LZ Carol — 2/8 Cavalry Operations, July–August 1968

LZ Carol — July–August 1968

Operation page. The 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry conducted operations in the vicinity of Landing Zone Carol (Hill 927, YD343194) from 21 July to 26 August 1968, placed OPCON from its parent 1st Brigade to 2nd Brigade for the operation. Bravo Company sustained 19 KIA — the heaviest single-operation loss in the company's 1968 tour. The individual profiles of those men have not yet been built.

The ground

LZ Carol sat on Hill 927 at grid YD343194, deep in the mountains of northwestern Thua Thien Province — 18 kilometers east of Laos, on the northeastern edge of the A Shau Valley. The surrounding terrain was mountainous, covered by double-canopy jungle, and laced with NVA supply trails running from Laos through "The Warehouse" (Co Pung, YD336108) east toward Hue and Quang Tri. There were almost no helicopter landing sites in the area outside the firebase itself, a fact that would prove decisive.

The 1st Cavalry Division established LZ Carol in July 1968 and abandoned it around October 1968 when the division moved south. In March 1970 the 101st Airborne Division returned, renamed it Fire Support Base Ripcord, and fought a 23-day siege there in July 1970 that cost 75 KIA and 345 WIA — more than Hamburger Hill. The soldiers who survived LZ Carol in 1968 had already learned why.

The operation

2/8 Cavalry was a 1st Brigade unit but was placed OPCON to 2nd Brigade on or about 21 July and given the mission of establishing a firebase on Hill 927 and conducting search and destroy operations in the surrounding mountains. Bravo Company conducted the air assault on Hill 927 on 21 July, with Blackfoot platoon in the lead — the landing zone, cleared by a Daisy Cutter bomb, was a tangle of tree stumps and craters. Charlie Company and an artillery battery were airlifted in to secure the firebase. Bravo pushed north into the jungle.

Alpha and Delta Companies, released from OPCON to 1/5 Cav on 22 July, were airlifted to LZ Carol and pushed out — Alpha west, Delta south and east.

Bravo Company, 24–26 July

The worst came on 24 July. At 0820, a large NVA force attacked Bravo's perimeter and overran a machine gun position. Three attempts to medevac casualties were turned back by enemy automatic weapons fire — on the third attempt the aircraft commander was shot and the helicopter crashed. Bravo lost 8 KIA and 3 WIA that day, with the casualties impossible to evacuate.

On 25 July, Charlie Company linked up with Bravo to help carry the dead. Fighting continued: 1 KIA at 1300, then 4 KIA and 1 WIA at 1630 — Bravo now carrying 13 dead through jungle so dense and steep that three men were needed per body.

On the evening of 26 July, Bravo and Charlie arrived back at LZ Carol with all 13 KIA. The troopers who walked in, having eaten almost nothing for three days and carried their dead through five days of constant contact, were described by witnesses as wearing "a haunted look."

Operations continued through 26 August, with additional casualties. Total Bravo Company KIA for the LZ Carol period: 19.

Delta Company

Delta conducted search and destroy operations to the south and east of LZ Carol throughout the operation. On 23 July, Delta engaged 2–3 NVA at YD356191 and captured assorted military equipment. No Delta Company KIA are recorded in the Staff Journal extracts for this period.

After

The 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry (3rd Brigade) assumed control of LZ Carol on 26 August 1968, and 2/8 Cav reverted to 1st Brigade. The division left LZ Carol behind in October 1968. What 2/8 Cavalry had fought over in the summer of 1968 would later be fought over again — and at even greater cost — by another division.

Help us complete the record

Nineteen Bravo Company soldiers were killed at LZ Carol. Their names are known to the Eager Arms veterans' community but their individual profiles have not yet been built here. If you served with Bravo Company, 2/8 Cavalry in the summer of 1968, or knew any of the men killed at LZ Carol, please reach us through the contribute form.