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11 May 1969
Just prior to dawn, the Rakkasans in NDPs [night defensive position]
launched a "mad minute," heavy machine-gun and automatic-rifle fire out of the
perimeter into the enemy positions. Cobra gunships were on station overhead. At 0750, B
Company, with Lieutenant Denholm's 4th Platoon in the lead, moved out. As the platoon made
its way up the denuded ridge, the men found bloody trails, weapons, gear, and eight enemy
KIAs. Throughout the late morning and early afternoon, the other three companies slugged on,
finding fresh bunkers, communications wire, and other NVA gear. At about 1600, Denholm's
men hit the enemy head-on. An enemy soldier sprang from a hole and shot Sp4 Aaron
Rosenstreich in the chest. Sp4 John McCarrell was blown to bits by an NVA rocket.
Rosenstreich died moments later. Denholm was blown down the trail, but, even deaf and
stunned, he called for a machine gun. Sp4 Terry Larson rushed forward and was shot through
the head. Sp4 Donald Mills rushed forward with an M60 and was shot through the chest.
Seconds later, he got up, charged, and emptied his weapon into the sniper. In a bind, the
B Company men grenaded the area around them and pulled back, carrying their dead and
wounded with them. Honeycutt called in artillery and air strikes.
At 1730, gunships flew over the area. During one strike, a gunship
misfired and hit Honeycutt's CP with rockets. He was hit and two of his men killed.
Thirty-five men were wounded, including battalion Sgt. Maj. Bernie Meehan. Honeycutt got
on his radio and demanded that all aircraft check with his CP before launching strikes and
halt all ARA [aerial rocket artillery] until friendly positions were marked more clearly.
Later that day, from documents found on an NVA soldier and translated by
his Kit Carson scout, Honeycutt and the Brigade intelligence officer, Captain Fredericks,
estimated that the 29th NVA Regiment was on the mountain with a strength of between twelve
and eighteen hundred men, heavily reinforced with weapons. The 29th mission, according to
the documents, was to infiltrate down to the plains and attack Hue.
A Company moved east toward the border. C Company moved to the southeast
and at 0913 reported its location as three hundred meters southeast of the battalion CP
that was on the hill's northeastern ridge for the remainder of the operation.
With the new intelligence, Honeycutt realized that his enemy was a major
force and one ready and able to fight. He ordered Captain Johnson to move his C Company
east toward the Ap Bia Mountain. He directed Harkins to move A Company back up the ridge
to the battalion CP to relieve D Company. He told Sanders to use D Company to clear a
ravine to the northeast, and then attack up the mountain from that position.
12 May 1969
 During the day, eight air strikes pummeled the enemy positions, the last one at
1734. The strikes included high drag bombs, napalm, and five-hundred and
one-thousand-pound bombs with delay fuses. As the gunships left, artillery fire - 105s,
155s, and 8-inch - blasted the area with great accuracy. B Company started up the ridge
when the fire lifted. The bombing and napalm had opened trails in the jungle and the men
saw enemy bunkers that they blasted with recoilless rifles. The fire caused the NVA
soldiers to spring from their spider holes. They rolled grenades down on the Rakkasans,
wounding six men. Littman moved his company back down the ridge, carrying the wounded with
them. Helicopter gunships and fighter-bombers returned to cover the area with "snake
and nape".
In the D Company area, Sanders was having trouble. As the single lines
of men moved slowly and cautiously through the ravines and dense jungle they were hit from
three directions by many snipers high in the trees. The D Company troopers raked the trees
with gunfire, but progress was slow. They could hear the enemy all around them.
Honeycutt wanted another LZ near B Company. One of the helicopters
bringing in the engineers and their equipment was hit by enemy fire and crashed. But most
of the engineers landed safely, rescued their gear, and, with B Company help, by 1500 had
completed the lower LZ. Honeycutt had another LZ carved out 100 meters north of his
CP-known as the upper LZ. By evening, C Company, after being ambushed in late afternoon
when rocket-propelled grenades hit the trees above them and suffering eight wounded, was
in an NDP 500 meters southeast of the lower LZ. B Company's NDP was located 350 meters
northeast of the lower LZ. D Company was 500 meters to the north of the lower LZ. A
Company and the battalion command post remained at the blocking position next to the upper
LZ. During the night, the NVA probed all the NDPs and, at midnight, hit the NDPs with
accurate mortar fire.
13 May 1969 -->
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