Immediately the helicopter pilots started reporting that they were in a hot LZ and taking hits from intense automatic gunfire. Immediately the other incoming slicks began breaking formation. They were experts at designing fighting positions, which were always heavily camouflaged. Willie was now exhausted and these attempts had been painful for Doc. The Go Mon had specially trained sniper teams using mounted scopes on their weapons. Many of Alpha Company's men were becoming casualties as they jumped from the choppers. The insertion of the Manchus for the Black Hawk and Black Widow helicopter companies were now complete. Now several small streams were open to Bravo Company to move down and Captain Baker made that his offensive objective. Helicopter gun ships were called in to keep up the pressure on the Viet Cong. As they pursued, the Go Mon pulled back into their positions in depth. Captain Baker had observed Alpha Company's charge across the rice paddy into the tree line, remembering, "�It worked for Alpha Company initially. The chopper's crew reached down, yanked him inside and quickly flew out of the Horseshoe. They were being held in reserve for some Divisional Base Camp R & R (rest and recuperation) from the field. horseshoe hill, phuoc tuy province, vietnam, 1967-11. a view to the southeast from a machine gun bunker at the fire support base on horseshoe hill. American commanders, by then equipped with more personnel and supplies, de- This military tactic of breaking an ambush is an option of last resort. It was a grim scenario, if anyone put his head above the dike, he immediately became a casualty. Operation Cedar Falls' mission was to attack the Iron Triangle and Thanh Dien Forest Reserve, and to destroy the enemy forces, infrastructure, installations, and Military IV Headquarters. The Black Widows approached the Horseshoe with 40 slicks and gun ships and went into a circular holding pattern while artillery and air strikes dropped their remaining ordinance on the area. The size and ferocity of the attack surprised the Americans and South Vietnamese but they regrouped and fought back. The Black Hawks entered the Horseshoe from the northeast and proceeded toward the southwest, making a 45-degree turn toward their assigned landing zone. An impressed Jackson later described the fortification favorably, “It is impossible to conceive a situation more eligible for defense than the one they had chosen and the skill which they manifested in their breastwork was really astonishing.”. Captain Baker saw the door gunner get shot and he fell forward hanging by his monkey strap. Captain Lewman now faced a dilemma: how to break out of the ambush and engage the enemy that was putting pressure on Alpha and Bravo Company. Then a desperate rush to put as many WIA'S and KIA's on board after the ammo boxes were out. Suddenly a round passed between Captain Baker and the door gunner, striking the soldier next to him in the neck. Schultz were together as they made their run for the wood line dike. No sooner than leaving Doc, several guys were yelling and frantically waving at Willie to get his attention and to come to them in the next field behind him. The 188th Assault Helicopter Company (the Black Widows, based in Dau Tieng) and the 187th Air Assault Helicopter Company (the Black Hawks, based in Tay Ninh) would be inserting the Manchus into the Horseshoe. 2/7 Marines attacked the Horsehoe again on 22 November. As the charge progressed toward the wood line, the Go Mon abandoned their forward fighting positions and began taking up their secondary fighting positions deeper inside of the woods. The Iron Triangle was a no man's land and a free fire zone. At 1600 hours Bravo Company moved out to a dirt road (Highway 14) toward their PZ (Pick-up Zone) and immediately began receiving sniper fire from the west side of the road. Crest: On a wreath of the colors a horseshoe with nine nail holes heels down Argent winged Purpure debruised by two arrows in saltire Sable armed and flitted Gules. The Go Mon took advantage of this and left their bunkers trying to encircle Delta Company's rescue party. As small groups of soldiers tried to escape the enemy gunfire and regroup, well-trained VC snipers immediately shot them. By the time it ended, the operation involved twenty-two US infantry battalions, four ARVN infantry battalions, seventeen artillery battalions, 4,000 Air Force sorties, and 249 helicopters, also making it the largest air assault operation in history. Concerts at Nui Dat’s Luscombe Bowl were a social highlight for New Zealand and Australian troops in Vietnam. Hernandez and Jim Sittt made a heroic effort giving Morgan CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation as the squad withdrew. The Weapons Squad had expended all of its 60mm mortar rounds into the wood line and it didn't seem to have any effect except to attract intense fire on their own position. Dennis Gabbert, who was toward the middle of the charge, was also hit and mortally wounded during the assault. On the afternoon of August 29, 1967, Bravo Company of the 4th Battalion 9th Infantry Regiment (Manchus) had finished a search and destroy mission near the Saigon River and they were waiting in an old rubber plantation to be extracted and taken back to Cu Chi by the 116th Assault Helicopter Company (the "Hornets"). Luckily, Willie was able to reach over the top of the dike and pull him over to safety, and quickly attended to the bullet wound to the side of his waist. Parachute illumination flares were dropped all night long-lighting up the night sky, casting eerie shadows and flickering light across open fields and the surface of the water-just enough so you could see what seemed like thousands of leeches swarming around. He then stood up, threw the bandoleer of M-60 machine gun rounds over his shoulder and began firing non-stop into the wood line, raking it from one end to the other. Captain Lewman prepared his 3rd [and final] order to break out of the ambush. It was the first truly intense battle of my time in Vietnam, but it would not be my last. The Weapons Squad with its 60mm mortar then made a mad dash toward the wood line dike where about 30 Alpha Company guys had taken cover. The victory at Horseshoe Bend brought Andrew Jackson national attention and helped elect him president in 1828. Incoming choppers were still dropping off troops, and groups of soldiers were forming up along the very first dike in front of the tree line and firing into it. By 1812, internal hostilities engulfed the Creek nation, dividing a once strong tribe into two stratified factions, the Lower Creek, who were generally pro-American, and the Upper Creek, who resisted American interference with their traditional way of life. Delta Company's landing zone was approximately 300 meters south of where Bravo Company had landed. At the time, he recognized none of them and thought they were from another platoon or even another Company. The civilian population was evacuated to establish the Iron Triangle as a Free-Fire Zone to preclude the area's further use as a support base for Viet Cong operations. There were also some new guys pulled from Cu Chi that had arrived in Vietnam by military chartered jets, and were used to fill in the company rosters. There were a few choppers ahead of his. Before that (from August 1 through August 29, 1967), it had been mostly routine patrols, with maybe some sniper fire or short skirmishes with a small group of VC (Viet Cong) doing quick hit and run tactics. Bill Fitch threw him Morgan's M-16 so he could keep firing. Lt. His chopper had taken a hit from an armor piercing bullet that cut both oil lines-draining the oil from the engine and causing the chopper to leave a smoke trail from an overheated engine all the way back to Cu Chi. The Manchus were instructed to prepare for a quick "in-and-out" mission. Lt. Beedy said, "We were pinned down for hours by small arms fire coming form a tree line of thick bamboo growing along [what appeared to be] a canal which led into the Saigon River." Lt. Parris asked for volunteers, and more guys volunteered than could be spared for the recovery attempt. The re-supply was desperately needed because the Manchus were running out of ammunition and had wounded and dead soldiers needing to be evacuated. The Command Group was known by the call sign "Alpha-6". Willie Gin and two others started running down the dike, pass the Southeast corner to the other side-this being the fastest way to get there. Willie was in great fear of dropping one too low and hitting the men strung along the first dike. The LZ was open water filled rice patties with low dikes running parallel and at right angles to each other. Anything that moved was considered Viet Cong and a legitimate target for being destroyed. So many wounded. The Battle of Horseshoe Bend, fought on March 27, 1814 effectively ended Creek resistance to American advances into the southeast, opening up the Mississippi Territory for pioneer settlement. They could see Alpha Company's command group (Captain Thomas Lewman, his FO Lt. Duane Niles and RTO Nick Summerfield) there with them. D/1/9th Air Cav, D/1/5th Cav, and C/2/5th Cav reinforce. 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