Thomas R. Yarborough - A Shau Valor: American Combat Operations in the Valley of Death, 1963–1971
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Throughout the Vietnam War, one focal point persisted where the Viet Cong guerrillas and Army of the Republic of Viet Nam (ARVN) were not a major factor, but where the trained professionals of the North Vietnamese and US armies repeatedly fought head-to-head. A Shau Valor is a thorough study of nine years of American combat operations encompassing the crucial frontier valley and a fifteen-mile radius around itthe most deadly killing ground of the entire war.
Beginning in 1963, Special Forces A-teams established camps along the valley floor, followed by a number of top-secret Project Delta reconnaissance missions through 1967. Then, US Army and Marine Corps maneuver battalions engaged in a series of sometimes-controversial thrusts into the A Shau, designed to disrupt NVA infiltrations and to kill enemy soldiers, part of what came to be known as Westmorelands war of attrition.
The various campaigns included Operation Pirous (1967); Operations Delaware and Somerset Plain (1968); and Operations Dewey Canyon, Massachusetts Striker, and Apache Snow (1969)which included the infamous battle for Hamburger Hillculminating with Operation Texas Star and the vicious fight for and humiliating evacuation of Fire Support Base Ripcord in the summer of 1970, the last major US battle of the war.
By 1971, the fighting had once again shifted to the realm of small Special Forces reconnaissance teams assigned to the ultra-secret Studies and Observations Group (SOG). Other works have focused on individual battles or units, but A Shau Valor is the first to study the campaignfor all its courage and sacrificechronologically and within the context of other historical, political, and cultural events.
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All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
Copyright 2016 by Thomas R. Yarborough
978-1-5040-3710-5
Casemate Publishing
908 Darby Road
Havertown, PA 19083
www.casematepublishing.com
This edition distributed by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
180 Maiden Lane
New York, NY 10038
www.openroadmedia.com
This book is dedicated to the memory and incomparable fighting spirit of the American soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen, and Coast Guardsmen who willingly marched to the sound of battle in the Valley of Death. All gave some, some gave all.
VietnamThe A Shau Valley,
The Valley of Death
Welcome to the jungle,
Youve arrived, watch out for its wrath,
It lives on our dead, broken bodies,
Reeks of blood and death.
This valley is quite beautiful,
It hides under cloudless skies,
Takes its toll of fighting men,
Doesnt choose who lives who dies!
No villages on its landscape,
Fighting, while explosions sound.
Rifle shots, mortar rounds,
Soldiers dying,
Soldiers killing,
Some bodies never found.
The stench of death is the valleys perfume,
Our blood feeds the growing palms,
This is where we fought and died,
A place of courage,
Where we fought with pride.
There is where,
We left a little sign,
A place to fear nowhere to hide,
Deep, dark thoughts,
Attack our mind.
Written it holds the valleys psalm,
Welcome to the A-Shau Valley,
Republic of Viet-Nam.
Philip Lore
GLOSSARY
A-1 SKYRAIDER: A Korean War-vintage prop attack aircraft capable of carrying large ordnance loads and used extensively for search-and-rescue missions as well as in support of SOG long-range reconnaissance teams.
A-4 SKYHAWK: A single seat light attack jet aircraft used by Navy and Marines.
AIRMOBILE: Helicopter-borne infantry.
AH-1 COBRA: Army helicopter gunship used extensively throughout Vietnam.
AK-47: The standard automatic assault weapon used by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers.
AO: Area of operations, usually a specific sector assigned an air or ground unit.
ARC LIGHT: Code name for B-52 operations in Southeast Asia, usually flown in three-plane cells.
ARVN: Army of the Republic of Vietnam, South Vietnamese Army.
BDA: Bomb damage assessment, the reported results of air strikes.
BILK: Call sign of Air Force FACs assigned to support the 101st Airborne Division.
BINH TRAM: North Vietnamese supply complexes along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the largest located adjacent to the A Shau Valley.
BRIGHT LIGHT: Code name for a 12-man Special Forces team dedicated to recovering POWs, downed pilots, or reconnaissance teams in Laos, Cambodia, or North Vietnam.
CAR-15: Submachine gun version of the M-16 rifle, with folding stock and shortened barrel.
CBU: Cluster bomb unit. An area-coverage, anti-personnel ordnance dropped by fighter aircraft, used extensively in Southeast Asia.
CCN: Command and Control North, the Da Nang-based regional headquarters for all cross-border operations, a subunit of Military Assistance Commands Studies and Observations Group, SOG.
CHARLIE: A slang term for enemy soldiers, probably stemming from Victor Charlie, the phonetic alphabet words used for the letters VC, or Viet Cong.
CHINOOK: Nickname for the U.S. Armys CH-47 medium lift helicopter, a venerable workhorse in Vietnam.
CIA: Central Intelligence Agency
CIDG: Civilian Irregular Defense Group, South Vietnamese paramilitary force composed primarily of Montagnard tribesmen.
CINCPAC: Commander in Chief, Pacific, headquarters in Hawaii.
CLAYMORE MINE: A directional anti-personnel M18 mine packed with C-4 explosive that shoots a pattern of steel balls into a kill zone like a shotgun blast.
COBRA: Nickname for the AH-1G helicopter gunship.
COMBAT ASSAULT: The movement of ground forces via helicopter to seize and hold key terrain and to attack enemy forces. In Vietnam CAs were normally carried out by airmobile units such as the 1st Cavalry Division and the 101st Airborne Division.
COSVN: Central Office of South Vietnam, the nominal communist military and political headquarters in South Vietnam.
COVEY: Call sign of the USAF special-mission FACs flying sorties into Laos from Da Nang and Pleiku in direct support of SOG cross-border missions.
COVEY RIDER: Highly experienced Special Forces member who flew with Prairie Fire FACs to help direct air strikes and team inserts and extractions.
CP: Command post.
CS: Tear gas. A riot control agent, it was discovered by two Americans, Ben Corson and Roger Stoughton in 1928; the chemicals name is derived from the first letters of the scientists surnames.
DANGER CLOSE: Term used by ground commanders authorizing ordnance (bombs, artillery) well inside the recognized minimum safe distances.
DMZ: Demilitarized Zone, the no-mans-land between North and South Vietnam at the 17th Parallel.
DUST-OFF: Call sign of Army UH-1 medical evacuation helicopters.
F-4 PHANTOM: State-of-the-art fighter bomber flown by Air Force, Navy, and Marines in Vietnam.
FAC: Forward air controller (pronounced Fack, as in pack). In South Vietnam and Laos, virtually all tactical air strikes were directed by FACs.
559TH TRANSPORTATION GROUP: Secret North Vietnamese command that operated the Ho Chi Minh Trail, with its forward headquarters located in Target Oscar Eight adjacent to the western edge of the A Shau Valley.
FLAK: Air bursts from antiaircraft fire.
FOB: Forward Operating Base.
FSB: Fire support base, a temporary military encampment widely used during the Vietnam War to provide artillery support to infantry units operating in areas beyond the normal range of fire support from their own base camps.
GRUNT: Affectionate nickname for the infantryman in Vietnam.
HE: High-explosive, normally referring to rockets fired by fighters, FACs, or helicopter gunships.
HO CHI MINH TRAIL: An extensive network of Laotian trails and roads used by the NVA to move men and supplies to South Vietnam and Cambodia. Between 1966 and 1971, intelligence analysts estimated that North Vietnam moved 630,000 NVA troops, 100,000 tons of food, 400,000 weapons, and 50,000 tons of ammunition down the Trail.
HUEY: Nickname for the versatile UH-1 helicopter.
I CORPS: The five northern most provinces in South Vietnam, later renamed Military Region 1.
JOLLY GREEN: Call sign of Air Force HH-3 or HH-53 rescue helicopters, known as Jolly Green Giants.
KBA: Killed by air. Refers to casualties inflicted by aircraft bombing or strafing.
KIA: Killed in action.
LAM SON 719: The ARVN invasion of Laos in February 1971.
LLDB: Luc Luong Duc Biet (Vietnamese Special Forces).
LRRP: Long-range reconnaissance patrol.
LZ: Landing zone, usually an open area large enough to accommodate a helicopter. A hot LZ indicated a landing zone under enemy fire.
MACV: Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, headquarters in Saigon.
M-16: Standard U.S. 5.56mm automatic rifle.
MIA: Missing in action.
MK-82: A general-purpose 500-pound bomb widely used on missions throughout Southeast Asia.
MONTAGNARD: French name for ethnic minority tribes in Vietnam located primarily along the Lao-Vietnamese border. They developed a special rapport with U.S. Special Forces.
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