18 May 1969

Early in the morning, the usual "prep" fires of air and artillery pounded the mountaintop. The first CS gas rounds, however, landed in the middle of A Company, and division made the decision to call off the CS attack. At 1025, A and D Companies moved out and, for the first time in the Ap Bia assault, every man in the attacking companies wore a flak jacket and most of the riflemen carried about forty rounds of M16 ammo and some as many as ten grenades. Honeycutt's plan had A and D Companies moving up the two fingers, proven to be the only accessible routes to the top.

On A Company's point was Lieutenant McGreevy and his 1st Platoon, followed by the 2d and 3d Platoons. As usual, the enemy fire increased with the appearance of the Rakkasans. McGreevy was hit and had to be evacuated. By 1215, the assault companies had to halt in place and wait for a heavy concentration of fire - gunships, artillery, mortars, napalm, and all the small-arms fire that the infantrymen could bring to bear: machine guns, M-79s, light antitank weapons and 90mm recoilless rifles.

In D Company's area on the flank of A Company, Lt. Thomas Lipscomb and his 3d Platoon were in the lead. At a bunker line, the enemy fire was heavy. Three men went down, and Lipscomb yelled for his men to move up.

"Keep moving," Sanders yelled to Lipscomb.

"They've got claymores all over up here," he yelled back. "If we try to move, they'll blow 'em on us."

"You've got to move, claymores or not. Shoot them if you have to, but you've got to get those men up that hill. That's our only chance. If we stay here, they'll kill us all."

 

Lipscomb charged a trench line with two other men while three of his men laid down covering fire. A grenade exploded at Lipscomb's feet, blowing him back down the hill and killing him instantly. Pfc. Paul Bellino rushed forward but a sniper, too, killed him.

Sanders realized that he had to get moving or, standing still, lose more men. He ordered Lt. Jerry Walden and his 1st Platoon to continue the attack. Shortly thereafter, Sanders was shot in the arm, and Lieutenant Walden took over the company. He called Honeycutt and called for more ammo. Helicopters arrived shortly, hovering a few feet over the ground, while the crew threw out boxes of ammo.

"Walden told the colonel his Rakkasans were not going to back off," wrote Fred Waterhouse. "Walden moved his men up in a skirmish line. They leapfrogged from log to log and crater to crater. NVA grenades flew through the air. Sp4s Howard Harris and Jack Little blazed away with an M60 machine gun. Harris was shot in the neck. Private First Class Roy Mathew moved up as assistant gunner. Seconds later he was killed, shot in the throat. Nearby, Pfc. Steve Korovesis, a new replacement, was hit by shrapnel and evacuated. He had been in Vietnam for one month and lasted ten minutes in his first battle.

"Lieutenant Walden moved up and down the line, steadying his men. They began taking flanking fire. Two Rakkasans tried to rush forward. They were both shot down. Private First Class Willie Kirkland, 1st Platoon medic, moved up to give aid. He was hit five times in the chest. While Pfc. Roger Murray laid down covering fire, Sgt. Tom McGall and Pfc. Michael Rocklen ran up and pulled Kirkland into a bomb crater. Kirkland died a few minutes later."

South of D Company, A Company moved to the attack. Lieutenant Daniel Bresnahan's 3d Platoon led the assault up a thirty-degree slope, overran the first line of bunkers, killed about ten NVA, and moved toward the second line of bunkers. Back at his CP, Honeycutt was receiving optimistic reports from his commanders. 1/506th, however, had moved only about a hundred meters against strong opposition.

At 1137, Lieutenant Walden reported to Honeycutt that he was within seventy-five meters of the top. But minutes later, Walden and 1st Sgt. Thomas Sterns were hit by shrapnel. D Company was without officers, and all platoons were running low on ammunition. Honeycutt told them to hold fast, that he would send help. He contacted Captain Johnson and he ordered him to move C Company up the hill to reinforce what was left of A and D Companies, to take all the ammo they could carry, and to take over D Company as well as his own men.

Honeycutt realized the gravity of his situation in spite of some previous optimism. C Company had to fight up the hill and took fire from the southeast where, from a helicopter, he saw that the NVA were also in force in that direction. He also found out that 1/506th was in no condition to assist his final assault on the mountain. He called colonel Conmy, briefed him on his very difficult situation, and asked for another company, a "fully intact air assault company." Conmy told him that it would be airborne in minutes. But that became open to discussion later.

From 1251 until 1330, all units held in place as jets raked the smoldering hill with "snake and nape." When Johnson reached the remnants of D Company, he told Lt. Joel Trautman, his 1st Platoon commander, to move up the small finger ridge. The men rushed forward in bounds. They could see the crest of the mountain only a hundred meters above them. Trautman was hit in the thigh by machine-gun fire and went down, losing consciousness. Honeycutt was overhead in a command chopper, directing air strikes and artillery fire. Finally, he felt that his men were going to take the mountain after the bloody fighting of the past nine days. He landed and started climbing up the mountain. At B Company's old LZ, his men were hit by small-arms fire, and Honeycutt shot an NVA soldier. As he started up the hill again, the sky became black, the wind gusted, lightning streaked through the sky, and a torrential rainstorm began. Visibility was limited to twenty meters. Honeycutt radioed all companies to hold fast until the rain stopped. The heavy rains continued until bomb craters were small ponds, the mud was thick and slippery on the slopes, and forward movement was almost impossible. Honeycutt checked with Colonel Conmy and decided to withdraw. C Company held to cover the withdrawal of A and D Companies. By 1530, all three companies had moved back.

Honeycutt had been expecting another company to help him take Ap Bia. Unknown to him, the 101^st Division Commander, Major General Zais, deeply concerned about the Rakkasan casualties, had stopped the reinforcing company from joining the battle. At 1700, General Zais arrived at Honeycutt's CP. The Rakkasans were a battered battalion. During the day, A and C Companies had lost nine men each, B had lost four, and Delta thirty-nine. Zais wanted to know if Honeycutt could fight on. Honeycutt said that he would need just one company more. Zais was hesitant. Honeycutt was adamant.

"General, if there is anybody that deserves to take that sonofabitch, it's the Rakkasans - and you know that as well as I do. And there is just no goddamn way in hell that I want to see Sherron and 2/506th come in here and take that mountain after all we've been through. And if it ain't gonna be that way, then you just fire my ass right now. Right this minute!"

Zais paced around the CP for about a minute and then said, "Okay, you can have your company."

"Thank you, General," said Honeycutt.

 

At 1830, A Company, 2/506th began to land by helicopter on the upper LZ. That night, the company remained with B/3/187th in a blocking position while A, C, and D Companies set up NDPs within a few hundred meters of the lower LZ (one hundred meters north of the battalion command post).

19 May 1969 -->