173d MAKES HEADLINES IN 1967
By Sp5 Mike Pappas

   The 173d Airborne Brigade, the first U.S. Combat Unit to arrive in Vietnam, fought the enemy throughout the II and III Tactical Zones during eleven Combat operations in 1967.
  It was a year highlighted at the very beginning when the hard fighting Paratroopers were picked to lead two multi-unit operations directed at the Viet Cong's two strongest sanctuaries -- the Iron Triangle and War Zone C near the Cambodian border. On February 22, 780 Paratroopers of the 2nd Battalion, 503d Infantry made the first Combat Jump of the war and the first since Korea to spearhead Operation Junction City.
  During the past year, Airborne Infantrymen of the 173d Brigade have accounted for 1,778 VC and NVA deaths and killed a possible 735 more of the enemy. Although participating in some of the heaviest fighting in Vietnam for a unit of its size, Paratroopers suffered relativly very few casualties. Altogether, 484 Sky Soldiers had made the supreme sacrifice for their country while 1,460 were wounded on the Field of Battle.

LEADING THE WAY

  In early January, American military leaders were determined to destroy a Viet Cong stronghold since 1950, north of Saigon known as the Iron Triangle. On January 5, elements of the 173d were moved to the Cau Dinh Jungle at the southern tip of the Triangle to launch Operation Cedar Falls. The strategy of Cedar Falls was to seal off the entire Iron Triangle, penetrate and saturate the area and destroy all enemy forces and installations.
  With most of the other units occupying blocking positions, the 173d's three Infantry Battalions swept and cleared the Triangle -- locating and destroying small troop concentrations and tunnel systems. Many VC elected to seek refuge in the vast underground complexes, but volunteer tunnel rat teams fearlessly explored the enemy tunnels, bringing out large caches of weapons and supplies and VC captives. During the operation, the Sky Soldiers killed 185 enemy, captured 65 prisoners and 200 weapons and uncovered 1,000 tons of rice.
STAND IN THE DOOR !

  Then on February 22, 780 Sky Soldiers jumped from streaking C-130 aircraft from 1,000 feet in the air to land on a 1000 by 6000 foot rice paddy near the Cambodian border. The 2nd Battalion, 'We Try Harder' Sky Soldiers received only light sniper fire as they descended on the huge clearing. Simultaneously, two more Battalions of Sky Soldiers were helilifted to adjacent landing zones and immediately the biggest Allied offensive of the war was on.
  The first part of their mission was complete: with lighting speed the Airborne task force had jumped into combat, blocking the VC from the refuge of the Cambodian border. As Junction City moved into March and subsequently led to Junction City II, the hard fighting Paratroopers were credited with killing 304 VC soldiers.
  With the completion of Junction City II and the return of the Paratroopers to Bien Hoa to begin a new operation, the 173d had already that year demonstrated its fighting ability.
  From early April to the last week in May,

CON'T ON PAGE TWO, COL 1
Page Two                               THE SKY SOLDIER                     Saturday, January 6, 1968
173d MOVES NORTH

   The 173d conducted four smaller operations in the Xuan Loc and Bien Hoa area. Nearly 100 more VC were killed by the Sky Soldiers as they conducted Operations Newark, Ft Wayne, Dayton and Cincinnati during the two month period.
  Then on May 24, while conducting Operation Cincinnati, the Sky Soldiers were alerted for immediate deployment to the II Corps Tactical Zone. Within 24 hours of notifications the first elements of the Brigade were moving by C-130 aircraft from Bien Hoa to Pleiku. During the first 67 hours 2,239 personnel and 2,701 tons of supplies and equipment were transferred to the Central Highlands.
  The Brigade was placed under the operational control of the 4th Infantry Division and immediately began search and destroy tactics west of Pleiku during Operation Francis Marion.
  While Francis Marion was in progress, during which 173d Paratroopers made no significant contact, increased enemy activity was being observed in the Dak To area, some 54 miles farther north. A Special Forces and CIDG unit had made contact with an estimated North Vietnamese Company. Within a few days, the entire Brigade was deployed to Dak To by airlift and convoy to begin Operation Greeley.

JUNE 22

  On June 22, Company A, 2nd Battalion, made contact with and was soon surrounded by a North Vietnamese Army Battalion. On a nearby ridge overlooking the Brigade Base Camp, two more Companies of Paratroopers were lifted into the area and began hacking their way through the mountainous terrain toward Alpha Company. Their movement became bogged down by heavy enemy sniper fire.
  Although greatly outnumbered by the well trained North Vietnamese regulars, the men of Alpha Company fought valiantly. The communists threw several human wave assaults at the Sky Soldier perimeter. The battle raged for seven hours. Although A Company itself suffered heavy casualties, its Paratroopers dealt a crippling blow to the North Vietnamese Battalion. General William C. Westmoreland, Allied Commander, later told the Sky Soldiers at Dak To that their efforts prevented the North Vietnamese from overrunning the Special Forces camp there. He saluted the 173d as one of the finest units in the history of the American fighting man.
  After completing a successful operation aimed at protecting the Vietnamese rice harvest west of Tuy Hoa during September and October, the Brigade once again deployed to Dak To, to join the 4th Infantry Division in Operation McArthur. During the ensuing battle for Dak To, the Sky Soldiers fought during their finest hour.

  The Airborne Infantrymen made repeated heavy contact with large forces of North Vietnamese over a bitterly fought 20 day period.

HILL 875

  On a remote bamboo covered hill designated 875, a Battalion of well dug in NVA made a last ditch effort to stop the hard hitting Paratroopers. Both sides took heavy casualties during the fight characterized by close quarter fighting and Communist human wave assaults. On Thanksgiving Day elements of the 4th Battalion, 503d Infantry, rose to the crest of the hill and ousted the last of the NVA defenders.
  Presently, the 173d Brigade is conducting two separate operations simultaneously, miles apart. The 3rd and 4th Battalions, 503d Infantry are carrying on Operation Bolling in the rice paddies and foothills northwest of Tuy Hoa, while the 1st and 2nd Battalions, 503d Infantry, are conducting Operation Corregidor near Kontum.
  The fighting strength of the 173d Airborne Brigade was increased to four Infantry Battalions when the 3rd Battalion, 503d Infantry joined the Sky Soldiers in October, after completing six months of extensive training at Ft. Bragg, N.C.
  It was a tough but gratifying year for the Sky Soldiers. They have smashed the enemy's forces in the South and in the Central Highlands too. Their deeds have made headlines all over the world. This was 1967.

BRIGADE INFORMATION OFFICE

Opinions expressed in the Sky Soldier are not necessarily those of the Department of the Army.

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Sky Soldier Staff

Captain Robert R. Brewer - - - - I.O.
Sp5 Roger E. Hester - - - - - Editor
Sp5 Michael J. Pappas - - - Reporter

10/3/2001
Many Thanks to Skip Kniley,   Columbus Ohio,   B & D 3/319th Artillery, 67-68,
  Email: sc7skyvan@aol.com,
( 'Still Looking for Buddies From B & D Battery' ) for Contributing This Issue.....................
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