5th Infantry Division
Sư Đoàn 5 Bộ Binh
May 1969 - January 1972
Pocket patch of 8th Regiment
In 1970, the US began to withdraw combat troops from Vietnam. We took over all the bases and the major combat missions. Fire support bases were built amid the dense forest to cover an area of about 8 miles of radius (the maximum range of 105 mm howitzer). In each base, there stationed an infantry battalion, a battery of 105 mm and a platoon of 155 mm. While 2 companies conducted a long search & destroy operation (usually 15 days) far away from the base, a company was deployed to one day search around the perimeter as listening posts .
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Ap Nha Viet - May 1969
This photo was run on US Army Stars-n-Stripes front page
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With Boi (16th Company CO), Tong (Batallion S-5) at B Fire Support Base, 1970 |
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Gela Fire
Support Base, 1970 |
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Cac Trang Lính
It was quiet during the years 1970-1971 thanks to our great efforts to mop out the Communist forces. They had no choice but to retreat to their safe bases in Kampuchean territory.
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With my XO and 3 platoon leaders |
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8th Regiment Headquarter Company Commander |
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My first child visited B-fire support base just before the company was airborned to the battlefield, 1970 |
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As part of the Vietnamization, in mid-1969, we were jointly conducting operation with the First Infantry Division - The Big Red One. My battalion was with 1st Battalion, 28th Regiment (Black Lion). We detached one platoon to an American company, and had its platoon to go with us. The pictures below were taken at Gela Fire Support Base amid Long Nguyen Secret Zone, 15 miles from the Division Headquarter at Lai Khe.
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M60 machine gun at B Fire support base |
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A bird view of Gela Fire Support Base, 1969 |
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during a Search and Destroy Operation in July 1969 |
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Infantrymen on the move
Center: 5th infantrymen on top of a captured T54 (Cover page of Chien Si Cong Hoa Magazine July 15, 1972)
Victory at An Loc 1972
North Vietnamese T-54's destroyed at
the outskirt of the city