Battle at the Street of No Joy
This newspaper
article was saved by
my father from a
San Jose
newspaper.
He was in San Jose
on business and
had no idea that I
was involved, only
that it was about the
1st Air Cav.
article was saved by
my father from a
San Jose
newspaper.
He was in San Jose
on business and
had no idea that I
was involved, only
that it was about the
1st Air Cav.
Some of the weapons found
the next day.
the next day.
One of the crashed choppers.
The following account is taken from the Daily Staff Journals, S-2, S-3 reports of the 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment dated 20 August 1968 staring with
entry #74 at 1405 hours. I have tried to bring a little bit of personal reflections to it instead of just copying the reports verbatim.
From Brigade, 1/8th Cav notified to be on Quick Reaction Force (QRF) for 1/9th Cav in contact near vicinity of map grid location 3958. 1/9th Cav bird
(chopper) down and wounded in the area. 1/8th Cav alerted 1 QRF platoon for possible insertion to the location of the downed bird.
"A" company & "D" company 3rd platoon notified to be in pick up posture. "A" company reports that their Popular Forces have been extracted. Birds are
on the way to pick up "A" company's 2nd platoon and insert them at vicinity 411574, Landing Zone (LZ) is green. The rest of "A" company is inserted with
no causalities.
"C" Troop 3/5 Cav 9th Infantry Division is operational control (Opcon) to 1/8th Cav at this time. "B" company had been notified to be on standby alert and
now was in the process of being inserted at location 421571.
At 1655 hours "A" company requests a Medevac chopper for 1 enlisted man (EM) at location 407567. One of the scout birds received several rounds in the
fuel tank and had to set the bird down while the other bird returned to Brigade to get another wing bird and check for damage.
At 1742 hours "A" company reports that it is in full contact with the enemy and is trying to pull back to allow Artillery and Mortar to engage the target. "C"
company has been notified to get in pick up posture, while "A" & "C" companies of 1/12th Cav go Opcon to 1/8th Cav. "A" company at 1756 hours requests
Medevac for 1 EM with shrapnel in his leg. "A" Troop 3/5 Cav 9th Infantry Division is coming Opcon to 1/8th Cav at this time.
"Memories" of "Doc" Blanchard. I remember when the choppers came to pick up Charlie company, it was a bunch of Chinooks (CH-47), and talking with a
Lt from 2nd platoon. He was a ROTC (Reserve Office Training Corps) from Oregon State University, so I was always baiting him since I was from University
of Oregon. I think his name was David M Hadly. I remember seeing him getting on the Chinook and I gave him a salute, (something that was never done in
the bush). 3rd platoon went out on the return flight and got there either close to dark or right after dark.
At 1912 hours "C" company completes its insertion at location 394561 and has its men deployed along rice paddy dikes, which completes the
encirclement of the village.
Kevan says "It was pretty scary moving into position in darkness and trying to link up with two other companies. The rice paddies had puddles of water in
them. You could not lay on the paddy dikes because the bullets were flying about 6 inches above them, so you laid on the damp soil in the rice stems with
your head resting on the side of the dike and fired your rifle over the dike with out aiming at a target, just pointing in the direction of the village. You did not
want to expose yourself to enemy fire and possibly get shot. This went on all night. NO rest or sleep for the GRUNTS of the 1/8th Cav that night."
At 2010 hours at vicinity 407567 interrogation of captured individuals leads to the belief that a NVA Battalion plus is trapped in the village at this time.
At 2147 hours "C" 3/5 Cav 9th Inf. Div. starts receiving mortar rounds and continues receiving them for about 15-20 minutes.
If you have never been in a mortar attack, let me tell you that it is one of the most scary things to be in, because you don't know where to hide or where the
next round will hit. There is NO place to hide or protect yourself. You can only hope and pray that the next one doesn't land next to or on you.
At 2215 hours "A" 3/5 Cav reports seeing the enemy pulling back their dead and wounded and gathering weapons. They called in the gun ships on the
location. A flare ship has been over head and dropping flares on the battlefield since darkness set in.
At 2327 hours "C" company 1/8th Cav reports that one of their positions has engaged two enemy and has confirmed KIA's. Both "C" & "B" companies
1/8th Cav are receiving small arms fire at this time, 2336 hours.
From "Doc" Blanchard. The incident I mentioned earlier about the Charlie KIA's is still a vivid memory for me. We were dug in behind a burial mound (3rd
Platoon CP (command post)). There was 3-6 (3rd platoon leader), Jack Moore, Bob Miller (our 90 day wonder E-6, but a good guy), Doug Burchell, who was
another RTO (Radio Telephone Operator), me and probably one or two others, I can't remember. The M-60 (machine gun) position was off to our left, the
Tanks/APCs (Armored Personnel Carrier) attachment was down to our right, but at the end of quite of few more Charlie company positions (2nd Platoon).
We were having a pretty good time despite the fact that rounds kept whizzing by on either side of the mound. I remember Bob Miller exposing himself on
the left side of the mound and seeing a tracer coming right him. He dove back into the foxhole behind the mound and wasn't hit. Anyway, we were having a
high old time, even broke out the peanut butter and cracker C's and had a snack. I even went with 3-6 on an ammo resupply up to the company CP. We
grabbed a case of ammo and a bunch of frags (grenades) and went back to our position.
We were firing rounds into the ville every once in awhile just for the hell of it because I don't think we were really seeing anybody over there. It was just
about the limit of the M-79 ( Grenade Launcher) for distance because as I remember the rounds just didn't quite reach the treeline. The area between us
and the ville was field/rice paddy and vegetation was not very high. I also remember a couple of Cobra gun ships working out full time spraying the ville. I
always liked watching that stream of traces.
Besides the air dropped flares, whoever was our artillery support was also firing flares over the ville. They were timing it so there was continuous light
over the area. I was sitting behind the mound looking out over the field when one of the flares was a dud and everything went dark in front of us. They fired
another one right away and I remember as the flare popped open above us I saw a gook on a dead run between our two positions just as he dove to
ground. The light from the new flare hit the ground about a second before he did. He was probably only 50 - 75 feet out in front of us and he had tried to
take advantage of the dud flare. He just took about 3 steps too many. Don't know how long it had taken him to sneak out that far, but for us it was a good
thing he got impatient.
I yelled "There's a gook out there!" and opened up with my M-16 about the same time Bob Miller did. I still remember Bob yelling "I got one!" Jack or
somebody else started throwing frags and the M-60 also opened up. When we did this, about 5 gooks all of a sudden jumped up in the same area and
started DiDi'ing back to ville. We fired off so many rounds I ended up on the bottom of the foxhole filling magazines as fast as I could. We would throw a
frag every now and then for the rest of the night over where the KIA's were just in case.
It still amazes me that they could sneak up that close to us with all the illumination. I think we got 3 of them. When morning came and we moved out, none
of our CP group even went out to look. It was just a spontaneous thing, we all just moved out, nobody said "Let's go look", or tried to, we just moved out. I
don't know why. We got reports later that a couple of the KIA's were carrying US 45 caliber pistols.
Kevan's memories of the above action. As the frags went off, and the M-60 opened up, to our left, 3rd platoon's position, we opened up with our M-16's and
everything else we had. But 2-6 (Lt David Hadly), passed the word to cease fire as the action was not in front of us. In the morning we swept the area of the
action and found the KIA's. Some were carrying US pistols and one was armed only with a straight razor. They must have been high on "grass" to attack
the perimeter with only pistols and a straight razor.
Summary of days actions per the Daily Staff Journal. "Summary: 1/8th Cav continued operations in the Bde A.O. (area of operations). "A" company on night
ambush got 1 NVA KIA and had one US WIA by booby trap. "B" company found 2000 pounds of rice and on a search and clear operation got 1 VC/CD. "E"
company on a snatch mission got 2 VC/CD. Contact was made with 3 aircraft shot down vicinity 2958. A cordon was established with "A", "B" & "C"
companies 1/8th Cav with "A" & "C" Troops 3/5th Cav 9th Inf. Div. Opcon to 1/8th Cav. The cordon closed prior to dark and illumination was fired through
out the darkness."
At 0002 hours on 21 August "A" company 1/8th Cav reports receiving small arms fire. At 0030 hours the Battalion Commander has called for a tackie
(tactical emergency) for emergency resupply of ammo and water for the companies in the contact area. Sporadic sniper fire is received by "A" & "B"
companies 1/8th Cav until around 0113 hours. At 0130 hours "C" company 1/8th Cav reports receiving mortar rounds from their rear and "C" 3/5th Cav
reports receiving small arms and mortar rounds from their right flank. "C" company 1/8th Cav requests a Medevac for the Artillery Forward Observer.
At 0250 hours "A" Troop 3/5 Cav reports a volley of rockets hit between them and the wood line, negative injuries to report. "B" company 1/8th Cav reports
seeing enemy in the open when the flare got close to the ground, and had the gun ships engage the enemy. Artillery has also been shooting into the village
all night. The sniper rounds continued until daylight. When the morning resupply choppers tried to set down they were immediately brought under heavy
fire and returned to LZ Sharon to check for damage. "C 1/8th Cav & "A" Troop 3/5 Cav had individuals surrender at their locations, all with weapons.
Battalion has requested a Psyops bird to pick up one of the POWs to try and talk the remaining NVA into surrendering. One of the POWs at "A" Troop's
location says that there is at least 140 troops left in the village. The results of the Psyops bird is negative. At 0750 hours the first of several air strikes are
going on target. By 0830 hours 3 air strikes have been completed. At 0934 hours one of the POWs at "B" company 1/8th Cav location , a Lt. is willing to go
aboard the Psyops bird to try and talk his platoon into surrendering, which had about 120 men in it before the battle started. None of the enemy
surrendered. Naval gun fire and artillery going into the village at this time, 1036 hours.
"A" company 1/8th Cav has been given the order to prepare to sweep through the village, while all the other units hold in place. At 1229 the attack started.
While "A" company was sweeping the village, "B" company 1/8th Cav screened 25 - 30 people and also found 2500 lbs of rice. Several troopers were
wounded by shrapnel when clearing bunkers, none serious.
By 1625 hours the sweep of the village was completed and "C" company 1/8th Cav was extracted and inserted at location 320475, LZ is green.
As "A" company was moving into position vicinity 410566 they observed 6 enemy moving from the Northeast and engaged them with small arms fire,
negative assessment at this time 2327 hours. This ended the first portion of the fight at the Street of No Joy.
To quote from the Daily Staff Journal "Summary: 1/8th Cav continued operations in the 1st Bde A.O. Cordon established vicinity 400568 was illuminated
during the hours of darkness. Artillery was called into area during the night with continual probes by NVA of the perimeter. At 0630 hours the cordon was
loosened by "A 3/5 on the East and "C" 1/8th on the West. Air strikes, Artillery and Naval gunfire were used, followed by attack by "A" 1/8th, "A" 3/5 and "C"
3/5. Armor and Infantry units were cross attached. Results of the operation were 75 NVA KIA, 14 POW and 22 individual and 5 crew served weapons
captured. Friendly casualties were 1 KIA and 6 WIA."
Note, the KIA was from a 3/5 Cav, 9th Inf. Div. Unit.
Top of page
entry #74 at 1405 hours. I have tried to bring a little bit of personal reflections to it instead of just copying the reports verbatim.
From Brigade, 1/8th Cav notified to be on Quick Reaction Force (QRF) for 1/9th Cav in contact near vicinity of map grid location 3958. 1/9th Cav bird
(chopper) down and wounded in the area. 1/8th Cav alerted 1 QRF platoon for possible insertion to the location of the downed bird.
"A" company & "D" company 3rd platoon notified to be in pick up posture. "A" company reports that their Popular Forces have been extracted. Birds are
on the way to pick up "A" company's 2nd platoon and insert them at vicinity 411574, Landing Zone (LZ) is green. The rest of "A" company is inserted with
no causalities.
"C" Troop 3/5 Cav 9th Infantry Division is operational control (Opcon) to 1/8th Cav at this time. "B" company had been notified to be on standby alert and
now was in the process of being inserted at location 421571.
At 1655 hours "A" company requests a Medevac chopper for 1 enlisted man (EM) at location 407567. One of the scout birds received several rounds in the
fuel tank and had to set the bird down while the other bird returned to Brigade to get another wing bird and check for damage.
At 1742 hours "A" company reports that it is in full contact with the enemy and is trying to pull back to allow Artillery and Mortar to engage the target. "C"
company has been notified to get in pick up posture, while "A" & "C" companies of 1/12th Cav go Opcon to 1/8th Cav. "A" company at 1756 hours requests
Medevac for 1 EM with shrapnel in his leg. "A" Troop 3/5 Cav 9th Infantry Division is coming Opcon to 1/8th Cav at this time.
"Memories" of "Doc" Blanchard. I remember when the choppers came to pick up Charlie company, it was a bunch of Chinooks (CH-47), and talking with a
Lt from 2nd platoon. He was a ROTC (Reserve Office Training Corps) from Oregon State University, so I was always baiting him since I was from University
of Oregon. I think his name was David M Hadly. I remember seeing him getting on the Chinook and I gave him a salute, (something that was never done in
the bush). 3rd platoon went out on the return flight and got there either close to dark or right after dark.
At 1912 hours "C" company completes its insertion at location 394561 and has its men deployed along rice paddy dikes, which completes the
encirclement of the village.
Kevan says "It was pretty scary moving into position in darkness and trying to link up with two other companies. The rice paddies had puddles of water in
them. You could not lay on the paddy dikes because the bullets were flying about 6 inches above them, so you laid on the damp soil in the rice stems with
your head resting on the side of the dike and fired your rifle over the dike with out aiming at a target, just pointing in the direction of the village. You did not
want to expose yourself to enemy fire and possibly get shot. This went on all night. NO rest or sleep for the GRUNTS of the 1/8th Cav that night."
At 2010 hours at vicinity 407567 interrogation of captured individuals leads to the belief that a NVA Battalion plus is trapped in the village at this time.
At 2147 hours "C" 3/5 Cav 9th Inf. Div. starts receiving mortar rounds and continues receiving them for about 15-20 minutes.
If you have never been in a mortar attack, let me tell you that it is one of the most scary things to be in, because you don't know where to hide or where the
next round will hit. There is NO place to hide or protect yourself. You can only hope and pray that the next one doesn't land next to or on you.
At 2215 hours "A" 3/5 Cav reports seeing the enemy pulling back their dead and wounded and gathering weapons. They called in the gun ships on the
location. A flare ship has been over head and dropping flares on the battlefield since darkness set in.
At 2327 hours "C" company 1/8th Cav reports that one of their positions has engaged two enemy and has confirmed KIA's. Both "C" & "B" companies
1/8th Cav are receiving small arms fire at this time, 2336 hours.
From "Doc" Blanchard. The incident I mentioned earlier about the Charlie KIA's is still a vivid memory for me. We were dug in behind a burial mound (3rd
Platoon CP (command post)). There was 3-6 (3rd platoon leader), Jack Moore, Bob Miller (our 90 day wonder E-6, but a good guy), Doug Burchell, who was
another RTO (Radio Telephone Operator), me and probably one or two others, I can't remember. The M-60 (machine gun) position was off to our left, the
Tanks/APCs (Armored Personnel Carrier) attachment was down to our right, but at the end of quite of few more Charlie company positions (2nd Platoon).
We were having a pretty good time despite the fact that rounds kept whizzing by on either side of the mound. I remember Bob Miller exposing himself on
the left side of the mound and seeing a tracer coming right him. He dove back into the foxhole behind the mound and wasn't hit. Anyway, we were having a
high old time, even broke out the peanut butter and cracker C's and had a snack. I even went with 3-6 on an ammo resupply up to the company CP. We
grabbed a case of ammo and a bunch of frags (grenades) and went back to our position.
We were firing rounds into the ville every once in awhile just for the hell of it because I don't think we were really seeing anybody over there. It was just
about the limit of the M-79 ( Grenade Launcher) for distance because as I remember the rounds just didn't quite reach the treeline. The area between us
and the ville was field/rice paddy and vegetation was not very high. I also remember a couple of Cobra gun ships working out full time spraying the ville. I
always liked watching that stream of traces.
Besides the air dropped flares, whoever was our artillery support was also firing flares over the ville. They were timing it so there was continuous light
over the area. I was sitting behind the mound looking out over the field when one of the flares was a dud and everything went dark in front of us. They fired
another one right away and I remember as the flare popped open above us I saw a gook on a dead run between our two positions just as he dove to
ground. The light from the new flare hit the ground about a second before he did. He was probably only 50 - 75 feet out in front of us and he had tried to
take advantage of the dud flare. He just took about 3 steps too many. Don't know how long it had taken him to sneak out that far, but for us it was a good
thing he got impatient.
I yelled "There's a gook out there!" and opened up with my M-16 about the same time Bob Miller did. I still remember Bob yelling "I got one!" Jack or
somebody else started throwing frags and the M-60 also opened up. When we did this, about 5 gooks all of a sudden jumped up in the same area and
started DiDi'ing back to ville. We fired off so many rounds I ended up on the bottom of the foxhole filling magazines as fast as I could. We would throw a
frag every now and then for the rest of the night over where the KIA's were just in case.
It still amazes me that they could sneak up that close to us with all the illumination. I think we got 3 of them. When morning came and we moved out, none
of our CP group even went out to look. It was just a spontaneous thing, we all just moved out, nobody said "Let's go look", or tried to, we just moved out. I
don't know why. We got reports later that a couple of the KIA's were carrying US 45 caliber pistols.
Kevan's memories of the above action. As the frags went off, and the M-60 opened up, to our left, 3rd platoon's position, we opened up with our M-16's and
everything else we had. But 2-6 (Lt David Hadly), passed the word to cease fire as the action was not in front of us. In the morning we swept the area of the
action and found the KIA's. Some were carrying US pistols and one was armed only with a straight razor. They must have been high on "grass" to attack
the perimeter with only pistols and a straight razor.
Summary of days actions per the Daily Staff Journal. "Summary: 1/8th Cav continued operations in the Bde A.O. (area of operations). "A" company on night
ambush got 1 NVA KIA and had one US WIA by booby trap. "B" company found 2000 pounds of rice and on a search and clear operation got 1 VC/CD. "E"
company on a snatch mission got 2 VC/CD. Contact was made with 3 aircraft shot down vicinity 2958. A cordon was established with "A", "B" & "C"
companies 1/8th Cav with "A" & "C" Troops 3/5th Cav 9th Inf. Div. Opcon to 1/8th Cav. The cordon closed prior to dark and illumination was fired through
out the darkness."
At 0002 hours on 21 August "A" company 1/8th Cav reports receiving small arms fire. At 0030 hours the Battalion Commander has called for a tackie
(tactical emergency) for emergency resupply of ammo and water for the companies in the contact area. Sporadic sniper fire is received by "A" & "B"
companies 1/8th Cav until around 0113 hours. At 0130 hours "C" company 1/8th Cav reports receiving mortar rounds from their rear and "C" 3/5th Cav
reports receiving small arms and mortar rounds from their right flank. "C" company 1/8th Cav requests a Medevac for the Artillery Forward Observer.
At 0250 hours "A" Troop 3/5 Cav reports a volley of rockets hit between them and the wood line, negative injuries to report. "B" company 1/8th Cav reports
seeing enemy in the open when the flare got close to the ground, and had the gun ships engage the enemy. Artillery has also been shooting into the village
all night. The sniper rounds continued until daylight. When the morning resupply choppers tried to set down they were immediately brought under heavy
fire and returned to LZ Sharon to check for damage. "C 1/8th Cav & "A" Troop 3/5 Cav had individuals surrender at their locations, all with weapons.
Battalion has requested a Psyops bird to pick up one of the POWs to try and talk the remaining NVA into surrendering. One of the POWs at "A" Troop's
location says that there is at least 140 troops left in the village. The results of the Psyops bird is negative. At 0750 hours the first of several air strikes are
going on target. By 0830 hours 3 air strikes have been completed. At 0934 hours one of the POWs at "B" company 1/8th Cav location , a Lt. is willing to go
aboard the Psyops bird to try and talk his platoon into surrendering, which had about 120 men in it before the battle started. None of the enemy
surrendered. Naval gun fire and artillery going into the village at this time, 1036 hours.
"A" company 1/8th Cav has been given the order to prepare to sweep through the village, while all the other units hold in place. At 1229 the attack started.
While "A" company was sweeping the village, "B" company 1/8th Cav screened 25 - 30 people and also found 2500 lbs of rice. Several troopers were
wounded by shrapnel when clearing bunkers, none serious.
By 1625 hours the sweep of the village was completed and "C" company 1/8th Cav was extracted and inserted at location 320475, LZ is green.
As "A" company was moving into position vicinity 410566 they observed 6 enemy moving from the Northeast and engaged them with small arms fire,
negative assessment at this time 2327 hours. This ended the first portion of the fight at the Street of No Joy.
To quote from the Daily Staff Journal "Summary: 1/8th Cav continued operations in the 1st Bde A.O. Cordon established vicinity 400568 was illuminated
during the hours of darkness. Artillery was called into area during the night with continual probes by NVA of the perimeter. At 0630 hours the cordon was
loosened by "A 3/5 on the East and "C" 1/8th on the West. Air strikes, Artillery and Naval gunfire were used, followed by attack by "A" 1/8th, "A" 3/5 and "C"
3/5. Armor and Infantry units were cross attached. Results of the operation were 75 NVA KIA, 14 POW and 22 individual and 5 crew served weapons
captured. Friendly casualties were 1 KIA and 6 WIA."
Note, the KIA was from a 3/5 Cav, 9th Inf. Div. Unit.
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