1 May 1970:Into Cambodia Part I

Many of us have certain dates or times of the year that tend to cause us to do an awful lot of rememberin and thinkin of old times and old friends;some of whom never made it past those times.May is such a time for me.Thought that maybe this year-if nobody has any real strong objection-I'd try to bring some of that period here.Shrink seemed to think that kind of thing might be a good idea and hell if ya ain't interested in that kinda stuff ain't nobody gonna try ta twist your arm to make ya read it.The folks that run this place can always wipe it if I'm too far off base an there won't be any hard feelins on my part.

I guess May will always make me remember the Cambodia "Incursion"(had to look that word up and it appears that that is the softer,gentler,form of the word invasion).This occured at a time when our Nation had already announced our intention to turn the Vietnam War over to the ARVN's and withdraw.Seems pretty obvious that Nixon figured that if we went over the border and distroyed the NVA's supply dumps,troop concentrations and training centers,and disrupted their abilities to re-supply that they would be unable to mass enough force for a major invasion of RSVN while we were half in and half out and thereby vulnerable.Appears to have worked.

History seems to consider this operation little more than a footnote and usually concentrates more on the happening at Kent State and the increase in war protests during this period.This has never really seemed very fair to me.Our boys that went into Cambodia were as fine,fought as hard,and died as well as any troops America has ever put into the field.And we accomplished our mission dispite all hardships.Seems kind of a shame that nobody much seems to have noticed.

Most of what I put on here will be taken from Keith Nolan's book "Into Cambodia" in the form of quotes from folks who were involved.I'll likely add my two cents worth now and then.Might be that Larry(aka Mortardude) and other folks on this site who were involved will want to chip in also.I have a bunch of pictures taken in Cambodia but have yet to figure out how to bring them to the site;maybe I'll figure out how to get them to the gallery before long.

1 May 1970

0410-0545
Six serials of B52 bombers had passed over the objective area,unleashing their tonnage from a height where the bombers were unseen and unheard, and in such amounts that the Sheridans and ACAVs waiting on the other side of the border vibrated as the shock waves rolled under them.

0630
The 1st ARVN Cavalry Regiment left its staging area and began rolling for the border.At the same time, the USAF dropped two Commando Vault bombs(Daisy Cutters) four miles north of the border to clear two LZs for the ARVN Airborne.The new clearings were dubbed LZ East and LZ Center.

0700
U.S. Air Force FACs began orbiting LZs East and Center,directing air strikes into the surviving trees around them.

0730
2-11 and 3-11 ACR,along with 2-47 Mech and 2-34 Armor, crossed their lines of departure after a brief contact by 2-11 ACR.

0810
1st Bn.,3rd ARVN Airborne Bde,combat assaulted into LZ East without opposition.

0945
2-47 Mech and 2-34 Armor became the first American ground combat units to enter Cambodia.

1000
2-11 crossed the border followed by 3-11 ACR

1005
The 5th and 9th Bns,3rd ARVN Airborn Bde. landed without opposition,while Pink Teams from 1-9 Air Cav spotted two hundred NVA withdrawing from the area.Before nightfall,they would claim 157 NVA killed in the ensuing turkey shoot.

1600
The first U.S. airmobile combat assault was conducted at LZ X-ray by C Co.,2-7 Cav.

Along the width of the Cambodian frontier, the U.S. and ARVN units that had been primed with anticipation found themselves almost breezing through the jungle.Allied tactical surprise of the enemy had been almost total.

There were,however, pockets of resistance.(see part II)