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, […]
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 […]
Archival footage from November 1967 – Battalion firebases on Hills 530 & 1030
On October 1st, 2024, I sent an email to the Moving Image and Sound Branch of the National Archives in College Park Maryland. Good afternoon I am trying to locate any film or audio recordings taken of soldiers/activities from the 3-12 Infantry, 4th Infantry Division in Vietnam. The unit served in the II Corps sector […]
History Blog Post #7 – March 1967 – Part 1 – the 101st Airborne at Hill 86, a prelude to March 9th, 1967
1967 – MARCH From September of 1966 to February of 1967, the Braves of the 3-12 had become acclimated to this new style of guerrilla warfare. Hard lessons had been learned. The M-113 incident in February caused a stand down at the 10th Cav, and all drivers and commanders received retraining on the proper use […]