After Action Reports
These are not the official after action reports filed with Squadron after a contact. Rather this is a list of dates and places supplied by some of the D Company troops who were there.
28 September 1968
Operating one click north of the Dong Nai river near Xom Lon a search of a
village well by D company tankers led to recovery of 103 107mm rockets,
113 122mm rockets, and a large quantity of mortar ammunition. Rocket and
mportar attacks on the airbase at Bien Hoa from the north were markedly reduced
following this sweep.
30 March 1969
C Troop 1/4 Cav leading a Task Force in the Michelin, made first contact with what turned out to be major NVA units dug into bunkers and loaded with RPGs. C Troop lost three killed in that opening engagement. A short time later, D Company, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (opcon to
the 1/4 Cav), also made contact and lost one man killed (Sp4 Lyle Glenn
Aston). Both units reported large numbers of enemy fleeing south, and B Troop
1/4 Cav was ordered to pursue. They ran into an intensive RPG screen and, despite the incredible amount of firepower from all engaged units, lost 8
more men killed. The battle raged all day with our units overrunning bunkers, grenading them as they went. Our maneuver put the enemy in a box, and artillery and air strikes inflicted frightful casualties on the fleeing enemy, as I could see from the air. Darkness unfortunately put an end to our pursuit. We did not have time to count all the bodies during the day, but the ones we counted
totaled 90 plus 6 captured, Quite certainly a hundred or more additional NVA dead were carried from the battlefield. We found trails and fresh graves for the next few days.
Bill Haponski
13 April 1969
Operation Montana Raider begins.
15 April 1969
D Company is opcon to 1/8 Cav,
18 April 1969
D Company, in concert with A and B Troops makes contact south of LTL 13,
resultin in 93 NVA KIA
3 May 1969
Assemble with the rest of the squadron at LZ Rita and withdraw across the Saigon
river to begin a four day maintenance stand down at Quan Loi
28 May 1969
4/12 Infantry (199th LI) was ambushed on Route 320 west of Blackhorse
Base. D company rescued the infantry and killed 29 of the NVA at the
site. Later in the day .A troop made contact with the 33rd NVA regiment in
a bunker complex and again D company was the reaction force. There
were 38 NVA dead while A Troop lost one killed and three wounded.
29 May 1969
A Troop again encountered the 33rd NVA regiment, this time receiving small arms
and RPG fire near Ap Cu My, east of Blackhorse Base. Again D Company was
the ready reaction unit, arriving shortly after the start of the fire
fight and with A Troop overran the dug in NVA infantry.
12 August 1969
D Company manned a mounted ambush outside the village of Loc Thien, near Loc
Ninh and in a brief fire fight killed 29 NVA.