1971

History of the 12^th Cav in Vietnam 27 Jul 1968 – 30 Nov 1971
According to the collective remembrances of it’s surviving troopers.

CPT Errol D. Alexander, July-Oct 1968
CPT Kenneth G. Carlson, Oct 68-Mar 69
CPT Larry R. Robinson, Mar-Sep 1969
CPT William C. Kaufman, Sep-Nov 1969
CPT Matthias A. Spruill, Nov 69-Feb 70
CPT John L. B. Smith, Feb-May 1970
CPT Robert R. Richards, May-Oct 70
CPT Woodrow W. Waldrop, Oct 70-Apr 71
CPT Edward E. Helton, Apr-Oct 71

January 1971

Recommendation for a Presidential Unit Citation for Lam Son 719 brought to light by Charles John Wayne Russell.

The following information was provided by Short, Keith . (2000) C COMPANY, 1 st BATTALION, 11 th INFANTRY.  Colorado : Roshtiek: from his research manual.

Two operations of the 5th Mech out of the AA's; with information in regards to A Troop 4/12 Cav activities.

1/C/1-11, 1/5 Infantry Division (Mech)--Quang Tri Province
3/A/2-506th Infantry (Ambl), 3/101st Airborne Division (Ambl)--Thua Thien
Province


Lam Son 719 Significant Events entries in the Combat After Action Report of
the 1/5 Mech.
According to the AA, A/4-12 Cav had 25 WIA'S and  no KIA'S during this
operation.

28 JAN 71
        1/A/4-12, 282217H, YD107694 (4km SW S-4).
The unit reported that a trip flare was detonated approximately 75 meters
north of the NDP.  They also received 3-4x rounds of AK-47 fire from the
north.  Organic weapons fire was placed on the area, and pink light and
radar were employed, but with negative sightings.  The area was swept at
first light with negative results.

29 JAN 71
        2/A/4-12, 291200H, YD157687 (4km ESE A-4).
An M551 Sheridan detonated a PM60 mine buried near a tank trail.  There was
1x US WIA; the vehicle sustained moderate damage.  The unit then received
approximately 10x rounds of AK-47 fire from 100 meters west of their
location.  The area was engaged with organic weapons fire and was swept
with negative results.  There were negative further friendly casualties.
The resulting crater was 5'x3'x7'.
        2/A/4-12, 291430H, YD163700 (5km east A-4)
An M551 Sheridan detonated a PM60 mine buried in a tank trail.  There was
1x US WIA; the vehicle sustained moderate damage.  The crater was 7'x7'x'5.

12 FEB 71
        A/4-12, 121145, YD158698 (3km E A-4).
A M551 hit a PM60 pressure activated mine which was buried in an open field
resulting in a crater which was 4' by 4'.  There were negative friendly
casualties, the vehicle was a combat loss.

3 APR 71
        1-77, 032310H, XD820418 (2km N Khe Sanh).
Team received AK-47 fire and grenades from an estimated 6x NVA.  Small arms
fire and grenades were returned.  A/4-12 reinforced team.  Results:  1x US
KIA, 1x US WIA, 2x NVA KIA.  Sniper team at 040800H, made a sweep of area
where there was contact resulting in the following items captured:  2x RPG
rounds, 1x RPG cleaning kit, 1x estimated one pound type of explosive, 1x
homemade bangalore torpedo, 1x hunting knife with scabbard, 1x first-aid
packet, 1x NVA pistol belt with fish cakes.  There were heavy blood trails
and drag marks throughout the area.

EXCERPTS FROM MONTANA MUSTANG 1-5 COAAR

08 April 71 – 11 July 71

Montana Mustang Significant Events entries in the Combat After Action
Report of the 1/5 Mech.
According to the AA, A/4-12 Cav had 19 WIA's and 2 KIA's during this
operation.  They were attached to Task Force 1-77 Armor with the 1-77 Armor
(-).

20 APR 1971
201025H, YD238460.  2/A/4-12.  Track detonated an unknown type
boobytrap--negative casualties or damage.  Area was checked with negative
results.  No recent area activity.

201230H, YD331445.  3/A/4-12.  M551 detonated a 20 pound plastic pressure
activated mine--negative casualties.  No recent area activity.  2 vehicles
had passed over mine previously.

1 MAY 1971
011340H, YD290458.  2/A/4-12.  M113 hit Arty shell having claymore type
clacker detonator--negative casualties.  One roadwheel was blown off.

5 May 1971
051000H, YD249484.  2/A/4-12.  M551 hit aluminum type rocket mine blowing
off 2 roadwheels--1 US WIA.

051145H, YD258486.  2/A/4-12 discovered mine made up of 1 RPG and 1 82mm
round.  Mine was blown in place.

18 MAY 1971
182040H, YD112719.  2/A/4-12 spotted 3 personnel 50 meters from their
position while on an 8-man ambush and engaged with M16 and M79 fire, the
enemy were engaged with M16 and M79 fire to the South.  4.2" blocking fire
was used to the West.

19 MAY 1971
192115H, YD131684.  CP/A/4-12 took 3 unknown rounds of incoming--1 US WIA.
No counterbattery fire.

23 MAY 1971
230900H, YD100642.  A/4-12 took 4x 82mm rounds--negative casualties or
damage.  Counterbattery and 81mm fire employed.  Scts/1-61 swept area with
negative results.

30 MAY
301440H, YD263485.  A/4-12.  M113 set off a TM-41 mine with 4.2" round on
top of it blowing off 2 roadwheels and damaging hull around sprocket.  4 US
WIA.

31 MAY
031000H, YD355453.  A/4-12.  Individual set off anti-personnel mine--1 US
WIA.  No recent area activity.  Area swept with negative results.

4 JUN
040835H, YD304409.  With mine detector, 1/A/4-12 detected boobytrapped
155mm round which was blown in place.

041255H, YD361477.  2/A/4-12.  Individual set off pressure activated mine
(anti-personnel)--3 US WIA.  No recent activity.

7 JUN 1971
070908H, YD232435.  3/A/4-12.  M551 set off suspected 155mm/4.2" round
blowing off 1 roadwheel arm and 2 pads--negative casualties.  Area swept
with negative results.  No recent area activity.

8 JUN 1971
081400H, YD222456,  2/A/4-12.  M113 set off anti-personnel mine wounding
individual on next track--no vehicle damage.

081742H, YD262487.  A/4-12.  M551 hit unknown type mine which tipped
vehicle on its side with one man trapped inside--2 US WIA.

2 JUL7 1971
021850H, YD137632.  A/4-12 took AK-47 and 2 RPGs from unknown size enemy
force and returned organic weapons fire.  Negative casualties or damage.
Area swept with negative results.

7 July 1971
071200H, YD095683.  A/4-12 found 1 mortar site which they destroyed.

Trooper Memories of 1971

February 1971

March 1971

Pineapple,
Found a letter "Tex" Keith L. Anderson, 3rd platoon,  wrote me in March of 71 after I was home and he had about 70 or so days left.  Might be a bit for the journal.  I believe I say he'd been located, if not, let me know cause I've got a line on him thru Terry.

Keith wrote;

"I don't guess you've heard about them running us off the Rock Pile.  Just before we went to Khe Sahn, they had us sitting on a hill just north of the Rock Pile.  We stayed there 19days.  When we went up there we had 5 P.C.'s, 2 Sheridans, old 39er, and 50 to 60 men.  When we left, we had 3 P.C.'s, 39er, and 23 men.  They hit us with over 300 rounds of 82mm, 122 rockets and RPG's all within 3 days time.  Nobody got killed, but Boo Coo dustoffs."
Skee

Rockpile at Khe Shan: 1st Platoon was guarding Hwy. 1; we were facing the Rock; 2nd or 3rd Plt. was to our left rear on another hill as you face the Rock. They were overran with NVA and had to call for our platoon to fire on their position with small arms and mortors. They had dug in and had constructed bunkers while located on that hill for two weeks. Charlie was trying to dig into their bunkers that night. We couls see gooks running in the paremiter as trip flares were burning. Our orders were to fire at anyone we saw in the light--for all our guys were either in bunkers or dead. Our position got plastered by incoming rockets every afternoon about 3:00 o'clock. One guy (Greg Sessions) from my track (12) and another guy along with a FO were airlifted to the top of the Rock to spot the location from where the rockets were being launched. Arty from FSB Vandergriff would plaster them. Khe Sanh was an adventure and a nightmare!

I think we were out in the bush for 90 days when we left Quang Tri for Khe Sanh

NVA: This Charlie's unit hit a LRRP team and we had to reenforce them. The LRRP team lost 2 KIA and we lost 1 KIA. One of the LRRP's was a friend of mine who had extended and was about to rotate home in 60 days. I lost several friends at Khe Sanh. This Charlie did not make it home either Our unit got him in a fire fight when we arrived to extract the LRRPs.

Buddy Puryear

20 Mar 1971
Articles found by Dennis Perrino (Zero):
Miami Herald article written on 25 Feb 1990:

From Jim Good: Digital Versions of article
Miami Herald article written on 25 Feb 1990: Word Document
Miami Herald article written on 25 Feb 1990: As a web page

April 1971

Our combat base was Quang Tri for the duration. The Troop worked out of many AO's, Charlie Alpha 4, Vandegrift, and we were at Khe Shan when everybody pulled out, now that was an experience! (Walter “SKI” Slawinski HQ 70-71)

3 APR 1971

After reading Keith Nolan’s very informative book, Into Laos, The Story of Dewey Canyon II/Lam Son 719, I found a couple of errors that were probably only meaningful to me and a few others.  I was sorry to hear that Mr. Nolan has passed away February 19, 2009 because he has written some fine books on the Vietnam War. And, that a correction to history will most likely not be made. In Chapter 17, Pages 354-356 Mr. Nolan describes the events of the last known soldier to have died in the Lam Son 719 operation, Sgt. Felix Marcial Trujillo. There are several references to a “Felix” in the book.  Although, it was not the 3/5 Cav that rescued the Sniper Team that night on April 3, 1971, but the men of 1^st Platoon, A Troop 4/12 Cav.

 A Troop 4/12 Cav was assigned to the Rockpile area during most of the Lam Son operation, our mission securing a section of Hwy. 9 leading to the Khe Sanh Valley and beyond. There were many light skirmishes and things started to heat up our last few of weeks there.  For whatever reason the higher-ups sent A Troop to Khe Sanh to act as a blocking force and patrol the hills around the Khe Sanh fire base. It was typical for us to set up on any given high point outside the base each night. Sometimes the high points weren’t so high and were not the best defensive positions.  I was in 1^st Platoon riding on A10 with Lieutenant Gordon Davis, our platoon leader and the TC behind the 50. Cal.  Andy Bellinder was our driver, Ed Monreal and Bob Brouwer manned the M60 machine guns.

 In the late afternoon of April 2, 1971, on our way to our night defensive position  or NDP, I was surprised to notice several guys up atop an open  grassy hill a couple hundred yards away.   It turned out they were American soldiers.  We gave them the peace sign and it was returned.  I asked LT. what was up. He didn’t know, but called it in since there weren’t supposed to be any “friendlies” in the area. We were told it was a Sniper Team. I remarked to LT. that it’s one hell of a place to set up!  Too exposed I thought. I know there were others thinking the same thing.

 1^st Platoon continued to our NDP about a klick north of the Sniper Team, got set up and settled in. The afternoon was gloomy and  grey.  Nightfall wasn’t any better. It was one of those cold, black as black nights can be, with a light rain. Sometime after midnight we got the call. The Snipers were being overrun by enemy soldiers. We figured NVA regulars. In what seemed to be less than a few short frantic minutes we pulled out of our perimeter with two M113 Tracks and one Sheridan Tank.  As we headed towards the direction of the Sniper Team the artillery flares launched from Khe Sahn firebase were lighting up the area.  At least we could see what a mess we were in.

 The Sheridan tank made the first move up the hill.  Halfway up and it started to slide back, another try and no luck. The hillside was just too wet and slippery. By this time my driver, Andy Bellinder, said he could do it. We made two attempts. Andy was really “horsing it up” and “workin the sticks”. On the second try we crested the hill and all our guns were blazing laying down cover fire. Command at Khe Sanh firebase called urgently on the radio and said we were penetrating their perimeter and ordered a ceasefire. Yeah right.  FU was our thought. We didn’t comply with the ceasefire until we determined there was no return fire and the tank and other track were agreeably positioned up on the hill.

 The Sniper Team was really professional with an immediate Sitrep. One American KIA and one NVA KIA. The NVA had high tailed it out of there when they heard us coming. Hard to not hear the CAV coming. I remember we loaded the body of Sgt. Trujillo in our vehicle. I checked him again because I thought for a moment he was still alive. I was assured by one of the snipers he was not. This was a very distressing time for all the men on that hill.

 With Sgt Trujillo, a couple other snipers on board and captured a RPG Launcher locked and loaded, we pulled off the hill. The other Track carried the remaining snipers and one enemy KIA.  We took them to the Khe Sanh firebase before returning to the NDP.

 One of the Snipers told me that with all the rain they were huddling in their fox hole under ponchos. It happened when one of them peeked up and out to do a check.  They found they were within feet of what we think was 20 or more NVA soldiers on patrol. Both sides were taken by surprise. What a nightmare for them.

 We returned to search the ambush site the next morning. We found no other enemy KIA. What we did find was an incredible amount of enemy grenade pins.  I don’t know how any of the Snipers survived that night. Or, how many NVA died on and around that hill.

 When we returned later in the morning to the NDP, the grave for the NVA soldier was not covered yet. We were still filling it with the Platoon’s  trash. Not an honorable burial. In those days we didn’t think much of those we were fighting and respected them only up and until their death.

 Felix Marcial Trujillo’s tour in Vietnam began July 14, 1969 and ended that night April 3, 1971. According to Mr. Nolan’s book Felix may have been the last U.S fighting man to fall in battle during Operation Lam Son 719. Felix is resting now, atop a hill in San Pedro, CA.

 There are only a few that know this story, included were the men on A10; LT. Gordon Davis, Platoon Leader; SP4 Andy Bellinder, Driver; SP4 Ed “Coffin Ed” Monreal, Right M60 Gunner; SP4 Bob “German” Brouwer, Left M60 Gunner and me Sgt. Walt “Fergie” Ferguson, Track Commander.

Written by: Sgt. Walt "Fergie" Ferguson on December 1, 2010

May 1971

Hey Troopers,
I think it was sometime in May of 71 when the 1/5th was replaced by the 101st Air Cav and of course we were reassigned to them. I remember the changes they made weren't good. They wanted accountability for every bullet fired and as a result morale suffered. We felt very unsafe and became rebellious at that point. To add insult to injury the US cut our budget so allocations for promotions trickled in .I was in country 8 months before getting my Sp4 stripe. I couldn't leave there fast enough. It hurt seeing a great unit falling apart. Our First Sgt. didn't help morale much neither, he pissed off alot of men back then. He had a preference for Article 15s.

When I returned to the world and seeing all the protesting towards us, I flew back to the east coast in civilian clothing. I didn't care being called baby-killers or warmongers; I just wanted to go home. I glad to be found and the painful experience is behind me. I hope that most of our brothers have healed. It made me a stronger person and no matter how bad things can get, if you can survive Nam you can survive anything.
See ya
Trap

May 21 1971

C2 was rocketed and B 1/61suffered a high number of casualties. See page 42 for the story:

http://digitaledition.qwinc.com/publication/?i=67000

June 1971

June 8
I was third track behind Farmer's tank went it hit a mine. (KIA webpage for Thomas H. Farmer). Earl Warren and myself tried to crawl up to the tank and pull Farmer body away from the burning tank. We got about ten feet away and the ammo started going up and the flames got too hot. Farmer lay next to the tank and his body was badly burned. I remember seeing the grate off the back of the tank flying over my track when it hit the mine. There was an E-6 black guy that was TC and he was blown about 20' from the tank when it hit the mine. He had a huge piece of shrapnel protruding from his left foot. The driver got out OK but don't remember who he was either. I just remember how bad me and Warren felt that we got so close and yet failed.
Buddy Puryear 1st Plt. '70-71

Tommy Farmer's death -- it happened in the "Backyard" (area around Quang Tri Fire Base). Buddy Puryear

July 1971

5th Inf Division stood down July 31, 1971.

August 1971

For a while we worked out of Camp Eagle w/101. While we were out in the bush with the 101, a 30 day mission, the maintenance track was with the 2 nd Plt and we had half of the tracks down, so we were stuck on this hill for at least a week, even the LTR was down, during the day the rest of the Plt would go out looking for Charlie while we sat on this hill pulling guard on all the dead tracks, one day a Huey was flying by when we heard a machine gun and watched the Huey take evasive action, we called it in and the next thing we know there were Cobras firing up a hill about a click from us then the Hueys came in and dropped off some grunts and they took off and a few hours later they came back and picked them up. It sure put us on guard being that close to us. After they left the cobras had fun with us, they flew by then came back and dived on us, everybody was eating dirt. They came back a second time and flew just above our heads and we could see the pilot real good and he gave us the peace sign, laughing all the time! We didn't think it was funny at all! (Walter “SKI” Slawinski HQ 70-71)

September 1971

October 1971

The trip to turn in the equipment was very interesting to say the least. After we loaded all the tracks on a LST we headed towards DaNang, 100 miles south, and everybody (us landlubbers) got seasick, I didn't cause I went down below deck and found a rack and went to sleep, as we arrive there was a typhoon going on, the people put us up in condemned barracks that we didn't stay in to long cause we thought they would come down on us. (Walter “SKI” Slawinski HQ 70-71)