A Fateful December
Sgt. Terry Foote
Company C, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 12th Cavalry

I returned to my unit in late November of 1966 and fell right back into my old position. We spent most of November and December humping the mountains around the Kim Son and An Lo valleys. This was just south of the A Shau valley, a very bad place. We had numerous smaller fire fights during this period because the entire 22nd NVA Regiment was operating in the area.

We found sign after sign of platoon to company size units. We had two fire fights with platoon size units. Not much ever came of them because they were more of the hit and run variety. Our causalities were light. We ran into many more than normal booby traps in the area. We knew the area was crawling with enemy troops.

We were set up for the night out in the valley and were settling in about 8 PM. Suddenly we heard one hell of a fire fight break out on about two miles further into the valley. We knew A company was in that area and must be getting attacked. When you hear things like that you become extremely alert. Everyone is awake because if the NVA is that close they might be heading for us also. One thing you think of when you hear a fire fight break out with the heavy intensity is someone is getting their ass kicked bad.

Suddenly word come through each position to ruck up and get ready to air lift out. It was highly unusual to go on an air assault at night because of all the obvious dangers involved in getting the choppers in and dropping into an LZ illuminated for seconds to minimize the chopper as a target. Another danger was for the troops loading up on the chopper. There was no danger from the chopper blades but there was a definite danger from the tail rotor. In the dark it would be easy for a man to run into a tail rotor when there was more than one chopper on the ground at a time.

We got loaded up with no incidents and lifted off. I was on the chopper with the platoon Sgt and his RTO told me A company had been hit by an entire battalion and were really getting their asses kicked. (What a comforting thought). The choppers began to drop to as close to tree top level as they dared in the night. As we approached the LZ the green tracers were flying through the air (NVA used green tracers, we used red), the choppers were taking sporadic hits but nothing serious. It sounded like a kid throwing rocks at the corrugated steel side of a pole barn. Kind of made you think not much was really going on but you suddenly came back to reality when you felt the chopper flare out to "land". We knew that wasn't going to happen so we got our feet out on the struts and dropped about three to four feet to the ground as the chopper reached it's lowest point. They were entirely exposed while setting down and if one went down in the LZ the others behind us would not be able to bring the rest of the company in.

The next incident will give everyone an idea of the reason the drill sergeants were so hard on us during basic training, advanced infantry training, and jump school. When we hit the ground the first thing you do is head to the perimeter laying down fire and find some cover so the rest of the choppers can get in. I hit the ground in a clump of bushes. I no sooner hit the ground when Sgt Grant screamed at me to "get the hell out of those bushes NOW". I reacted as I had been taught and followed him to cover behind a dike. It was probably around 5 seconds after I moved out of the bushes than they were raked by automatic weapons and machine gun fire. Had I been there I was definitely dead. You follow orders without question and do it immediately when under fire. Sgt Grant knowingly nudged me in the side with his elbow and chuckled a little. I knew exactly what he meant. There is no cover behind a bush.

We got the company in and began to move through the village and hadn't moved more than a couple of hundred yards when the NVA fire subsided dramatically. They knew we were coming in from the other side and B company would soon be landing. After about a half hour there was nothing going on other than a stray round here and there (mostly ours). The NVA had moved out of the village through a tunnel complex under the village. They had decided it was time to cut their losses and get the hell out of there which was understandable given the situation. We just set up right where we were. There was no digging or setting up hooches. We just laid down behind the dikes in the village and set our guard watches up.

The next morning A company pushed through the village as we remained in place as a blocking force. They found quite a few weapons and about 25 NVA bodies. They had 3 KIA and several WIA so they were pulled back into LZ Pony to regroup and resupply. We simply went back to what we were doing. We began to hump the mountains around the Kim Son valley exclusively at the orders of division. Division intelligence knew the 22nd NVA Regiment was operating in strength in that area and were were sent out looking for a fight. Little did we know what kind of a fight we were going to pick. They moved us into the mountains surrounding LZ Bird, a forward artillery base with one battery of 105 howitzers and one battery of 155 howitzers. We began to simply operate out of Bird traveling light (no rucksacks) in squad and platoon size elements looking for Charlie or signs of Charlie. It was getting close to Christmas and we had a truce set up with North Viet Nam for Christmas. It was to last for two days, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

We were extremely relaxed at this time. Log ships were bringing out hot chow and out mail which primarily existed of Christmas packages from home. I remember my mother had sent me a butane lighter with my initials engraved on it plus some fuel and a couple of other little goodies. Butane lighters were the best in the bush because the cotton in a Zippo would get wet and they were hard to light. My dad sent his usual care package. He was smart enough to send me Vienna sausages, deviled ham, potted meat, small cans of fruit and other things that I could really use. My sister had sent me brownies that were like bricks by the time they got to me but we ate them any way and enjoyed them.

While we were relaxing on this "secure" LZ we really had no idea that the 22nd NVA was moving into position around us. The Christmas truce was uneventful and we enjoyed the down time. On Christmas evening my platoon was ordered into a blocking position on top of a mountain about one klick from Bird. There were several of us that needed to sit back and let our feet and socks dry out so about a dozen of us were replaced by men from the other two platoons for the blocking position. That turned out to be a really stupid decision. It was a normal and necessary thing to do but in this instance it turned into a stupid decision on our part.

The truce ended at midnight on Christmas Day so we set our normal security and guard watches. Things were quiet early in the evening then about 1:30-2:00 AM on 26 December the first mortar round hit right inside the perimeter. They then began to rain on the LZ and the RPG's began to destroy the perimeter security positions. The barrage lasted for about 20 minutes then all we heard was a lot of screaming and the sound of a mass assault on the LZ. We already had flares illuminating the LZ so we could see the NVA attacking in mass. The two men in the position with me were killed almost immediately with head shots. Only God knows why I didn't get hit but I figured it was a message from him to get the hell off that perimeter because there were 600-800 NVA assaulting the LZ from three sides. I got the hell out of the bunker and was making my way back to an inner perimeter that had been set up. I remember only myself at that time. I looked behind me as I was crawling back to the inner perimeter and saw an enemy soldier heading straight for me. I jumped up and from some presence of God killed him. I finally made it back to the inner perimeter and saw we were in very bad shape. Most were wounded and there were still a lot of men in the middle of the fight wounded. Sgt Jennings took it upon himself and began throwing grenades into clumps of NVA that were actually milling about the LZ. One 155 had already been blown up and they were setting the charges on the second 155. Sgt Jennings threw a well placed grenade and stopped that from happening. He then began to assault the NVA within the perimeter and pulling the wounded back to safety. He actually killed one with the butt of his rifle. He pulled one man in that had played dead because he was in the middle of he NVA. I found out later one NVA had actually jumped up and down on his back to see if he would move. He didn't, and stayed alive. Sgt Jennings pulled several wounded back into the inner perimeter and saved their lives.

Webmaster Note:  SSgt Delbert Jennings was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at LZ Bird.

About an hour and a half into the fight the wrath of God was raining down on the NVA. We had artillery pounding the perimeter, gun ships were making pass after pass through the part of the LZ occupied by the NVA, there was an armed Chinook (heavy duty dual rotor chopper) armed called a "GO GO" ship pounding the perimeter with .50 caliber and M-79 rounds, Puff the Magic Dragon (armed C-47) was wearing out the sides of the mountains with 20 MM cannon all in addition to us still fighting. We were almost completely out of ammo when some gutsy slick pilot (and I do mean gutsy, one of the bravest pilots I've ever seen) flared out over our inner perimeter and hovered there for about the 30 seconds it took to kick the ammo out the doors to us then he pulled out in a hurry. The NVA were still milling around on the LZ like they owned the place (which at that time they did) when I heard someone in the 105 MM howitzer battery screaming "BEEHIVE...BEEHIVE...BEEHIVE". We had heard of this but this was apparently the first time they had been used in action. They were shells that fit in the 105 MM howitzer that fired fleshettes (dart like projectiles). They lowered the 105's to ground level and fired a round from each 105. When they did the rounds literally cut the NVA to shreds. They fired two more rounds each and completely broke the NVA's hold on the LZ. Those of us that were still mobile then jumped up and moved into the perimeter laying down a hail of fire and ran the rest of the NVA off the LZ.

By this time the sun was beginning to come up and we heard the wonderful sound of formations of choppers moving down the valley. The NVA were still trying to get away and we were just sitting there picking them off as best we could from cover. We heard the noise and felt the wind as the slicks began to land two at a time on the LZ dropping off the 5th Cav to reinforce us. The fight was over and we had "won" if you could call it that. We began the night with two infantry platoons and two artillery batteries, a total of 144 men. We lost 58 dead, more than a third of our force. It is one thing that has and will haunt me for the rest of my life.

Webmaster note: The Presidential Unit Citation was awarded for the December 27th fight on LZ Bird.

I remember sitting there on top of a bunker with my head in my hands when I felt a hand on my shoulder and a voice I knew immediately. It was Walter Hand. He and I had gone to high school together, went through basic training together and been assigned to the same division. He just looked at me and said "Terry, glad to see you made it through the night," then he dropped down and hugged me as a brother would. I broke down in tears as I am at this moment. He told me to sit where I was, they would take good care of our dead which they did.

The slicks came in to extract my company. I remember looking down at the LZ as we banked away. A bulldozer had been brought in to dig a hole and bury the enemy bodies. When all was said and done there was a body count of 172 dead NVA inside our original perimeter. The 22nd NVA Regiment had ceased to exist. They were still finding elements of the regiment and wiping them out after the fight at Bird.

There was one other thing that really pissed me off about that fight. The next morning in the Commercial Appeal, the Memphis paper (where I was raised and my mother and father (deceased now) lived there) had a huge front page splash, Co. C, 1st Bn 12th Cav, 1st Cav Div has been completely wiped out in a battle after the Christmas truce ended. Can you imagine the reaction of my families and the other families affected by that headline? What the paper said was the unit was gone. My family naturally assumed I was dead also until my father called the DOD to see if I was alive. The war protesters ally, the media, had some lies to play with to make things look worse than they were and were taking advantage of it. My mother still has the front page of the Commercial Appeal from that day. Cronkite loved reporting the sad speculation.

My unit was them air lifted back to the 1st Cav Div base camp at An Khe because we were no longer operational at that point.

What a wonderful Christmas present.

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