# NVA/VC Offensive March 28, 29, 1971



## Gunz (Oct 12, 2017)

These are two more entries from the 2nd Combined Action Group Command Chronologies from late March 1971 that concerned me. They especially concerned me because I was due to go on R&R on March 30 and obviously didn't want to get dinged prior to 7 days of Rape & Riot.



*28 March 1971  CAP 2-7-6 ambush initiated OWF on (20) VC with weapons at...*

Combined Action Platoon 6, comprised of 8 Marines, 1 Navy Corpsman and 9 South Vietnamese Regional Force soldiers, led by Sgt William F. Tingen, deployed in a treeline ambush site. At approximately 2115 hours, the Marines observed a platoon-size enemy force with weapons some 200 meters distant traversing a large open rice paddy area in single file. The CAP opened fire with rifles, grenade launchers and a machine gun. The enemy responded with small arms and auto weapons fire and then dispersed, fleeing to the west.

*...A sweep of the area disclosed...*

Once the enemy had broken contact, the CAP and Counterparts swept the contact area on line, discovering two dead North Vietnamese Regulars, numerous blood trails,  three AK-47's, Chi Com grenades, a fully operational M72 LAAW and assorted documents. The grenades were blown in place.


Following this contact, on the morning of the 29th, I was transported by CH 46 to our company headquarters compound in Dien Ban District: HQ, 7th Combined Action Company, (CACO) 2nd CAG. (Shown here in October 1970 with flooding from Typhoon Kate.) I was to spend the night here prior to getting transportation to Danang for my flight out for R&R.





A night behind sandbags and barbed wire was always a welcome relief for bush Marines. I felt pretty safe and looking forward to my flight to Honolulu on the 30th. As luck would have it, on the night of the 29th, the enemy launched an offensive against most of the Marine Combined Action platoons in eastern Quang Nam Province, including the 7th Company Compound in Dien Ban, 2nd Company HQ, the 2nd Combined Action Group Headquarters in Hoi An, and the Duc Duc resettlement village, home of CAP 2-9-2. I was asleep in a plywood hooch on a real mattress when the rockets started coming in and shrapnel and dirt started smacking into the plywood walls.






The entry above really doesn't do justice to the confusion and intensity of the contact, nor does it expand on the attacks on the individual CAP units in the bush. I jumped into my trousers and boots and went immediately to the Comm Shack, where our CO, Captain Ivy was, and volunteered to man some of the radio frequencies. In addition to 7th Company taking rocket and mortar fire, we had at least  4 of our 7 CAPs engaged with enemy forces of various sizes, each with stand-by requests for 105 lume or HE or medevac.

CAP 2-9-2, from our sister company, (2nd Co, 2nd CAG), along with some SVN RF units with Army Advisors, was heavily engaged near the village of Duc Duc and in need of immediate CAS and having comm problems with it's company compound; but we were able to relay their requests to Danang and get helo gunships inbound to the Duc Duc vicinity.



The rotor CAS saved CAP 2-9-2, the RF units and US Army Advisors, but most of the village was massacred in the opening minutes of the NVA/VC assault, and burned to the ground prior to Black Hammer getting on station.

Back at our compound, our Company XO, 1st Lt Charlie Grebenstein, was instrumental in directing our company mortars to suppress the NVA/VC 122mm rocket fire, and in the morning our Counterparts were able to recover large quantities of enemy weapons and gear. I spent the night with the CO, the Company Gunny and a radio operator in the Comm Shack, where we manned a bank of PRC 25s, each on various frequencies. Most of my comm was with our own 7th Co Combined Action Platoons, relaying their requests and needs to Captain Ivy. He and the Gunny were busy comming with 2nd CAG and support arty and medevac units in Danang.






Needless to say, that same morning I managed to grab a ride on another 46 to III MAF, Danang, and flew out for R&R that afternoon.

Again, thanks for your toleration of my posting personal recollections on the History forum.


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## Ooh-Rah (Oct 12, 2017)

Thank you so much for posting your history here.  When I see these posts, I literally stop what I am doing so that I can take the time to read every word.


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## CDG (Oct 12, 2017)

Ooh-Rah said:


> Thank you so much for posting your history here.  When I see these posts, I literally stop what I am doing so that I can take the time to read every word.


Yep. Same here.


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## Devildoc (Oct 12, 2017)

@Ocoka , my dad was the intel chief at HML-167 from May 1970-May 1971.  I bet I have some notes in his diary from the action you posted with the pic describing the helo support.

Thanks so much for posting.  This is how we keep history alive.


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## Gunz (Oct 12, 2017)

That fight on the 28th was disappointing because we only had 2 confirmed EKIAs...but it was dark and they were pretty far away. We figured they wanted to avoid a hard engagement prior to the planned regimental offensive the next night, which makes sense. NVA and VC units used to come down out of the Que Son Mountains, break up into smaller formations to try and infiltrate through our area of operation to get within rocket range of Hoi An and the big air bases at Danang. If they had something big planned, they'd rendezvous and reform into battalion or regimental size.


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## Gunz (Oct 12, 2017)

Devildoc said:


> @Ocoka , my dad was the intel chief at HML-167 from May 1970-May 1971.  I bet I have some notes in his diary from the action you posted with the pic describing the helo support.
> 
> Thanks so much for posting.  This is how we keep history alive.




He would absolutely have been there -- if he wasn't on R&R or TDY somewhere else. I'd be very interested to know if his notes reference this action. I'd be surprised if they didn't. A couple of very busy nights. We were lucky. None of us got a scratch in the contact on the 28th, and only one of our counterparts was WIA during the rocket attack on the 29th. (But the company compound was a mess, some of the hooches got destroyed.)


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## BuckysBadger24 (Oct 12, 2017)

Thank you sir, for taking the time to share these personal recollections.  It almost feels like you're pulling sections from a novel you wrote.  You have a serious knack for telling these stories in vivid detail.


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## Gunz (Oct 13, 2017)

@Devildoc , you might be interested in some of these:


This is a picture of a rocket attack on the Marine Air Group at Marble Mountain, Danang, from my AO.



MAG 11 (or 13?)






The 7th Company, 2nd CAG comm shack.




Map of area described in above entries for 28, 29 March 1971. The village of Duc Duc is not shown, but it was located northeast of An Hoa, and northeast of Giang Hoa, where the (Song) Thu Bon River forks (upper left). Our position was 2 klicks west of Dien Ban on the 28th and at Dien Ban on the 29th.


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## Devildoc (Oct 13, 2017)

Thanks for sharing!  That is a great pic of the phrog...


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## Kaldak (Oct 18, 2017)

I love these entries from you so much. I always wait to read them until I know for sure that I'll be uninterrupted while reading.

Thanks!


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## Marine0311 (Oct 18, 2017)

Brother these stories are awesome.


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## RackMaster (Oct 18, 2017)

Always enjoy these!


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## Topkick (Oct 18, 2017)

CDG said:


> Yep. Same here.



Ocoka, you are Americana! Thanks bro.


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