ON THE FIRING LINE FROM THE BRONCO TRIBUNE FOR FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1970.

Copy of publication provided by Dave Eckberg

Action in the 3d Bn, 1st Inf AO for the period 13-20 September:

Working north of the Song Tra Khuc River, the 2nd platoon of Alpha Company turned up 100 gal of rice and 50 gal of corn buried in a field.

Several days later, the company apprehended a military aged male who SGT Andres Vega (Caguas, P.R.) had found hiding in a tool shed.  The suspect, later identified as an NVA platoon leader who had been recruiting in the area, led his captors to where six 55 gal drums of rice had been stored.  A further search of the vicinity uncovered four additional drums of rice.  Later in the afternoon, the company discovered a bunker containing two 55 gal drums of rice which brought the amount captured since that morning to well over 6,000 lbs.  A VC was killed after he ran from a nearby bunker and began swimming across the river.

The following day, Alpha added another 175 gal of polished rice to her list.  The 3rd platoon captured 4 VC with packs containing explosives, fuzes, scrap metal, two Chicom grenades and medical equipment.  In a later action 2 VC were killed in a tunnel while a third was captured nearby.

Patrolling farther to the west, the 2nd platoon of Alpha climaxed a very eventful week with 3 VC KIA and two 3-band panasonic transistor radios CIA.

Bravo Company found 1 NVA and 1 VC/NVA KIA west of Nghia Hanh.  CIA were 2 AK-47s, 5 magazines, 2 Chicom grenades and 4 medical dressings.

At Nghia Hanh, children turned in to Bravo Company the following munitions:  20 Chicoms, 23/105 rds, 1/82 recoilless rd, 7/60 mm mortar rds, 40 M79 rds, 1 bouncing betty, 2 CS grenades and 3 satchel charges.

Working in the mountains west of Nghia Hanh, the 1st and 2nd platoons of Charlie Company reached a bunker complex which warlords had spotted the previous day.  The complex consisted of 75-100 fighting positions, several hootches in various stages of construction, grass and wood stacked for future use along with food and utensils.  Several of the bunkers had been used recently and the fact that enemy personnel were still in the area was verified by sporadic contact which the company was to have during the week.

While moving into their NDP just south of OP1, the 2nd platoon of Delta Company engaged 2 NVA resulting in 1 KIA and 1 CIA.  Later in the week, the platoon was credited with another KIA just prior to finding two 55 gal drums of corn buried near a hootch.