March 5th, 1969 Operation Wayne Grey Day Five
Recap of March 4th, 1969 NVA indirect fire attacks at Polei Kleng and LZ Cider caused moderate damage but minimal casualties. Bravo & Charlie companies of the 3-12 Infantry remained in night locations northwest of LZ Mary. Delta company moved overland from its night location to join the 4.2” Mortar and Recon platoons, reinforcing the […]
March 4th, 1969 Operation Wayne Grey Day Four
Recap of March 3rd, 1969 On March 3rd, Alpha Company maintained its position on LZ Swinger. HHC & Charlie Battery, 1/92 Field Artillery (155mm towed howitzers) were airlifted into LZ Swinger during the day. Bravo & Charlie Company conducted search & destroy patrols west of LZ Mary with minimal findings. Delta Company conducted a heliborne […]
March 3rd, 1969 Operation Wayne Grey Day Three
Recap of March 2nd, 1969 Alpha Company maintained its position on LZ Swinger and prepared for the arrival of HHC and Charlie Battery, 1-92nd Field Artillery. A, B, C and Recon/Mortars convoyed from FSB Mary Lou to Polei Kleng. From there, the 4.2” Mortar & Recon Platoons (25 element) were lifted to LZ Mary. Bravo […]
March 2nd, 1969 Operation Wayne Grey Day Two
Recap of March 1st – A/3-12 inserted into hot LZ at LZ Swinger. Casualties include approximately a dozen WIA and two KIA. One A/3-12 soldier and one 119th AHC crew chief. Bravo, Charlie, Delta, 4.2″ Mortar Platoon and Recon Platoon convoy from Plei Mrong to FSB Mary Lou. March 2nd, 1969 The situation on LZ […]
March 1st, 1969. Operation Wayne Grey commences.
LZ Swinger (Hill 729). Elements of the 1-14th Infantry constructed the original firebase on Hill 729 in April of 1968. The U.S. Army abandoned it some point after that and the North Vietnamese Army, quick to move into any void left by American forces, occupied the firebase. The NVA then moved at least one heavy […]
17 Days with Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment – December 1st – 17th, 1967.
December 1st – Bravo Company occupies a position on the 3-12 Infantry Battalion Firebase atop Hill 1030. The company sends out several short range patrols during they day. One Bravo Company patrol finds body of NVA soldier KIA by arty 4-5 days previously at 816086. All Bravo Company patrols return to the firebase before dark, […]
Alpha & Delta Company, 3rd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment – November 28th thru December 7th, 1967 combined operation.
The following summary was compiled from information gathered from battalion Operations Daily Journals, 4th Infantry Division Operational Readiness Report Lessons Learned, casualty and other records. These daily summaries are not the complete story of each day, just a brief description of the items noted in the journals and logs. Each soldier present in the battalion […]
Specialist Fourth Class Alfonza Watson
This grainy black and white photo has always bothered me. It was the only known photo of SP4 Alfonza Watson, an Alpha Company, 3-12 Infantry soldier who was killed in action on May 1st, 1967. It’s obviously a government photo, probably from his draft board appearance or induction day. Either way, it’s not right that […]
Finding Captain Jones
In the amazing book, Nine Days In May (Warren Wilkins), he begins the section involving the 3-12 Infantry by briefly covering the action of May 1st, 1967. On that morning, Alpha Company was hit at their night defensive position by a large NVA force. The perimeter held, the NVA was repulsed, and Alpha was eventually […]
3-12 Infantry operational summary, April 25th thru April 30th, 1967
US Army’s 3rd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division operational summary for the period of April 25th-30th, 1967. II Corps, Pleiku Province. The 3-12 Inf HQ is moved to LZ Jackson Hole. Alpha & Bravo Companies continue company patrols. Charlie Company secures the perimeter at Jackson Hole. The Braves enter the mountains A looming […]