In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

9 Hitting the Wall The day the 5th Airborne Battalion locked horns with the enemy’s first line of resistance marked the beginning of a series of battles that became more deadly as we pressed the attack. The 1st Airborne Brigade continued to spearhead the South Vietnamese army’s effort to open Highway 13 by rotating one battalion up front while the other two prepared to move forward in their turn. That tactic became our modus operandi. The trailing battalions were fully employed patrolling the cleared portions of the road and securing the brigade’s artillery, which was firing primarily in support of the lead battalion . Replacement soldiers arrived on the supply trucks from Saigon each day and the dead and wounded were evacuated when the trucks returned to the city. Even though our foxhole strength remained stable, the farther we pushed up the road the more North Vietnamese we encountered. New enemy units were arriving on the battlefield from their sanctuaries in Cambodia, and with each passing day the ratios got worse for us. A negative event that seemed to symbolize my relationship with the battalion commander occurred during those days of combat along the highway. Late one morning I was standing beside my radio jeep, talking to the overhead FAC as we set up an air strike, when Colonel Hieu walked over. He said he wanted to put in the strike and reached for the handset. Based on his English language skills and experience I was sure he could do it and told the FAC the battalion commander was going to provide the request. I handed Colonel Hieu the handset and he began to talk,and that’s when things started getting difficult. His directions were wandering, confusing, and repetitious. When he paused to take a breath,the FAC asked for clarification.Colonel Hieu was visibly upset when he realized his directions weren’t being understood. He launched into another long and confusing transmission, accompanied by much arm waving. The FAC was also struggling. Hitting the Wall 41 Colonel Hieu glanced at me, then turned his back and gave it another effort . His directions weren’t getting through and he was angry and embarrassed . The FAC was also getting frustrated because aircraft time on station was a critical factor in his business. When he said he wanted to talk to the American the handset got shoved back in my direction. I put in the air strike and waited a bit before going to find the steaming battalion commander. I told him the FAC worked from a standardized format and wouldn’t put in an air strike when he wasn’t sure about the target. Colonel Hieu wasn’t buying my explanation, and it soon became clear the most serious aspect of the incident was his bruised dignity. My feelings about the whole event solidified a day or so later when I offered Colonel Hieu a written format for practicing air strike requests with the FAC. He refused to discuss it. I knew it would have been to his advantage to learn that process, especially when the possibility of an untoward turn of fate could have left him without an American to depend on. Additional South Vietnamese infantry units were being brought up from the delta and were digging in immediately to our rear. It soon looked like several regiments had arrived with thousands of soldiers entrenching both east and west of the highway.While there were a lot of friendly troops behind us, the airborne battalions continued to rotate to the front as we attacked north into stronger and stronger enemy positions. Progress was slow and painful. It eventually became clear to the leadership in Saigon that Highway 13 would not be secured any time soon by attacking on a one-battalion front, no matter how tough and dedicated those paratroopers might be.As the enemy’s resistance became stronger, the airborne brigade’s progress began to stall. South Vietnam’s national leadership decided to tip the scales by bringing in a bigger hammer. I was told part of an armored cavalry squadron augmented by an ad hoc outfit from the South Vietnamese Armor Training School was joining the fight. This was the armor unit the ill-fated Colonel Duc had been doing the reconnaissance for. Deploying a unit that included resources from the training base meant the last reserves of armor were being committed. It looked as though the South Vietnamese army was scraping the bottom of...

Share