Kontum: The Battle to Save South Vietnam

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The II Corps advisers and their ARVN counterparts at II Corps Headquarters in Pleiku in February 1972. Front row, left to right: Colonel Binh (chief of staff), Brigadier General Wear (deputy senior adviser), Mr. Vann (senior adviser), Lieutenant General Dzu (commanding general), Brigadier General Lam Son (deputy commanding general), Colonel Pizzi (chief of staff), Colonel Tuong (assistant commanding general, operations). Second row: Colonel Tho (corps artillery commander), Lieutenant Colonel Fuesel (artillery senior adviser), Colonel Pahl (G-2 adviser), Lieutenant Colonel Khuong (G-3), Lieutenant Colonel Goff (deputy G-3 adviser), Lieutenant Colonel Dick (G-4 adviser). Third row: Major Tu (corps surgeon), Colonel Otto (surgeon adviser), Lieutenant Colonel Kha (provost marshal), Lieutenant Colonel Falkenstein (provost marshal adviser), Lieutenant Colonel Hien (inspector general), Lieutenant Colonel Bennett (inspector general adviser), Lieutenant Colonel Kieu (G-1), Lieutenant Colonel McCoy (G-1 adviser). Fourth row: Colonel Huong (signal officer), Major Khieu (assistant G-4), Lieutenant Colonel Bates (corps engineer), Captain Thuy (headquarters commandant), Major Hollingsworth (adjutant general adviser), Major Smith (information officer). Back row: Major Richardson (secretary to the general staff adviser), Captain Lai (secretary to the general staff), Captain Tien (protocol officer), Lieutenant Colonel Roscoe (chaplain). (Photo courtesy of the US Army.) Display of weapons captured during operation at Phu Nhon in November 1971. Lieutenant Colonel McKenna holding RPG warhead. (Author’s collection.) USAF B-52 in flight with bombs dropping. (Photo courtesy of the USAF.) The Green House. The advisers’ building at An Khe in early 1972. This 1871 French colonial mansion was at the end of the airfield runway. The US 1st Cavalry Division added the airfield control tower on the roof. (Author’s collection.) This Jeep hit a mine near Mang Yang Pass on Highway 19. Although badly hurt, the occupant survived. (Photo by James T. Vaughan.) ARVN M-113 APCs on Highway 19 during fighting in An Khe Pass in April 1972. This view is just east of An Khe Pass and looking toward the east. (Author’s collection.) Lieutenant Colonel Tran Quang Tien, CO of the 44th ARVN Infantry Regiment, at an April 1972 display of enemy weapons captured in An Khe Pass. (Author’s collection.) Colonel Le Duc Dat, commander of the 22nd ARVN Infantry Division, with his adviser, Colonel Phillip Kaplan, at Tan Canh. (Photo by Matt Franjola, courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.) Two young NVA prisoners captured at Dak To II on 13 February 1972. (Photo by Stephen E. James.) A large tiger killed by a mechanical ambush, probably a Claymore, on a small firebase on Highway 14 between Kontum and Pleiku. (Photo by James T. Vaughan.) Kontum airfield in April 1972. A Huey is parked at the lower right, and the runway is in the distance. (Photo by Reed C. Mulkey.) Kontum airfield on 28 April 1972. This VNAF C-123 has just been hit by enemy fire and is starting to burn. (Photo by Reed C. Mulkey.) Ben Het Border Ranger Camp under attack on 9 May 1972.View from the command bunker with Montagnard soldiers on the front line in center and smoke from a burning PT-76 tank knocked out by Spectre 02 in the distance. (Photo from Mark Truhan.) Ben Het Border Ranger Camp after the 9 May 1972 attack. Captains Mark Truhan and Robert Sparks on the PT-76 tank that Truhan “scared to death.” (Photo from Mark Truhan.) The 1st Combat Aerial TOW Team, Vietnam, with their helicopters. Crew chiefs on top of helicopters (left to right): Specialist 4 David W. Lehrschall, Specialist 5 Wayne Evans, Specialist 5 Ronald G. Taylor. Middle row: (in light shirts) Kenneth Blum, James M. Faulk, Dennis J. Camp, Thomas E. Zagorski; (in uniforms) Lieutenant Colonel Patrick L. Feore Jr., Hugh J. McInnish Jr. (civilian), Captain Roy Sudeck, Sergeant First Class Boyce A. Hartsell. Bottom row: (kneeling left of sign) CWO2 Caroll W. Lain, CWO2 Danny G. Rowe, CWO3 Lester M. Whiteis ; (right of sign) CWO2 Edmond C. Smith, CWO2 Scott E. Fenwick, CWO2 Douglas R. Hixson Jr. (Photo from Hugh J. McInnish Jr.) Three scout pilots by an LOH-6 Loach. From left to right: Captain Stephen James; Lieutenant Craig Smith, who was “shot...