Memories of Vietnam, spring 1968: When we encircled and destroyed the enemy

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By Lt. Gen. John
Cushman, USA (Ret.)

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of living history

At the end of April 1968 the
2nd Brigade Task Force (three infantry battalions, one cavalry squadron,
artillery, and other units) of the 101st Airborne Division was operating north
of Hue. Three principles governed our operations: Work closely with the Vietnamese. Maintain unrelenting pressure on the
enemy. At every opportunity surround the enemy and destroy him.

The brigade was getting
a reputation. An NVA prisoner had quoted his company commander, "If we make
contact with the airborne, we get out fast. They will surround and kill you."
At my command post an NVA prisoner was being interrogated. I saw him pointing
at the Screaming Eagle patch on a nearby trooper. The interpreter told me he
was saying, "That little bird is real mean."

Then came our
encirclement at Phuoc Yen.

On April 28, a few miles
from our base camp at LZ Sally, the 1st ARVN Division's Black Panther Company
working with the 1/501 Infantry made heavy contact. It was at the north, or
open, end of a "stocking" formed by the Song Bo River around that village. Jim
Hunt, commanding the 1/501, used the river to trap the enemy.

He moved his B Company
alongside the Black Panthers. He moved his A Company overland to the Song Bo's
bank, west of the village. Jack Bishop's A/1/502, was helicoptered in; it
closed the top of the stocking. He placed the helilifted B/2/501 on the south
bank. We arranged with the district chief for three Popular Force platoons and
a platoon of hamlet militia to cover the east bank. Two-man foxholes ten feet
apart ringed the encircled enemy.  At night
flare ships lit up the battlefield. The enemy fought on. Air, artillery, and
loudspeakers were called in. We reinforced the cordon. On May 3, after
defeating a last attempt to escape, the troops cleaned out Phuoc Yen.

They took 107
prisoners. They captured scores of weapons and the battalion's radio suite,
plus its SOI. U.S. losses: 8 KIA, 44 WIA. ARVN losses: 3 KIA, 12 WIA. We had
wiped out the 8th Battalion, 90th NVA Regiment.

An
encirclement began on May 5 when Huong Tra district reported that an NVA force had
holed up in La Chu, just off of Highway 1. Commanding the 2/501 Infantry, Dick
Tallman used his D Company to establish contact with the NVA at the hamlet's
north. By nightfall he had air assaulted his B and C Companies to join the
nearby D/1/501 in a four company encirclement.

The
next day we pulled back the rifle companies on the east, west, and south sides.
We brought in Julius Becton's 2/17 Cav, beefed up with APCs and tanks. After an artillery
preparation and four air strikes, the 2/17 attacked south, D/1/501 on the right,
and B/2/17 on the left. A/2/17 swung around to attack the hamlet from the east.

An
after-action report: "Progress was slow as the troops made a thorough search of
a vast network of bunkers and trenches... Intense fighting continued under
continuous illumination as the units advanced slowly and attacked the
well-entrenched enemy... Not until 0100 were the final series of bunkers overrun...
A sweep at first light revealed that elements of the C115 Local Force Company
and the 9th Battalion, 90th Infantry Regiment, had been destroyed." U.S.
casualties: 2 KIA,14 WIA.

These were two in a
series of eleven encirclements by the 2nd Brigade in March-June of 1968. Along
with other brigade operations, and combined with the aggressive operations of
the 1st ARVN Division and province forces, we together broke the back of the
NVA in Thua Thien province.

In our final encirclement the 1/501 Infantry,
the 2/17 Cavalry, a task force of the Vietnamese army and navy units commanded
by the Thua Thien province chief, and three platoons of U.S. Marines (Ontos,
Tank, and Amtrac) operated under brigade control south of Hue in a heavily infested
enemy shore line. From the after action report:

"On June 2, TF 2/17 Cav, with all elements of
the encirclement now under its opcon, maintained pressure on the enemy and
completed an airtight encirclement. That night the enemy sought vainly to break
out overland and RVN Navy boats on patrol captured 5 NVA prisoners with
weapons. On June 3, as psyops appeals to surrender were broadcast, TF 2/17
troops began to sweep into the village. After another encirclement night the
battles of TF 2/17 and TF 7 were over."

That action was the end of heavy fighting in my
time as brigade commander.

The redoubtable Major
General Ngo Quang Truong, commanding the 1st ARVN Division, and his province
chiefs were invaluable partners. One day in early June 1968 I was in his
office. He invited me to the Vietnamese Armed Forces Day ceremonies two weeks
hence, saying "Bring your colors." He had arranged for the president of the
Republic of Vietnam to present his country's cross of gallantry with palm to
the 2nd Brigade and to all its task force units.

I am grateful for the
performance of commanders like Jim Hunt, Dick Tallman, Jack Bishop, and Julius
Becton and their troops. Without that I would not be a general. How do I know
this?

I have been told that
immediately after General Bill Rosson, Deputy COMUSMACV, stood alongside me at
Phuoc Yen on May 1, 1968, he went to the command post of the 101st Airborne
Division. There he told the division commander, "I want you to write an
efficiency report on Cushman that will make him a brigadier general." That
report was on the top of my file when the board met in June.

Go to http://www.angelfire.com/rebellion/101abndivvietvets/.
Scroll all the way down to 'War Stories' and click. Then click on the seventh
item; it is a week by week tale of the 2d Brigade Task Force, January-June
1968.