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By Root 992 0

the barbs. The opinion among the officers of the 4th Division was that neither MACV nor I FFV had appreciated how difficult it would be for the division to pull out of active operations, move a great distance, and launch new operations while depending logistically on a single road that had to be reopened daily because of the threat of mining and ambush. Limited by the terrain to a precious few possible landing zones, the division had followed standard operating procedure by aborting the combat assaults in the face of heavy fire. Even heavy fire support would have hardly made a dent in that terrain on an entrenched foe. Such logic was countered by the argument that victory went to the most hard-nosed, that each delay allowed the enemy to dig deeper and rush up more troops. It was suggested with some subtlety that the division had stalled because of the overly cautious tactics of General Walker: He should have pressed into those hot landing zones. Such a debate cannot be resolved, and it should be noted that Walker was neither flamboyant nor a participant in military politics. Walker was a tall, thin, modest, and soft-spoken Southern gentleman who, despite his two stars, still felt the same way about the troops as did a young captain from the 3d of the 8th Dragoons who turned over his line company shortly before the incursion to take the battalion headquarters company:

Those soldiers were magnificent. I stood by one time as the company filed by as we returned to a firebase after a fifteen-day operation. As they filed by, many with no trousers or shirts, a few without underwear, many with jungle rot, blisters, and other miscellaneous bites, rashes, and “fevers of unknown origins,” you really asked yourself why they do it. It is enough to bring tears to your eyes.

The opinion in the 4th Division was that General Walker, who most considered an excellent commander, had used common sense regarding the hot landing zones. If he appeared overly conservative to outsiders, it was because he was an undramatic man who, commented his ADC, Wheelock, “… was experienced in battle and who was well aware of the cost of combat and the price the individual soldier was liable to pay. At no time and especially with our role in the war winding down did he want to risk lives unnecessarily.” 2

The next morning was bright and clear. With helicopter refuel/rearm points established at Plei D'Jereng, and with medium and heavy firing batteries from 4th Division Artillery and the 52d Artillery Group, I FFV, positioned in forward areas around the airstrip, the helicopter armada from the 1st Aviation Brigade and the division's own 4th Aviation Battal-ion lifted off to try again to get the 1st Brigade, 4th Division, into Cambodia. As they waited for their rides, Lieutenant Szigethy noticed that most of his men relieved themselves two or three times. Then the drill was repeated and, after another flight of some twenty-five minutes, they dropped toward an alternate landing zone. Szigethy puckered as his lead chopper went in. When both door gunners opened fire thirty feet from the ground, his first reaction was this is it! The skids touched down and Szigethy was so unnerved that he lunged from the cabin like a spring, slamming his helmet right into the top of the door frame. Stunned, but pumping adrenaline, he and his machine gunner ran through the thick grass, which seemed to do its best to trip them. They made it to the nearest tree line without taking any fire. Szigethy's radioman, coming off the next bird, quickly found him in the trees, and they turned to see the crazy Frenchmen setting up their camera on a tripod in the clearing.

The rest of the battalion shuttled in, and by late afternoon the 1st of the 14th Golden Dragons were in place in Cambodia. Likewise, the 3d of the 506th Currahees touched down, in a cold LZ this time around, and began setting up their hasty firebase.

Meanwhile, this afternoon, 6 May 1970, the 3d of the 8th Dragoons followed them from Plei D'Jereng. Helmeted, with full rucks, full canteens, and full bandoliers of ammunition,