Landing Zone Brace

The landing zone was established on the afternoon of 3 March 1969 by Company A of the 3rd Battalion, 8th Infantry during Operation Wayne Grey an operation against the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) 24th and 66th Regiments in the Plei Trap Valley[1][2] and was located approximately 44 km west of Kontum.[3]

2 March

Positions of 4th Division March 1969

On 2 March 1969, A,D & B Company, 3^rd Battalion, 8^th Infantry of the 1^st Brigade, 4^th Division left their staging area at Camp Polei Kleng and were transported to their insertion point at YA793879. The insertion and the subsequent establishment of a perimeter was without incident. A company Swept North East and Established a night position at YA793879. B Company Went South and D Company pushed into the centre of the AO.[4][5]

3 March

On 3 March, A company continued reconnaissance and was to establish a night position at YA812884 a location near LZ Brace. Upon arriving at their night location Company A established a perimeter and two men from third platoon were sent to recon a trail heading up the ridgeline. The patrol encountered two NVA soldiers at what appeared to be an enemy observation post with a cooking pot and a sleeping area prepared in the brush. The NVA soldiers fled up the hill before the patrol could take action. The patrol then reported back to their platoon leader Lt. Williams who was then ordered by the company CO Captain Isom to take 3d platoon up the trail in pursuit of the NVA soldiers. It was recommended by the company Artillery Observes Lt. Flannigan to prep the area with artillery before sending in 3d platoon , but was rejected by captain Isom.[6][5] According to statements by Lt. Williams the company was outside of artillery range and the captain knew this.[6]

Lt. Williams led his platoon up the ridge line to a place were a large log had fallen across the path. At this time the company was engaged by an estimated battalion size enemy force in entrenched bunkers. Taking heavy casualties Lt. Williams radioed Captain Isom about the situation and asked for reinforcements. Captain Isom radioed the battalion CP at 1621hrs saying that A company had made contact with the enemy, left one squad from each company at the night position and led the rest of the company up the hill with the HQ element in the lead to reinforce 3d platoon. As the company moved up the ridge line they took sniper fire from the northeast on their left flank, even so they were able to reach 3d platoon’s position at the log. Shortly after reaching 3d platoon, 2d platoon leader Lt. Griffith was killed. The company was pinned down at their position from machine gun fire to their front and by NVA soldiers who had begun to climb the trees to their flanks and fire and hurl grenades down on them from above. At 1635hrs Captain Isom radioed 3^rd Battalion CP and reported that he was in contact with a battalion size force and taking heavy casualties. Shortly after the HQ RTO was hit and Captain Isom was killed going to his aid.[5][4][7]

Landing Zone Brace

Captain Isom, A Company CO

As the only officer left in the fight Lt. Williams took command of the remainder of A company and ordered them to withdraw back to their night position. The company withdrew under heavy fire and was forced to leave their wounded. Two men were killed trying to assist a wounded soldier crawling across a clearing as they retreated.[6] A company reached their night position at approximately 1800hrs and dug in for an expected enemy attack. Artillery and gunships were called in around the contact area , but not upon it for fear of hitting any surviving men left on the hill. A company was resupplied by helicopter, but only an estimated 20% of the resupply reached them. The rest was dropped off target and captured by the soldiers of the NVA. The Battalion Commander LTC Pennel J. Hickey flew overhead in an attempt to direct actions on the ground for a medevac.[6] The medevac was only able to extract three men due to being under fire from NVA soldiers. The men stayed on alert throughout the night, but no attack materialised, they received sporadic sniper and rocket fire. During the night one of the wounded men left on the ridge line radioed the company requesting help, eight men were sent to retrieve him and they returned with him and another wounded man. After having received word that A company had come into contact with a large enemy force at LZ Brace, D company marched through the night to establish themselves at Hill 947 a position just over two kilometres south of A company, to prevent the enemy from escaping south.[4][5][6][7]

4 March

On the morning of 4 March, Lt. Williams of A company was ordered to advance back up the ridge line to retrieve the wounded and killed from the day before. Twenty six men led by Sgt. Jones of 4^th platoon were sent up the ridge. The patrol had only just cleared their perimeter line when they were engaged point blank by NVA soldiers. At this point A company came under fire from all around their position. The NVA soldiers used weapons and ammo captured during the battle the day before including M79 grenade launcher and M60 machine gun to assault their position. At 1125hrs an attempt was made to insert B company on a ridge line to the Northeast of LZ Brace with the purpose of reinforcing A company. The initial attempt was thwarted when the lead helicopter reported taking heavy fire at the landing zone. A second insertion was attempted at 1328hrs, but again took fire and evacuated. Using radios captured from A company the day before the NVA intercepted US communications and knew that B company was attempting to reinforce A company. Knowing this, NVA soldiers on the northern side of the perimeter yelled in English not to shoot and that they were B company. A company believing the trick left their foxholes to approach what they thought was B company. The NVA soldiers engaged the A company men point blank. The ruse broke moral and caused one man to bolt into the forest, after this A company’s northern perimeter collapsed. Lt. Williams gave the order to retreat along a stream bed downhill, where they regrouped under constant fire. They continued along another stream bed that took them to the top of a hill where they stopped and engaged perusing NVA troops. The company radioed for extraction and was guided to a landing zone by an LOH and was extracted at 1525hrs March 4. At 1540hrs B company was successfully inserted to their LZ on the North East side of LZ Brace after strikes from artillery and gunships. At 1600hrs D company made an attempt to reach A company’s position to the north, but came into contact with an enemy force while moving along a trail used by the NVA. After a brief firefight the NVA soldiers retreated and D company was able to rescue a POW from A company. The prisoner PFC. Guffy indicated that there was a large force of NVA to their North in prepared bunkers. D company was then ordered back to Hill 947 and ordered to dig in and prevent the enemy from escaping to the south. During the night the NVA probed D company’s perimeter, but were repulsed.[4][5][7][8][6]

Helicopter Landing on Brace

Company Position's on March 5

5 March

At 0750hrs D company’s position was assaulted from their eastern flank by an estimated 2 companies reinforced with sapper units. The assault was preceded by heavy mortar and B-40 rocket fire. The attack was repulsed with the help of artillery and gunship fire. At 0815hrs two NVA companies were positioning themselves to the East and West of Hill 947 for an assault, but were dislodged when D company launched a counterattack. The battle continued for the rest of the day with mortar and rocket fire as well as snipers taking shots at the entrenched unit. Captured A company claymores and tear gas were used in the attack against D company. Medevac and resupply helicopters took heavy fire during the day and one was forced to make an emergency landing into friendly territory when its fuel tank was hit. While the battle on Hill 947 was raging, B company continued its attack south towards LZ Brace. C company 3^rd Battalion 8^th Infantry joined the fight and attempted to insert into B company’s landing zone at 1035hrs, they took fire from the top of the hill and postponed the insertion until the area was prepped with artillery strikes. They successfully landed at 1320hrs and linked up with B company shortly before nightfall. D company sustained constant contact throughout the night and was supported by an AC-47 Spooky gunship.[8][4][7]

6 March

D Company on Hill 497 on March 6, 1969

On 6 March, B & C company began a joint assault on LZ Brace. B company was able to get to within 150m of the top of the hill before they made contact. A joint flanking manoeuvre by B & C company to the enemies East and Western flank was unsuccessful. Both companies withdrew down the hill after artillery failed to break the NVA line. Airstrikes were called in and the NVA position was bombarded by 750lb delay fused bombs. At 1700hrs C company attacked and was successful in taking the Hill. B company joined later and helped set up a defensive position.

That morning at 0700hrs D company was attacked by a mortar barrage followed by an attack on their position. D company was forced to call in artillery strikes on its own position to avoid being overrun. Gunships were called in to eliminate the remaining mortars and by the end of the day the NVA made no further attacks against Hill 947. Task force swift made up of elements of the 3^rd Battalion 12^th Infantry moved overland to positions southeast of LZ Brace to cut off and destroy any retreating NVA soldiers.[4]

PFC. Guffy Being Evacuated from Hill 497

7 March

On the final day of the battle for LZ Brace Task Force Swift was extracted from YA788883 to LZ Brace and Helped B&C companies secure the rest of the hill. C company of the 3^rd Battalion 12^th Infantry was airlifted to Hill 947 and reinforced D company. Contact on the 7^th was light.[4]

The main factor that contributed to the rout of A Company was that LZ Brace had been the Headquarters of NVA 66^th Infantry. It is estimated that A company came into contact with a battalion sized force in a prepared position of inter connected bunkers.[4] Other factors include the inability to call in artillery fire directly on the location after the contact, so as to not kill wounded troops left on the hill.[5] Another key factor was the capture of friendly radio equipment that allowed the NVA to monitor US communications and employ a successful ruse de geurre against an already beleaguered A company.[5][6] One soldier during the battle observed a NVA soldier with a PRC-77 on their back.[7]

Hill 947 With D Company Platoon Positions

The Company CO was also new to Vietnam with little combat experience. This as well as reports of A company being undermanned due to several seasoned NCO’s being on leave at the time of deployment, contributed to A company’s demise.[4][6]

According to accounts from Lt. John Bauer, PFC. Guffy upon being rescued reported that after his position had been taken and A company had retreated, soldiers of the NVA executed the wounded US soldiers that A company left. He was left alive because the NVA required a prisoner.[8]

A company entered the field with 115 men.[7] Accounts from the surviving men of A company, suggest 33 to 35 men made it aboard the evacuation helicopters.[6][9] This is confirmed by the duty officer’s log which states that 36 men made it to the helicopters.[7] These including the 3 WIA evacuated the previous night,[6] 3 MIA who later made their way back to friendly territory[5] and PFC. Guffy who was rescued by D company makes a total of 43 survivors. This make for a total of 72 casualties. Lt. Williams who made an assessment of their number after their original firefight estimated 35 KIA, 5 WIA and 20 MIA.[6][7] Despite this, the official after action report by COL. Hale H. Knight, states that A company sustained only 22 KIA and 52 WIA.[4] In statements authored by LT. Bauer of D company it is suggested that up to 50 men were killed.[9] For the entire battle the official casualty toll was: 32KIA,125WIA and 1MIA for the US and 241KIA for the NVA.[4]

On 16 March 6th Battalion, 29th Artillery moved to LZ Brace.[1]^:366

The landing zone has reverted to jungle.