A Co. 229th AHB 1st Cav

[hueytaxi]

1967 in the An Lao Valley and a few other shots. Scans of old photos until I find my slides.

 

1st Platoon H Model

 

Pick Up at the Bong Son bridges

 

Entry to An Lao Valley

 

Another pick up, another time

[R Michael]

Those are some impressive images! PErsonla photos are the best.

Mike

[hueytaxi]

I wish the quality was better. They were found in the garage by my old helmet and exposed to the elements. A few more:

 

Had an engine failure on final into English.

 

I was the new guy and set up a perimeter as my experienced crew most likely chuckled.....

 

Air strike East of LZ English, note jet on right

 

This was home for most of '67, sleeping on a stretcher (cots are not airmobile)

 

This is low level flight

 

Wrong place at his right time

[1SG_1st_Cav]

Roger: Awesome pictures and they sure brought some memories. I never figured out why they knicknamed it "HAPPY VALLEY". There wasn't anything happy about that I ever heard.

In late 1967, we would send an 8" SP up there along with a couple of ROK 105's from Binh Ke on an Artillery Raid. They roar in, set up the guns, shoot a couple hundred rounds, pack up, and move out. Your package will go into the mail in the morning. First Team ~ Sir! Danny

[mmerc20]

Great pics. I love old 229th stuff since I was in the 229th (1st and 3rd battalion) with the AH-64s when I was active duty from 1995 to 2001. I want to add some Winged Assault stuff to the collection at some point.

 

Thanks for posting!

 

Mike

[1SG_1st_Cav]

Too bad you missed the 229th Officers collar insignia I had for sale. I sent it to hueytaxi! Danny

[CHASEUSA11B]

Excellent pictures! Thank you for sharing and thank you for your service.

[hueytaxi]

Abd Huey eagerly awaits. Danny you in yourself have been a great discovery in this forum! Thanks again.

 

Just walked out to the mailbox and there they were!!!!!!!

[338thRCT]

A truely wonderful historic cache of photographs. I look forward to seeing more and appreciate your service!

Mike W.

[hueytaxi]

Here are five pages of a no longer classified document concerning the Cav's venture into the Kontum/Dak to AO in support of the 4th IB and 173rd. Elements of Bravo and Delta supported those forces and often flew in horrible weather when even Dust Off would not fly. As liaison, I only asked if they could, and our infantry forces were never refused. Incredible courage, professionalism and at times heroism. The documents detail the forces of the allied units as well as the opposition and an overlay of the area of operations. Go to the originals on Flickr and use the Actions, tab in the top left corner of each image to enlarge to a better size. [url}http://www.flickr.com/photos/hueytaxi/sets/72157632778883017/detail/[/url]

 

[Andrei]

This is a great thread ! Thanks for sharing your souvenirs with us.

[hueytaxi]

Here is a link to a great description of that operation with photos: http://www.eagerarms.com/battleofdakto.html

[firefighter]

Great photo's.Was that .38 issued or private purchase?

[hueytaxi]

Great photo's.Was that .38 issued or private purchase?

Issued. An Khe gave me a worn out .45 which I turned in at A/229 for the Model 10 S&W .38. Second tour I was also issued the same weapon as before, and I had my own Colt Diamondback I carried along with a variety of other longer guns. We had an instance in a sister company whose pilot tried to shoot a combatant with his 38 and hit him 3 times without slowing him down. From then on, I worked with my armorer altering our ammunition for greater expansion. These originated as rounded lead ball w/o copper jacketing. I recall them being termed lone ranger silver bullets because of the bright lead and nickel looking cases.

[firefighter]

Issued. An Khe gave me a worn out .45 which I turned in at A/229 for the Model 10 S&W .38. Second tour I was also issued the same weapon as before, and I had my own Colt Diamondback I carried along with a variety of other longer guns. We had an instance in a sister company whose pilot tried to shoot a combatant with his 38 and hit him 3 times without slowing him down. From then on, I worked with my armorer altering our ammunition for greater expansion. These originated as rounded lead ball w/o copper jacketing. I recall them being termed lone ranger silver bullets because of the bright lead and nickel looking cases.

 

 

Interesting and amazing story.Thank you for sharing your pictures and story.The orders are really cool.I'm sure not to many people kept those?

[hueytaxi]

 

 

Interesting and amazing story.Thank you for sharing your pictures and story.The orders are really cool.I'm sure not to many people kept those?

Those i posted were only distributed to those involved in planning, but yes I keep stuff. I think I have most of my Artillery OCS tech manuals,, transfer andd qualification orders even my draft notice. Looking throug boxes I found out at one time I was even appointed to be the company test pilot. Funny because they never told me. I wondered why they always asked me to fly the aircraft coming out of the shop. Well I did have the most flight time in the company, the most in type and was an instructor....but test pilot gigs are dangerous..

[hueytaxi]

Found a few more I will post and a link to the rest:

 

Hon Kong Mountain at Camp Radcliffe, An Khe; Base camp for the 1st Cav. I spent a month there and worked with the Long range Patrols who employed the local Montagnards.

 

Dusk perimeter "mad minute"

 

Charlie Co. birds

 

Livin' was easy

 

USO show arrival with LTC Martha Raye

 

Small shrine in the middle of the rice lands

 

I hope we picked these guys back up safely later

 

Often following a big firefight, we would load up a couple trash cans of beer on ice to hand out as they jumped on board. Had to be sure Shorty Powers didn't over drink his share.

[hueytaxi]

Trail

 

My Platoon Leader, Cpt. Ed Grier (many of us are still in regular contact). We shut down in a somewhat secure area incase an immediate extraction was needed.

 

Sloppy VEE formations

 

The Song (river) Bong Son empties into the South China Sea. This area and North to Tam Quan had Hiway One running thru it and was a hot area most of the time. While I was there, elements of the 1/8th, 2/8th, 1/12th and 50th Mech. spent 2 weeks in late December in this area.

 

Typical central highlands rice region

 

Old style gun ship escort

 

Waterfront property and some locals commuting

[hueytaxi]

Qui Nhon; I don't know what the circular structure is.

 

Did we bomb "every" bridge?

 

I believe the troops on the ground and some in an earlier post are part of this CA.

 

I recall this ridge line CA well. We had offshore artillery prep (you can see a DE in the immediate off shore, I had an uncle in this task force). I also filmed our approach and on play back later in my uncle's home, we could see we took a lot of ground fire. I don't recall any of us reporting fire on that mission.

 

Writing about groundfire..an anecdote. My crew was on call for a night resupply and the call came. As my copilot and I arrived, the chief and gunner had beat us to the aircraft. I recall tripping in the dark as I entered the revetment and catching myself on my door. We picked up a lot of ammo and headed into the An Lao. We were heavy and when we located the unit under fire, we could see the only area not receiving fire was the North side. Problem one was that would make my approach downwind and heavy. I might not be able to hover. I took the controls with my PP following and began an approach to our guide using a single flashlight and we had our lights out. We did have two guns with us and I don't know if they suppressed any fire during descent. At about 100' I had asked a flare to be fired behind us to avoid the palms in my lz. The rest was uneventful except we had to do it again. Returning to our base at English I shut down at the logistics pad. Shortly a jeep drove up with the two gunship pilots wondering if we were okay. I laughed until they told me how much fire we took on both trips. Then they saw my right leg was soaked in blood. And suddenly it was on Qui Nhon harborfire with pain. Strange how adrenalin works on your mind. No I did not get shot and no holes were found in the aircraft. My mind raced back to when I tripped and asked the CE if he saw what had happened. He had, He had one of our M60's leaning on the revetment as he loaded ammo. I had run into it giving a good gash in my shin, but nothing a bandage and whiskey wouldn't cure. I think we got a ribbon or something for that night.

 

Qui Nhon harbor

 

Coastal village

[hueytaxi]

PsyOps mission. Hi powered amps, flying low over the villages playing music and Chieu Hoi! Dom bact tui! (Spelling phonetic and roughly translated as Give up! Surrender or die!

 

Low level fly by

 

Standby at LZ Uplift

 

Socked in at LZ Sandra, 2200' above the An Loa valley

 

We were back up for the dustoff with gun cover. Our 20 min. fuel light blinking. Ran out of JP4 on final to English, picture in earlier post.

 

Heavy rotor fly by

 

Somehow Chris Laskey lost his chickenplate..

 

 

The latest are in RVN 1967 II

 

Roger