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VOL. II, NO.7 31 MARCH 1969
AN KHE- An NVA unit recently discovered that the troopers
of 1st Battalion (Mech), 50th Infantry and 1st Battalion, 69th Armor,
173d Airborne Brigade take their job of securing Highway 19 near An Khe
very seriously.
Conducting their regular morning road clearing and mine sweep mission
along the vital supply link, APCs (Armored Personnel Carriers) of the
1/50th and Tanks of the 1/69th found that the NVA had been busy during
the night. As the troopers removed the road block of sand bags, rocks,
and logs, they found numerous propaganda leaflets signed by the South
Vietnam National Liberation Front. Anticipating trouble, the steel machines
moved on line and rolled slowly down the highway only to be met with rockets,
machine gun and automatic weapons fire.
"They must have crawled right out of the dirt," reported SGT Alan Solberg
of Charlie Company, 1/50th. "We were right on top of them when they started
firing." Describing the action, SGT Solberg of Fosston Mn, continued,
"The NVA were well camouflaged, but my track commander (Webmaster's
note: the track commander was George Fiedler of Hudson, WI) spotted
one with a rocket launcher and fired him up with his 50 cal machine gun."
Tons of steel churned the soft ground and the APC's and Tanks soon had
the enemy surrounded and cut loose with all available firepower. The startled
NVA sought refuge in the tall grass only to be followed by streams of
hot lead. When the firing subsided, a sweep of the area produced two dead
NVA, one RPG rocket launcher and one AK47. Nearby, APC's of Alpha Company
and the Scout Platoon of the 1/50th received rocket and 82mm mortar fire.
In the brief battle that followed, three NVA lost their lives as well
as two RPG rocket launchers and one B-40 rocket.
In short, the road was kept open to traffic and those 'Caissons kept rolling
along.'
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