Into Cambodia - Keith Nolan [117]
It was thus on the evening of 4 May 1970 that Parker called Capt. Richard H. Goldsmith, USMA 1963, and S-3, 2-22 Mech, to their under-ground CP at Cu Chi to inform him of his meeting with the 3d Brigade commander: By dawn the next morning, the entire battalion was to depart the division compound with no intention of returning. Highway 1 would take the battalion from Cu Chi to Tay Ninh; then Highway 22 would carry them farther north to Thien Ngon, at which point they would wheel to the west and proceed cross-country to the Rach Cai Bac to participate in the 1st Brigade thrust into BA 354. After a few other words of wisdom, Parker retired to his hootch to write a letter to his wife, leaving Goldsmith, who appreciated the long rope that Parker afforded him, to stay up the night working on the operation order and coordinating with the staff.
Lieutenant Colonel Parker, who would review and approve Captain Goldsmith's plan when brought to his hootch before daylight, had in the meantime addressed the battalion's evening briefing. Explaining that they would be attacking into Cambodia and finally using conventional tactics against NVA regulars who were expected to stand and fight from prepared positions, Parker concluded, “We are professionals. Let's go to war.”
The Triple Deuce was, of course, already at war, but the paucity of local enemy units and the strict rules of engagement among the pacified villages of Cu Chi had not given them much recent opportunity to ply their craft. In fact, only three days before the Triple Deuce got its orders to Cambodia, 1st Lt. Charles B. Giasson, communications officer, HHC/2-22 Mech, recorded in his diary that war with the Head Shed at Cu Chi was hell indeed:
The early-morning briefing was at 0715 as usual. I mentioned to my people that if they finished all their work early in the afternoon, that they would get off for the day…. Everybody finished about 1300, so Captain Lackey and I went to the Sauna Bath on post for the first time. For $3.50 you got a steam bath and massage. I felt clean as a whistle and as limber as a rag doll when I left the sauna bath. At 1600, the captains played the lieutenants in volleyball. After five vigorous games, we all had a steak cookout….
At 0525, 5 May 1970, after packing in the dark, the 2d Battalion (Mechanized), 22d Infantry, departed the routine of Cu Chi and by 1500 had closed into a laager position west of Thien Ngon in the bush lands of War Zone C. With the command post APCs and several attached 155mm SP guns in the center of the circle, each company of the 2d of the 22d Triple Deuce battened down along a portion of the perimeter. Only four hundred meters away, the 3d of the 22d Regulars put the finishing touches on the plans for their sunrise combat assault.
To the east, where pallet upon pallet of supplies had been stacked along the airstrip near the jump CP of the Lancer Brigade, the 1st of the 5th Bobcats secured Thien Ngon and prepared to escort B and E Companies, 65th Engineers (Whiskey-Fifth), to the Rach Cai Bac at first light. To support the operation, 105mm howitzers from the 1st of the 8th Automatic Eighth, and the 7th of the 11th On Time Battalion, had also been brought forward. The 2d of the 14th Golden Dragons was still at Cu Chi, scheduled to be the final element committed to Operation Bold Lancer.
At 0300, 6 May 1970, a platoon or so of NVA opened fire on the laager of the Triple Deuce from various positions in the surrounding wood line. In response