2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry
Unit History — 1970
"Who can say at what distant point in the gulf of time will the tribes of man lay down their arms and join hands in peace? That the time will not come easily or soon, this we know. The tyrant chieftains will continue their ravages, sinning against the earth as they do against each other and each new generation will be required to send brave men to check their tyranny."
"Yet when the last tyrant falls into his mouldy grave, a warrior from the Cherokee nation will step forth from the resting place of his ancestors and stand alone on a mountain somewhere in northern Georgia. His cry will ring clear and true and the chambers of our souls will echo: CURRAHEE."
The year 1970 was not a good year for the "Best of the Currahees." Any soldier will tell you that a year of war is never good. But it was a proud year. You could see it in the faces of the officers and enlisted men. Pride in themselves, pride in each other, pride in their unit.
1970 was a year when the Currahees of the 2nd Battalion (Airmobile) 506th Infantry stood alone as never before. It was the year of the battle of Firebase Ripcord. If ever in the Vietnam conflict there was a forward edge of the battle area, Firebase Ripcord in the year 1970 was at that forward edge. Situated deep in the jungled mountains twenty miles northwest of Hue, Firebase Ripcord practically overlooked the frightening A Shau Valley. It seems only fitting that the thrust of this history be dedicated to the men of the 2/506th Infantry who fought and died by Ripcord and throughout the year of 1970.
The dank chill of the northeast monsoon brought a feeling of excitement to LTC Howard G. Crowell Jr. as he watched the last lift of slicks drop his men on Currahee Pad at Camp Evans. This would be an ambitious month, an ambitious year. As Operation Jefferson Glen carried over into the new year, Delta Company under CPT Dwight Walhood would go far and wide searching for the enemy. Two artillery raids were planned for January and Delta Company would make aggressive thrusts to Firebase Shepard and Firebase Davis.
The raid to Davis proved eventful — Delta Company located and destroyed enemy caches, booby traps and mine fields. As the 3rd Platoon hovered into Davis, enemy small arms fire met the aircraft. Intense suppressive fire quickly discouraged the enemy. Bravo Company, meanwhile, was contending with enemy booby traps, but their determination prevailed. On 4 February, the first platoon lay in wait along a freshly used enemy trail. When the last crack of the rifles echoed, two VC lay dead in the kill zone.
The Battalion Recon Platoon, working in six-to-eight man teams, accomplished missions with singular success. On 25 January and again on 27 January, the platoon sprung ambushes on unsuspecting NVA resulting in two NVA dead. 1LT Gary Watrous had honed his men to a keen fighting edge — an edge they would need in the very near future.
Alpha and Charlie Companies had a relatively quiet time during January, but as February arrived, both units found themselves heavily engaged. From 7 to 10 February, the 2nd Platoon of Charlie Company ran roughshod over an estimated NVA platoon. Alpha ran into stiff resistance on several occasions, sustaining casualties from NVA ambushes, mortar attacks, and booby traps.
On 4 March, LTC Andre C. Lucas assumed command of the 2/506th Infantry from LTC Crowell. The battalion was still working the coastal plains region, occasionally breaking into the tropical rain forest that covered the first ridge lines of the towering mountains southwest of Camp Evans. LTC Lucas knew the battalion would soon push deeply into those densely vegetated peaks — deeper than anyone had been in a long time.
During the next five days, Charlie Company, acting as a blocking force along the Dong Ke Me ridge line, engaged an estimated enemy company in a running firefight. Though the company received moderate casualties, the enemy lost five confirmed dead, three of them sappers from the dreaded K-12 Sapper Battalion.
On Easter Sunday, 31 March, Operation Randolph Glen ended. The enemy had been found. Now the fight would be taken into his territory.
Operation Texas Star began on 1 April. On that same day, Bravo Company made a combat assault onto Ripcord and met with even stiffer resistance than Alpha had two weeks prior. As RPG, mortar, recoilless rifle, and small arms fire raked the cratered hilltop, Bravo dug in and prepared to hold. By the end of the day it became apparent that extraction would be necessary. Friendly losses stood at six US killed and 21 US wounded. Ripcord was still in enemy hands.
LTC Lucas was determined to take Ripcord. On 4 April, Charlie Company combat assaulted to a neighboring LZ. Alpha continued southeast toward Hill 805, Charlie was reinserted north of the firebase, and Delta paralleled to the south. The operation began to show signs of success as the companies uncovered enemy bunkers and mortar positions. The enemy was withdrawing.
Charlie Company dug in on the hill the first month and Bravo Company worked on the defense the second month. The firebase received incoming mortar rounds on several occasions but casualties were light and progress continued. Throughout April the battalion worked aggressively around Ripcord, with Alpha and Delta Companies engaging the enemy in scattered contacts south of the firebase.
The successes in May initially went to CPT Rollison's Delta Company. From the 7th until the 11th, Delta engaged the enemy in heavily fortified positions along the Ko Va La Dut ridge line south of Ripcord. On 26 May and again on 28 May, the Recon Platoon's stealth and alertness paid off — four NVA fell and one prisoner was taken. Numerous bunker complexes and cache sites were located and destroyed.
During June the battalion operations continued. Alpha Company, now commanded by CPT Charles Hawkins, engaged the enemy on two occasions west and southwest of Ripcord. On 16 June Alpha Company assumed control of Firebase O'Reilly from the ARVN. Charlie Company, led by CPT Thomas Hewitt, achieved the most success during June, accounting for three NVA dead.
Alpha Company was on Firebase O'Reilly. Delta Company was securing Ripcord. Bravo Company was operating southwest of the firebase and Charlie Company was securing Hill 805. The battalion had invested two and a half months of labor on Ripcord, and an estimated fifty thousand dollars worth of defensive wire had been laid. One captured document stated that twenty-two members of NVA sapper recon teams had died while attempting to breach the wire during reconnaissance missions. The stage was set.
Shortly after 0600 hours on 1 July, the strong morning breezes chased the fog through the valley. It promised to be another beautiful day. In the jungle around Ripcord, NVA recoilless rifle crews were too busy consulting their watches and checking their firing data to enjoy the morning.
Throughout the day, Charlie Company, from its vantage point on Hill 902, was able to listen to the pop of enemy mortar tubes and direct accurate artillery and gunship fire on those locations. Charlie Company was proving to be a definite thorn in the enemy's side — a thorn that did not go unnoticed.
An intelligence report concerning the strong probability of an enemy sapper attack against Charlie Company never reached LTC Lucas — and certainly did not reach CPT Hewitt in his field location. At 0345 hours on the morning of 2 July, exactly three hours prior to daybreak, the NVA launched a company size sapper attack against Charlie Company's defensive position on Hill 902.
The sappers came silently at first, dressed only in shorts, their bodies painted black against the night, carrying small satchel charges. With the sudden violence of exploding satchel charges it was impossible to tell whether the company was under mortar attack or whether sappers had actually breached the perimeter. Many men died before they fully realized what was happening.
SP4 Muller, a team leader in second platoon, fought alone in his fighting position, reporting his situation occasionally over the only radio his platoon had left. When the firefight was finally over, Muller — exhausted and weak from multiple wounds — had seven enemy dead in front of his foxhole. The battle on Hill 902 had lasted over an hour. Eight members of Charlie Company had died and scores were wounded, but the enemy left 20 dead on the slopes of Hill 902, and countless blood trails led off through the jungle.
On 6 July, CPT Rollison's Delta Company moved west toward Hill 1000. As the recon team drew closer to the enemy, they met with small arms fire and RPGs. CPT Rollison requested a heavy artillery preparation on the top of the hill — for one hour, 105mm, 155mm, and 8-inch rounds impacted on the enemy locations.
With gunships on station, CPT Rollison led his entire company forward in a determined assault on Hill 1000. Small LOH helicopters equipped with miniguns flew low over the battle providing suppressive fire. As Delta systematically engaged the enemy in bunkers, the LOHs noted that an increasing amount of enemy fire was coming from the west and southwest. CPT Rollison now realized there were many more enemy forces than those he was engaging.
The second assault on Hill 1000 was as ferocious as the first. Delta and Charlie Companies managed to advance only slightly farther than the day before. The enemy had dug in so well that only a direct hit from a 250-lb or 500-lb bomb would destroy their bunkers. LTC Lucas determined that the efforts against Hill 1000 would be too costly to justify further assaults. American forces would no longer venture up its scarred slopes.
On 10 July, CPT Hawkins got the word and Alpha Company combat assaulted from O'Reilly to an LZ secured by Charlie Company. Working just east of Ripcord, Alpha was tasked to conduct a two-company assault against Hill 805 to the southeast. On the 12th, Hill 805 was secured. That night, enemy forces launched a fierce attack against Delta 2/501 on the hilltop. Alpha Company, 200 meters away, poured heavy fire into the attacking enemy's ranks, providing critical support.
By mid-morning on 20 July, the men of Alpha Company had moved to the base of Hill 805. CPT Hawkins moved part of his company across a river and set the remainder in ambush posture on the bank above the stream. One of the forward elements found a high-speed trail showing signs of recent use, with a string of communications wire running alongside.
On the 21st, an outpost for Alpha Company spotted two NVA. Well-aimed fire by SP4 Journell killed one of the enemy. A search of his body revealed diagrams and a plan of attack for the NVA to use against Ripcord. Journell had killed a courier on his way to the NVA Division Commander. That evening, at higher headquarters, radios and phone lines were alive with traffic. On the evening of the 21st, Brigadier General Sidney Berry made a difficult decision: Ripcord would be evacuated.
At 0900 hours on 22 July, CPT Hawkins received a coded message from LTC Lucas ordering Alpha Company to return to an LZ location just east of Ripcord. At 1245 hours, the lead element moved out of the perimeter and started north. They had moved about 100 meters when the point man engaged three enemy at 20 meters. As the enemy died, the platoon moved forward to exploit their success.
Continuous air strikes consisting of 250-lb bombs and napalm, plus constant gunship cover, eventually broke the enemy attack and Alpha Company slowly pulled back into a defensive perimeter. As darkness fell, an attempt to insert Delta Company was aborted due to burning napalm on the landing zone. CPT Rollison and his men would try again at first light.
On the 23rd of July, Delta Company successfully landed and reached Alpha Company in short order. An LZ was cut and CPT Rollison and CPT Hawkins prepared their men for extraction. The evacuation of Ripcord, meanwhile, was going smoothly. The artillerymen and their guns were removed first, followed by the remainder of the personnel. A constant stream of helicopters hovered into Ripcord and back out, carrying their precious cargo to safety despite the nearly continuous fire of enemy gunners. Miraculously, very few men were injured during the extraction.
The cost had been high. Twelve of Alpha's finest men lay dead and an additional 50 had been wounded. The enemy too had paid heavily — sixty-five NVA soldiers had gone to meet their fate and a large amount of NVA equipment lay scattered over the battlefield.
While the evacuation was in process, BG Berry was constantly in the air over the firebase in his C&C helicopter. At one point when things seemed to go rough for the men on the hill, BG Berry radioed the Tactical Operations Center on Ripcord and asked if there was any particular assistance they needed. The TOC radio operator, with a casualness that is typical of men in a tight situation, answered: "No sweat sir, we'll get out of this shit." And they did.
For an entire week after the evacuation, heavy concentrations of artillery and countless air strikes shook the ground around Ripcord. As the enemy scuttled for cover and areas away from the incessant bombardment, the men of the 2/506th uttered one word common to all: CURRAHEE.
LTC John C. Bard assumed command of the Best of the Currahees after LTC Lucas' death and the battalion moved to Firebases Katheryn and Rakkasan in August and September. The last half of the year was a relatively quiet time and for some a much-needed respite. The battalion experienced practically no contact with the enemy until early October.
Charlie Company pushed farther and farther west into virgin territory as October stretched into November, uncovering enemy caves, bunker complexes, and cache sites. On 13 November, Delta Company received fire from enemy small arms and RPGs while conducting a combat assault. Two members of Delta Company died and several were wounded.
On 19 November the battalion returned to Camp Evans for stand-down. November and December saw significant command changes throughout the battalion. LTC Bard moved up to fill the Division G-3 slot and LTC Joe F. Bellochi assumed command.
The year was over.
"Ripcord was over and as the enemy scuttled for cover and areas away from the incessant bombardment, the men of the 2/506th uttered one word common to all."
CURRAHEE