Operation Bolling — 2/8 Cavalry, Tuy Hoa (September–October 1967)

Operation Bolling — D Company's context

Context page — operation level. Primary sources: 1st Cavalry Division ORLL (AD0387543, period ending 31 Oct 1967) and 173rd Airborne Brigade ORLL (AD0394510, period ending 31 Jul 1968). B Company, 2/8 Cavalry narrative (eagerarms.com) provides the unit-level account. D Company's specific actions during Bolling are not yet documented.

What it was

In mid-September 1967, after returning from the Song Re Valley operation, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry received orders to redeploy south. IFFORCEV had directed the 173rd Airborne Brigade to counter an NVA build-up west of Tuy Hoa — the coastal city in Phu Yen Province that was home to the 31st Tactical Fighter Wing of the U.S. Air Force. Those aircraft provided air support across the northern provinces, and an NVA build-up in the hills to the west threatened to disrupt those operations. The 173rd was assigned two battalions for the mission: its own 4th Battalion, 503d Infantry, and 2/8 Cav reinforcing from the 1st Cav Div.

On September 17–18, the battalion moved from LZ English — its home base on the Bong Son Plain — to a staging area at a Special Forces camp west of Qui Nhon. The 1st Cavalry Division officially released Task Force 2/8 Cav OPCON to the 173rd Airborne Brigade effective 17 September 1967. On September 19, companies were combat-assaulted into landing zones in the rolling hills west of Tuy Hoa.

What happened

The operation produced only scattered contacts. The anticipated major engagement did not materialize — the 95th NVA Regiment (the primary enemy force in Phu Yen Province, operating under the 5th NVA Division) avoided a pitched battle, and B Company veterans noted the enemy "seemed to fade away." The most notable single incident was the capture of an NVA Finance Officer who had become separated from his unit and wandered into a U.S. position.

The 1st Cavalry Division ORLL records the results for the entire Bolling operation — 26 days of patrolling west of Tuy Hoa — as: Enemy KIA 21, 12 prisoners of war, 8 small arms weapons captured; Friendly KIA 0, WIA 7. The zero-KIA figure for 2/8 Cav is confirmed: no D Company soldier died during the Bolling window. On October 14, the battalion returned to LZ English and resumed Pershing operations on the Bong Son Plain.

Where 2/8 Cavalry — and D Company — fit

The battalion went to Tuy Hoa as a unit; all companies, including D Company, were part of the deployment. Specific landing zone names and grid coordinates for 2/8 Cav's positions in AO Bolling are not recorded at the division ORLL level — they would require the 2/8 Cav battalion staff journal (NARA RG 472). No D Company KIA falls within the Bolling window; the division ORLL's "Friendly KIA 0" for the entire operation closes that question definitively.

Operation Bolling II

After 2/8 Cav returned to the Pershing AO in October 1967, the 4th Battalion, 503d Infantry remained in Phu Yen Province and continued operations against the 95th NVA Regiment under the name Operation Bolling II — a designation the 173rd Airborne Brigade carried forward into 1968. The 173d ORLL for May–July 1968 records the same AO (west of Tuy Hoa), the same enemy unit (95th NVA Regiment), and the same mission. The regiment had withdrawn to the jungle west of Tuy Hoa after taking heavy casualties from ROK and ARVN forces in April 1968, and was reorganizing through mid-1968. The 2/8 Cav's brief attachment was the opening act of a sustained 173rd campaign that ran more than a year.

The fall 1967 frame

Bolling fills the central gap in 2/8 Cavalry's fall 1967 operational record. After Song Re closed on August 19, the battalion returned to the Pershing AO briefly before Bolling ran September 19 through October 14. Following the return to LZ English, the battalion conducted Bong Son operations through October, then deployed to Dak To in November — where B Company fought a major engagement at Hill 1034 on November 16–20. The battalion then moved into the Battle of Tam Quan in December, the largest named engagement of its 1967 campaign.

Help us complete the record

If you served with any company of 2/8 Cavalry in the Tuy Hoa area in September–October 1967, please reach us through the contribute form.