Mother's Day Offensive, May 11-30, 1969

[MontanaKid]

In 1969, Mother's Day fell on Sunday, May 11, 1969.

On that day, the NVA made it's final preparations for an assault and
siege on LZ Professional. The 1st Bn, 46th Infantry of the 198th
Brigade, operated from this fire base some 20 miles inland of
the Americal's main base camp at Chu Lai. Mortar and .51 cal anti-
aircraft sites were located on elevations surrounding LZ
Professional.

Professional sat on the higher saddle of a hill that forced a choke
point in the mountain valley.

The valley was cleared of "official" population in the 1967 Task
Force Oregon operation and was a free fire zone. The nearest
populated area was Tien Phuoc, about 12 klicks to the
north/northwest. The Area of Operations included dense mountains,
covered with double and triple-canopy jungle with narrow valleys
interspersed.

The most prominent elevation in the Valley, Hill 497, marked as "Ba
Su" on the map, was where the NVA located its command and control
center.

It provided a good overlook of LZ Professional, from where NVA commanders
could adjust fire from the mortars, rockets and recoilless rifles that
it had placed around LZ Professional. The chosen point of
assault for a full scale ground attack was the steepest and
most difficult slope on the south end of the hill, where Charlie
Battery, 1/14 Arty had its four 105 mm guns. Though difficult to
assault, the location was probably chosen for two reasons; 1. The
1/46th might least expect a ground assault from that direction. 2.
Though difficult going for the ground troops, supporting fire from
recoilless rifles could easily support the assault from the elevations
directly across from LZ Professional, where the choke
point formed by Professional in the valley was narrow.

The valley was empty of American infantry that day. The 1/46th was
just finishing a sweep of another Valley at the southern rim of it's AO,
called "Dragon Valley" (different from the many
other "Dragon Valleys). A major B-52 strike had been brought into
the area. Alpha Company, which had been on LZ Professional during
the last half of that operation, had been flown out to the western
end of the Valley where the rest of the 1/46th line companies had
gathered to clear the B-52 strike area. Delta Company had just been
flown in to replace Alpha and take what many grunts saw as a respite,
a stint pulling the perimeter security on LZ Professional.

The line companies' mission for May 12 was to sweep through the
bombed out area on the ridge immediately north of Dragon Valley to
assess damage.

But Alpha, Charlie, Bravo and Echo's Recon Platoon soon saw that
mission would be changing. Just past midnight, though a ridge-line separated them from
direct view of Professional, they could see artillery flares and
later, airship flares putting on a light show to the Northeast. The
whisper went though the night laagers, "Professional's gettin hit!"

A barrage of mortar, rocket and artillery fire killed three 1/46th
personnel and wounded about 30 others. A perimeter bunker at the
assault point took a direct recoilless hit as various bunkers
throughout the hill. The arty battery had just one working gun when
dawn came. But the grunts of 1/46th and artillery men of C 1/14
held together. Though a body or two was found just inside the wire in the
morning, none of the NVA penetrated into the fire base itself. They
left behind several weapons and 20 bodies.

In the morning, a new mission was ordered. First, an LZ was secured
for ARVN troops that had been going to take part in the sweep, to be
picked up by Chinooks and moved to Tam Ky, to reinforce the Quang
Tin Provincial Capital.

Then the line companies got new orders. Alpha, operating short of
men with only 66 men and officers, with the only line officer being
company commander Capt. Kern Dunigan himself, was ordered to link
with Echo recon and its 30 men, commanded by 1Lt. David Waltz, who
had himself recently been a platoon leader in Alpha. That made the
combined strength closer to each of the other line companies in the
field, about 90 men. Bravo had more than 80, Charlie a little less
than 80. Alpha Recon was assigned to secure high ground to the NE
of LZ Professional. Bravo and Charlie were assigned to secure the
high ground immediately to the south of Professional, from where most
of the supporting fire for the ground assault had come.

But the NVA had other ideas, and when Alpha and Recon attempted to
cross the Valley, they ran into an NVA battalion. Three Alpha men
were killed the 13th and the pilot of a resupply slick was shot
and killed while on the ground as he was picking up wounded after
dropping off supplies. The co-pilot managed to fly the ship out of
Alpha's perimeter with the wounded but Alpha sustained more dead and
wounded as the bird lifted off. At the time this happened, Recon
had been scouting a proposed NDP up a hill from Alpha, they had to
fight their way back to Alpha, using frags to kill and/or force out
the NVA that had positioned themselves between Alpha and Recon.

They spent the night with dead and several wounded inside the
perimeter. Fortunately all the wounded survived to be evaced the
next morning.

The morning evac went relatively easy and there was hope they would
be able to move out of their position, The force knew they had
caused heavy casualties on the enemy. Perhaps the enemy had had
enough? But a patrol of men from Recon was ambushed in a creek while
exploring a proposed route out of the area. A point-walking Recon
medic and another scout were killed and Captain Dunigan, already
wounded from the night before, took an AK round to the arm while
pulling another recon man to safety.

Charlie company was hacking its way trough heavy brush on the
foothills about two klicks east of Alpha when it got the order about
11 a.m. to double back to help Alpha recon break out. Charlie
dropped its packs and left them with a single squad. They then moved
out rapidly toward the spot where Alpha and Recon were positioned in
a steep banked creek bed, calling artillery close on the banks to
help keep the NVA back.

Charlie moved in from the east but when approaching Alpa on the
stream, were themselves hit hard while within 50 meters of Alpha,
sustaining six KIA and two wounded. Alpha then tried to close
with this Charlie forward position by low-crawling on top of the bank
but were forced back with five KIA or their own.

Charlie evaced it's wounded back to it's perimeter and Alpha, first
considering an on-line assault, then decided to call in smoke cover
and maneuver to Charlie's perimeter. Teams were formed to carry
wounded. Because the unit did not have enough able-bodied men to
both carry the dead and defend against the enemy, they decided to
leave the dead. Smoke was not available so Willie Peter was used.
One round landed close enough to a casualty carrying team led by
Alpha arty F.O. Lt. Tamanaha of C 1/14, that the wounded man was
killed. A recon sergeant lost his foot, and the others, badly
burned and dazed, got separated in the confusion.

Dunigan, personally went back to the open field and found the Recon
sergeant, crawling without one foot. Though wounded twice and
obviously exhausted from two days of no sleep and continuous combat,
Dunigan single-handedly carried the man to safety.

Tamanaha manged to gather the rest of his crew, which consisted of
two medics and two grunts, and with the enemy now between he and the
combined Charlie/Alpha Recon forces, managed to escape and evade with
the men. Though without a radio and map, Tamanaha knew where Bravo
Company was supposed to be and maneuvered these badly burned men to
Bravo's perimeter, which they reached the following afternoon.

Alpha, Charlie and Recon reached Professional the next afternoon, and
eventually secured the lower ridges of the hill just to the east of the Professional
perimeter. There, word was quickly passed around, the 101st Airborne
was on it's way.

The Americal was engaged by attacks throughout it's AO and there was some fear that the provincial capital itself was in danger from this offensive. None of the sister battalions of the Americal could afford to send reinforcements to LZ Professional. But the 101st had some troops available. A brigade HQ, two battalions, 1/501 and 1/502, and
supporting air and artillery were beginning to arrive in Tam Ky at the same time
as the line companies of 1/46 arrived at the Hill.

The 1/146 was made opcon to the 101st, which was in turn opcon to the Americal. A 90-day operation of the 101st, called Lamar Plain, ensued in which
the 101st lost more than 70 KIA. the 101st Pilots, of which there
were many in that airmobile division, said they had never encountered
better co-ordinated anti-aircraft fire. But when the operation was done, the LZ
Professional AO became relatively quiet.

Professionals were flown twice to other fights in the Que Son
Valley, but the AO remained relatively quiet. By the summer of
1970, the 1/46th was moved much farther inland, to LZ Mary Ann to
have more direct contact with the NVA. After Lamar Plain ended, the
1/46th was formally transferred to the 196th Brigade.

Kern Dunigan was awarded the Medal of Honor, becoming one of the very
few men of the Americal to earn a non-posthumous award of the medal.
One of the 101st medics also received a posthumous MOH from June 2
action in Lamar Plain.

Here are the honored dead of 1/46th and supporting units of the 198th
killed in the Mother's Day offensive:

May 12, 1969

William Lee Lutz, Sp4 D 1/46
James Rodney Sowers, SGT, A 1/46
Michael Raymond Tucker, SSG, A 1/46th

May 13, 1969

James Herbert Dye PFC, A 1/46
Robert Wayne Marrs, Sp4 A 1/46
Michael Deleno Blea, PFC A 1/46
John Edward Ray, SFC C 1/14 Arty (Chief of Smoke)
Paul Lukins, CPT 71st AHC (Pilot of the slick)

May 14, 1969

Giles Wilson Gilmer, Sp4, HHC (E recon)) 1/46
Tyree Cardwell, Sp4, A 1/46
William Robert Hale, PFC, A 1/46
Robert Francis Laubaucher, PFC A 1/46
Daniel Elmer Rosen, PFC 1/46
Donald Wayne Priest, Sp4 A 1/46
Joe Eddy Bragg, Sp4, C 1/46
Gary Reid Clodfelter Sp4 C 1/46
Phillips Hernandez, Sp4 C 1/46
Merlin James Laber Sp4, C 1/46
Steven Gene Pettis, Sp4 C 1/46
Winston Osborne Smith, PFC C 1/46
Michael Dennis Melton Sp4 E(recon) 1/46
Freddie Lee Coffman, PFC E(recon) 1/46

May 20, 1969

Daniel Simon Behar Sp4 C 1/14 Arty
Raefield James Gerald jr. PFC, C 1/14 Arty

May 22, 1969

Ralph W. Conner, Sp4 E(mortars) 1/46
Clovis May SGT B 1/46

May 26, 1969

George Hobart Noe, PFC A 1/46

Rest in peace, guys. I attended some of you in death. I can never
forget.

[frisco-kid]

thanks for a great description of the battle. Some intense stuff. I never made it up to the Chu Lai area while part of TF Oregon. When I left, the end of JUN67, we were about 2wks. into Operation Malheur II, still around the Duc Pho area. We were clearing the Song Ve and Crow's Foot Valleys for free-fire zones. I think that went on until sometime in AUG67, and then they moved north to Chu Lai. The 101st, anyway. James was still with the 1/327 then. Maybe he can add some to the clearing of the valleys you mention into free-fire zones.

Thanks for listing the names of the dead, Doc. They deserve to be remembered, and their names said out loud sometimes. Especially now, as Memorial Day draws nearer. I know your presence was a comfort to many of them. May they all rest in peace.

[MontanaKid]

This is a view of a damaged bunker after the assault on LZ Professional and down below the bunker, on our logistics pad, are the remains of a 'hook that burned to the ground after being hit amidships by an RPG that morning. The crew got out safely before it burned. It had been hit relatively close to the ground while dropping off a sling load, no passengers on board.

[MontanaKid]

Sorry guys. This post and the next was an attempt to show a collection of about 10 three-day-old sapper bodies after they had been collected for shipment out to Graves. I guess someone looking at the potential post thought it was too grusome for viewing.

These are a few of those left behind after daring to climb our mountain. They were brave soldiers, following their orders. May they rest in peace.

[MontanaKid]

The photo

[MontanaKid]

Look close you'll see the legs of thias sapper. He's still holding his RPG. They killed him with no time to spare.

[MontanaKid]

Saddled up, ready to move. They will leave the relative comfort of the fire base behind for about three weeks of patrol in the mountains and jungle.

[MORTARDUDE]

Great pictures and commentary. Thanks !

Larry

[DMZ-LT]

What Larry said. Thank you and thank them.

[exlrrp]

Originally posted by frisco-kid thanks for a great description of the battle. Some intense stuff. I never made it up to the Chu Lai area while part of TF Oregon. When I left, the end of JUN67, we were about 2wks. into Operation Malheur II, still around the Duc Pho area. We were clearing the Song Ve and Crow's Foot Valleys for free-fire zones. I think that went on until sometime in AUG67, and then they moved north to Chu Lai. The 101st, anyway. James was still with the 1/327 then. Maybe he can add some to the clearing of the valleys you mention into free-fire zones.

.

Yeah, I was there in '67, but I don't know how much I can add. We were west of Tam Ky, thats all I know but the terrain in the picture looks similar:hilly jungle. This may jave been the worst jungle I was in.
by my figuring I was in that area from late August to early October, when I volunteered (sorta) for the lrrps, largely--and I am NOT making this up--to get a day off.
The NVA and VC were heavy invested in this region. Like Quang Ngai, the local population were egging them on and on their side. (Quang Ngai Province, just to the south is where My Lai took place)
I'm sorry I can't add more specifics but they never told me anything worth knowing, Including where the fck I was. I can't tell you what LZ we worked out of because we never worked out of an LZ, its not the 101st way, or their way when I was in it anyway. as the story implies, they just jerked you oput of wherever you were at a moments notice, dumped you out in the middle of nowheres and then told you to get going, if people weren't shooting at you.
One thing I know for sure, the NVA (which we refferred to as the "5th NVA Mech") were not at all shy about getting in our midst whenever possible, this was the mst agro area I was in in the 101st. This is the only place in the war, I actually saw lines of men attacking, a la WWI and II. Mighty scary, esp when theyre coming at YOU. They were actually attacking the other side of the perimieter but I was close enough to see good. I just aimed my shots and hoped for the best. They didn't overrun us but it wasn't for lack of trying.
As far as I knw, 5 helicopters were shot down bringing us supplies and evacuating wounded that day, I was on one of the details stripping them. I remember pulling ammo cases off under fire, shreds of the slick flying all around and thinking: Man, I'm moving as fast as I ever have in my life and it feels like I'm in slo mo-Boy I sure hope this turns out good. (self:always the optimist) I don't know how many were killed and wounded this ooperation But I know 2 of our men were drowned crossing a river--did I say It was raining like I never saw before and all the rivers were in flood?
To my understanding, the "5th NVA Mech" were the same or some of the same troops that later took over Hue 4 months after this in TET so I can't say we did them all that much damage, but we counted this as a win. That would be how we "won all the battles but lost the war"--we called everything a win for us.
Did the 1st/46th count this battle as a win too?
Tha NVA were the toughest enemy this country ever faced, IMHO, but that could be just because they were the ones I was fighting. They were tough and smart as they come, knew the terrain real well and usually had all their action planned well in advance, unlike us who usually just reacted to fcked circumstance. I think they had better leaders on the highest levels than we did, who understood the true sitiation a lot better. It put us at quite the disadvantage.
A really well written story, MK !

Stay good
James

Happy Just To Be Alive