deployment of the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry from FT Campbell to Bien Hoa Airbase occurred over several days during the first week of December 1967.  After everyone had arrived, the 3/187th prepared for movement to Phuoc Vinh Basecamp - 3rd Brigade Headquarters in the III Corps Tactical Zone.  3rd Brigade was taking over the basecamp from the 1st Infantry Division, which was being moved closer to contested border areas and NVA strongholds.  In the III Corps Tactical Zone, Westmoreland had been pushing into and taking control of less populated, borderland areas as well as reopening roadways.  By placing the newly arrived 3rd Brigade in an established basecamp to allow for an acclimation period, the more combat experienced 1st Infantry Division could be utilized in securing contested regions. Movement of the 3/187th from Bien Hoa Airbase to Phuoc Vinh Basecamp occurred by convoy. According to "Combat Operations Staying the Course October 1967 to September 1968" by Erik B. Villard, US Army Center for Military History, 2017, elements of the 11th Armored Calvary Regiment escorted 3rd Brigade from Bien Hoa Airbase to the Phuoc Vinh Basecamp after securing the roadways.  Villard wrote, "On 4 December, the commander of the 11th Armored Cavalry, Col. Jack MacFarlane, began Operation Quicksilver with his 1st and 2d Squadrons.  Their task was to open and secure parts of Highway 13 in Binh Duong Province for the movement of the 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, and the 1st Brigade, 1st Division.  Mines and roadblocks had rendered some sections of the highway impassible, so it was up to MacFarlane and his men to make the way safe for the hundreds of unarmored trucks that would convoy the two brigades to their new base camps....Under that protective shield, the 3rd Brigade 101st Airborne Division, made its way to Phuoc Vinh without loss.", pages 70 and 71.

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Phuoc Vinh - December 1967

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Phuoc Vinh was located approximately 35 kilometers north of Bien Hoa along LTL 1A (HWY 1A), just north of the “Rocket Belt”.  It was in the south-southwest region of Warzone D with only one major road traveling through the immediate area – HWY 1A.  The further one traveled up HWY 1A, the more remote and forested the area became. HWY 1A eventually intersected with LTL 13, traveled through a rubber tree plantation and into Song Be City/Phuoc Binh District (not far from the Cambodian border). Warzone D was a North Vietnamese Army/Viet Cong (NVA/VC) dominated zone with large NVA/VC basecamps and supply caches that supported NVA/VC operations in the region.  Additionally, two of the three known NVA infiltration routes into III Corps Tactical Zone, ran south from the Cambodian border through or near Warzone D: the Adams Trail which ran just east of Song Be City through the western portion of Warzone D; and the Serges Jungle Trail which ran along the border between Binh Long and Phuoc Long Provinces, through the eastern portion of Warzone D.  The 3rd infiltration route was titled the Saigon River Trail and ran through the western portion of III Corps Tactical Zone ("Combat Operations: Staying The Course, October 1967 to September 1968" by Erik B. Villard, U.S. Army Center for Military History, p.46). ​During December of 1967, the Rakkasans spent time at their new basecamp - acclimating to Vietnam, reinforcing buildings/bunkers, pulling guard duty at perimeter watchtowers and bunkers, training, patrolling areas outside the basecamp, and going out on overnight ambushes, etc.  As December wore on, the duration of ambush patrols increased as the Rakkasans became more acclimated and proficient. In January of 1968, soldiers began engaging in larger combat operations away from Phuoc Vinh and time spent at the basecamp became less frequent.

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