D Company at the Dog's Head — War Zone C, March 18–19, 1970

March 18-19, 1970 - D Company at the Dog's Head

Confirmed by the division's official operational report. D Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry fought in the Dog's Head bulge of War Zone C on 18-19 March 1970. The 1st Cavalry Division ORLL (DTIC AD0512505) records the 18 March contact as "181110 Mar XT045833" (18 March, 11:10 hrs, grid XT 045 833), and the newspaper account in CAVALAIR (8 April 1970) matches it on date, unit, weapons, and the precise fifteen-minute duration. The named-casualty roster (NARA RG 472 daily staff journal) is the one piece still outstanding.

The fight

On March 18, 1970, at 11:10, Delta Company took small-arms, automatic-weapons, and B-40 rocket fire from an estimated platoon-size enemy force on three sides. Backed by artillery, Aerial Rocket Artillery, and an air strike, the company drove the NVA off; the contact broke at 11:25 -- fifteen minutes, exactly as the newspaper described. The ORLL records 14 US wounded and, in a search the next day, two fresh graves holding 19 NVA dead (CAVALAIR reported 39, apparently inflating the figure or merging it with the 19 March "Blues" action).

On March 19, the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry aerial rifle platoon -- the "Alpha Blues," led by 1st Lt. Jack Hugele -- was inserted for ground reconnaissance into the Dog's Head. After immediate contact with a small NVA group near a training area dotted with bamboo mock-ups of American tanks, and under sniper fire, elements of Delta Company, 2/8 Cav were inserted and linked up with the Blues. Together they cleared snipers, broke up an enemy machinegun ambush (five enemy killed), and moved to a pickup zone under continuous Cobra and minigun support. The Blues were extracted with no casualties; Delta Company stayed the night, detecting heavy enemy movement and killing one more NVA with a Claymore.

The division tallied 268 enemy killed across all units for the week of March 15-21, 1970.

The division paper's full article is transcribed as the document Alpha Blues Surprise NVA Force -- Dog's Head, War Zone C, and the official report entry is transcribed at Operational Report (ORLL) -- D Co 2-8 Cav Contact, Dog's Head, 18 March 1970.

Operational frame and casualties

In March 1970 the 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry -- under LTC Michael J. Conrad, part of 1st Brigade -- was working the Dog's Head against the NVA 272nd Regiment. The same operation produced the celebrated 26 March rescue, when Alpha Troop, 1st Squadron, 11th ACR fought through the jungle to relieve a surrounded Charlie Company, 2/8 Cav (an action later recognized with a Presidential Unit Citation).

The 18 March fight cost 14 US wounded (ORLL). SGT Richard Lee Wiseman -- HHC, 2/8 Cav, attached to D Company -- died of multiple fragmentation wounds on 18 March 1970 in Tay Ninh Province, and is near-certainly one of those 14 wounded: the date, unit, province, and the fragmentation wounds (a B-40 is a fragmentation weapon) all line up, and the ORLL's wounded-but-no-killed tally fits a "died of wounds" case. A named confirmation awaits the 2/8 daily staff journal. See SGT Richard Wiseman.

Held separately: CPL Michael C. Jackson (D Co 2/8) was killed 17 March 1970 in Tay Ninh, but the ORLL's contact log shows no 17 March action, so his death is not tied to this fight.

The same 8 April 1970 CAVALAIR issue carries a field photo of SP4 Carl Battaglina, an RTO with Charlie Company, 2/8 Cav -- a sister company -- "during 1st Cav operations 100 miles north of Saigon."