Apr 1 Operation Pegasus
Preparations began immediately. The 11th Engineer Battalion and Naval Mobile Construction (Seabee) Battalion 5 joined the 1st Air Cavalry Division engineers in building the base at Ca Lu, to be called “Landing Zone Stud.” 1968 The Defining Year
Apr 4th 1/9 Marines attacked along the foggy Che Rien Ridge toward hill 471, which lay 2 kilometers to9 the southeast of Khe Sanh. A reinforced platoon of the 8th Battalion 66th NVA Regiment put up a spirited fight, but Company A soon overwhelmed then. The attack cost the battalion 10 dead and 56 wounded. The enemy left 16 dead on the objective. The NVA rocket fire began and by midnight 192 rounds had fallen. At 0430 two companies of the 66th NVA regiment assaulted Company C 1/9 North Vietnamese infantry swarmed up the slope firing rifles, sub-machine guns, and RPGs, while heavy machineguns pounded Company Cs positions. The enemy advanced to within 20 meters of the Marine fighting holes, but Flagler's men stood fast, with the help of almost 1,000 rounds of artillery fire from the 1st Battalion, 13th Marines. By 0630, the enemy attack was spent and the North Vietnamese withdrew. At a cost of 1 Marine dead and 28 wounded, the 1st Battalion, 9th marines killed over 140 North Vietnamese and captured 5 prisoners.
Apr 4~ Gun 2 Ammo Bunker>>
Gun 2 Ammo Bunker>>I got your package today and thank you very much especially for the Cocoa mix everybody here say’s it is great. Nothing going on right now we are shooting a lot more lately. The NVA are moving rocket sites all around us but believe it or not we are finding the NVA Rocket sites, blowing them away with time on target’s TOC Battalion size firepower. We fire 250 rounds on a target of active rockets all at once. We coordinate the time of flight and set the firing intervals of Batteries of 8 inch, 155s and 105s so they all hit the target at the same time from different sites. The NVA find out what is up and suddenly the rockets stop Ha! We fired an 8-inch howitzer on a NVA Pack 75 howitzers site on Dong Ha Mountain it was firing 1 or 2 rounds a day at us. Do you have any rat poison we have the rats. Apr 5~
What is all this stuff about Johnson trying to call off the war? With no bombing up north it will take about 30 days to hall supplies down the Ho Chi Minh trail and then we will be in a world of shit. 1968 The Defining Year
Apr 7th The momentum of the offensive continued unabated on 7 April. The 2d Battalion, 26th Marines returned to the scene of the previous day's ambush, this time with two companies, and cleared the ridge of enemy, killing over 30. The 1st Battalion, 9th Marines continued the westward advance it had begun the previous afternoon, capturing Hill 552 with no enemy resistance. Near Khe Sanh Village, the 2d Brigade of the 1st Air Cavalry Division captured the old French fort after a three-day battle against an NVA battalion. Along Route 9, the 1st Marines conducted a few airmobile operations of its own, as the 2d Battalion, 1st Marines and the 2d Battalion, 3d Marines searched the vicinity of the highway for signs of enemy activity which might threaten the 11th Engineer Battalion's road repair project. The 3d Brigade of General Tolson's division pressed on along Route 9, still west of the 1st Marines.
Apr 10~
More air strikes on Dong Ha Mountain today. No incoming for a while. Our Clubs is still in operation, (Snoopy & Red Baryon) 2 beers every other night. Got a few shrapnel holes in it but got fixed. Had to test our Gas masks so they used a gas chamber tent and gassed out the whole hill when the wind changed Ha! Convoys aren’t getting hit too much now, but just outside Dong Ha they took 18 rounds of 130 MM guns.1968 The Defining Year
Apr 11 The engineers declared Route 9 open to vehicular traffic on 11 April, ending a project involving the replacement of 9 bridges, the construction of 17 bypasses, and the repair of 14 kilometers of road. It was the first time the road was passable from Ca Lu to Khe Sanh since September 1967.
Apr 15 In Operation Pegasus, allied forces accomplished their mission of reopening Route 9 between Ca Lu and Khe Sanh at a cost of 92 Americans dead and 667 wounded, and 51 ARVN killed. The North Vietnamese lost over 1,100 killed and 13 captured. III MAF units found supply caches estimated as ''exceeding the basic load for an NVA division,'' including 3,000 tons of rice, over 200 crew-served weapons, 12,000 rounds of large caliber ammunition, 5 wheeled vehicles, and a tank.
1968 The Defining Year pix
Marine convoy moves along Route 9 between Ca Lu and Khe Sanh.>>
NVA 130 MM Gun Not my Pix>>
Apr 15
Today is Easter Sunday. “A” Battery got 2 confirmed KIA NVA’s types today. We got a platoon of them in the open and fired Fire Cracker rounds. That is the one with all the pods that pop out, bounce up about 4 feet and go off. Well I am on night watch now, no incoming; tomorrow is beer night and a movie in our club Snoopy. Apr 20~
We shot at some NVA in open an unknown number but many. They were 3,000 meters north east of Camp Carroll. Got a few then the Forward Observer lost them in high grass. Took a few 122 MM rockets not too much. We had one dud round behind Gun 3 hooch. They covered it with sand bags, I guess they will blow it in place or de-fuse it? Got 3 new Lieutenants, good people, two of them have been forward observers for 6 months. I am still in the Ex pit did I tell you we got a new Colonel. Our new Ex-pit is almost done. All we have is another week’s work on it. I am listening to Johnny Carson on the radio the Late Show.Apr 22~
In the Ex. Pit 323 days left in Viet Nam. Fired at a platoon of NVA, killing 11 and wounding 6, got other non-confirmed kills. Apr 23~
Not much going on since the last big rush of incoming. A few rounds of incoming were about it. There were lights on the hills south of us at night? I guess the NVA were playing games. I am back in the FDC now on HCO charts. Well I still have 10 months to do in the Nam and it looks like I will do it right here at Camp Carroll? Apr 24
10 NVA tried to probe our lines; we called in 4.2” mortars on them. It was too close so they just guessed at the QE and fired. S-3 we are going to get hit hard; that is what they always say. I talked with a couple of Recon (Force Reconnaissance USMC types). They operated around Camp Carroll. They got 2 NVA artillerymen and said that the NVA were going to hit us hard because of the 8 inch Howitzers. The Army’s 175 MM can’t be used because Dong Ha Mountain is too close, but 8” can and is already beating the hell out of the NVA. The killing radius of an 8” is 200 meters.M-110 8-inch self-propelled howitzer at Camp Carroll >>
range 17,000 meters 204 lb. not my pix
Apr 25
Got a few more NVA today in the open; there were lots of blood trails but no bodies. C Battery moved out to Cam Lo yesterday and left us 600 rounds of 105’s. We may move out to A-4 up along the DMZ soon. We have an 18” rat not including his tale in our hooch. When he comes in we all go out. Don’t know how hard it would bite; instead it would stand up on its hind legs and knock the hell out of you. Getting care packages from cookies packed in stale popcorn so we have something to feed the rats Ha! Raining again. Firing H&I’s (Harassment and Interdiction artillery fire) off & on because of Medevac (Helicopter Medical Evacuations) Choppers coming in from the Rock Pile, Cam Lo and Khe Sanh they are all getting hit. Brought bodies from Khe Sanh, Cam Lo and the Rock Pile into Camp Carroll. Sitting here in this trench during incoming with Tom Kastner from >>
New Jersey, Mick Schlisenger, and me Bob McClintock.
A piece of shrapnel about 8”x1” skipped across the ground and smacked into the sandbags hotter than shit still has the some threads from the fuse in it ... think I will send it home Ha!
Click on pix for larger image...
