187th AHC and the Presidential Unit Citation

(Note: Although this doesn’t fit into the sequence I had planned here, it is a story I believe needs to be told. It’s more about military customs and protocols than it is about my participation in the war, but it does have significance. I didn’t understand any of that until I began a search for more information about the 187^th AHC receiving a Presidential Unit Citation.)

A number of years ago, then President Barack Obama awarded the Presidential Unit Citation to soldiers of Troop A, 1^st Squadron of the 11^th Armored Cavalry Regiment, who had earned it during the Vietnam War. They had, on March 26, 1970, broken through the jungle to rescue about 100 other soldiers who had stumbled into an enemy bunker complex. These soldiers were outnumbered about four to one. Troop A, risking ambush, land mines, and enemy attack, smashed through to assist their fellow soldiers.

The Presidential Unit Citation

It was a story that reached a national audience and I wondered what the big deal was. True, it was a unit citation given by the President but it was a unit citation and I didn’t understand the overall significance of it.

Let me explain. Almost from the moment I entered the Army back in 1968, I had been authorized to wear a Presidential Unit Citation. Not in basic training, of course, and not during flight school, but as I left Vietnam in September 1969, I was told that we had earned a Presidential Unit Citation, and a Valorous Unit Citation, for which I barely qualified. In my assignments to other units after graduation from the University of Iowa and receiving a commission in the Air Force, I was sent to Air Force units that had earned their own Presidential Unit Citations.

Here’s the kicker. Anyone assigned to the unit, even if not present for the action in which the award was made, has the right to wear the award while assigned to the unit. When I reported to the 442^nd Tactical Airlift Wing at Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base, I learned that I could wear a Presidential Unit Citation earned by the predecessors in the organization during the Normandy Invasion in the Second World War. To me, it meant little. I hadn’t been a member of the unit that had earned the award, no one in the unit had been with it when the award was made, and few, if any, knew what had been done to receive it.

But after seeing the article in the newspaper, and after looking at the websites for the 1^st Aviation Brigade, the 269^th Combat Aviation Battalion, and the 187^th Assault Helicopter Company, all of which mentioned that the Presidential Unit Citation had been awarded to the 187^th AHC, as well as the 116^th AHC, I wondered what we all had done. There was nothing anywhere on those websites that gave me the answer.

I began a search, first using Google but could only find out that both the 187^th and the 116^th had received the award for action that took place from 24 April to 26 April 1969. No specifics about the action and I had no memory of anything that spectacular happening at that time.

Looking at my flight records and at the little notebook I carried back then, as well as the pictures I had taken, I could find nothing to clue me in. I remembered night actions in which the ground units had been shot up badly. In one case, flying with the Hornets, we flew into a hot landing zone at night and took so much fire that the Command and Control ordered us not to land but to just get out of there. Several of the aircraft were so badly shot up that they had to head back to Cu Chi or land somewhere away from the LZ for later retrieval. But that was in the fall of 1968 and had nothing to do with this.

A search of the General Orders (GO) for 1969 and 1970 gave me no hints because I wasn’t sure when the General Order had been written. Searches using all kinds of names, organizations provided nothing, other than both the Crusaders and the Hornets had received the Presidential Unit Citation for the same action.

I tried various combinations of the names of the units, figuring that learning what the Hornets had done would tell me what the Crusaders had done, but found nothing. I concocted several plans to learn more but one night, on a lark, tried Presidential Unit Citation 187^th Assault Helicopter Company, rather than 187^th AHC, figuring it would make no difference because it was the same thing.

But this took me straight to General Order No. 14, dated 10 May 1973 and provided the information I needed. The Presidential Unit Citation was awarded to Company C, 4^th Battalion, 9^th Infantry, 25^th Infantry Division; Battery B, 7^th Battalion, 11^th Artillery, 25^th Infantry Division; Company B, 25^th Aviation Battalion [known as the Little Bears]; Troop D, 3D Squadron, 4^th Cavalry; 116^th Assault Helicopter Company and the 187^th Assault Helicopter Company.

I now had the citation that told me a little about the battle but not much. The key, in the citation, was the line, “With full knowledge of the enemy’s intentions, Patrol Base Frontier City was constructed adjacent to the Cambodian border on 24 April 1969, directly in the path of the enemy’s intended route of advance.”

Using the search engines, I typed in Patrol Base Frontier City and learned about the battle that I had seen. I still remembered little about that special mission, but only because it was shrouded by all the others taking place in that time frame. There had been a lot of missions in support of various bases around the Angel’s Wing area of the Cambodian border and the land north of Tay Ninh in what was then called III Corps. This all was something like fifty or sixty miles from Saigon, and about half that distance to the main base of the 25^th Infantry Division at Cu Chi. The 25^th Aviation Battalion and the Hornets were based there as well. The Crusaders were in the large base camp northwest of Tay Ninh.

Patrol Base Frontier City was what was known as an “instant patrol base.” It had been built in about nine hours using two bulldozers, one flown in by helicopter and the other rafted down a river to be driven overland to the site of the base. An engineer stake was driven into the ground in the center of a large, open area, and a 130-foot-long rope was tied to the stake and used to trace the bunker line.

With these preliminaries carried out, twenty-four pre-packaged bunker kits were flown in and dropped onto the perimeter. There was a shaped demolition charge with each kit and that was used to excavate the bunker. The soldiers then squared the resulting crater off and used the other materials that included pierced steel planks (PSP) and bundles of sandbags, to finish each of the nine-foot bunkers.

The first equipment arrived at about 0800 hours in the morning and by 1700 hours the patrol base was ready. It included a prefabricated observation tower, radar, starlight scopes, two 105 mm howitzers, concertina wire and claymore mines. There were ammunition pits and an unobstructed field of fire out to at least 100 yards. One company was airlifted out and Charlie Company assumed control of the base.

There was no action that first night. The enemy, elements of the 271^st and 272^nd NVA Regiments, were spotted moving around the perimeter in small groups, but made no attack. These enemy units, a klick or more from the patrol base perimeter, were engaged with artillery from fire support bases in the surrounding area.

Aerial photograph of Patrol Base Frontier City.

The next day, April 25, 1969, was spent reinforcing the perimeter, adjusting the fields of fire of the crew served weapons, and finally extracting the two bulldozers by heavy helicopters. Alpha Company, flown in for the purpose, made security patrols, but there was no contact with the enemy. Late in the afternoon, they were extracted.

At 1945 hours, about dusk, the radar picked up company-sized unit moving to the southwest of the base. The target was not engaged. Major Harry Ray, the senior officer present and the 4^th Battalion Operations Officer, wanted to let the situation develop. There was no firing from either side.

An hour later, about 2100 hours, a platoon-sized unit was spotted through the starlight scope. It was setting up RPG launchers about 1000 yards or a klick away. Ray ordered that the enemy position marked by flares and the perimeter illuminated with pre-placed smudge pots. Two cobra gunships from the 25^th Aviation Battalion attacked the enemy. A helicopter flare ship began to drop better illumination creating a scene of strange color with dancing shadows.

At that time, artillery at the nearby fire support bases began to fire rounds from eight-inch guns, 155 mm and 105 mm howitzers, and another helicopter gun team was called in. The area to the south of the patrol base was brought under heavy direct and indirect fire. The base’s two howitzers joined in, and rounds were now dropping from about fifty yards from the perimeter out to about 1000 yards. By 2330 hours, the firing had slowed and then ceased and it was momentarily quiet.

The enemy had not withdrawn and just after midnight, they opened fire with both rockets and mortars. Gunships from both the 25^th Aviation Battalion and the 3^rd Squadron of the 4^th Armored Cavalry began their attacks, as did Air Force gunships that carried multiple miniguns and heavier weapons. The area about the patrol bases was peppered with aerial and ground-based artillery and with fire from miniguns that looked like ruby red rays playing across an alien landscape.

At 0100 the enemy rocket and mortar fire tapered off, and a battalion-sized attack was launched from the south. A Bangalore torpedo was used to blow up a section of the wire and during the assault that followed, eleven of the enemy soldiers reached the interior of the base. The claymore mines were detonated, and several of the American soldiers ran from their bunkers to engage the enemy. The company commander, Captain Ramon T. Pulliam, manned one of the M60 machine guns during the assault. The two howitzers lowered their tubes and fired at the enemy at point blank range using flechettes, that is, firing rounds that contained dozens of small metal darts designed as an anti-personnel weapon.

Gunships from both the Hornets and the Crusaders began working the area, backing up the teams from the other aviation units. An enemy .51 machine opened fire on one of the gunships as he rolled through the area.

A cobra pilot called, over the radio, “Can you roll through again to draw the fire and I’ll suppress it.”

The response was quick from the C model gunship. “No, you roll through there and I’ll suppress the fire.”

The gunships, working to stop the assault, seemed to break the enemy’s back. Air strikes, heavy artillery, and the artillery and machine gun fire from inside the patrol base were too much. The enemy’s crew served and heavy weapons were destroyed, and the battalion strength assaults had failed to overrun the perimeter except for the small hole in the southern wire that was quickly filled. The enemy soldiers there were overwhelmed and forced to retreat.

By 0330, the enemy was attempting to disengage.  Helicopter gunships and artillery harassed that action. The enemy left 214 dead on the battlefield. Six others were taken prisoner. Sixty-four individual weapons and thirteen crew-served weapons were captured or destroyed. One American on the ground was wounded.

Looking at the interior of the camp from outside the wire.

The citation that accompanied the award of the Presidential Unit Citation said, in part, “With full knowledge of the enemy’s intentions, Patrol Base Frontier City was constructed adjacent to the Cambodian border ... directly in the path of the enemy’s intended route of advance. During the early morning hours of 26 April 1969, the patrol base was attacked by an enemy force estimated to be two reinforced battalions of Viet Cong and North Vietnamese regulars. Although the enemy fought savagely to seize the base, the defenders repeatedly repelled the determined, combined artillery and infantry assaults on their position. Purposely permitting the enemy to approach within a thousand meters of their position before bringing them under fire with artillery, mortars, machineguns, small arms and air strikes, the brave defenders devastated the enemy attack. Enemy forces were able to breach the perimeter wire at only one point, but were trapped in a blistering cross-fire and were unable to exploit their gain. The attack was completely stopped and the enemy forces were routed with heavy losses of men and equipment. Totally defeated, the enemy was forced to withdraw to sanctuaries in Cambodia, leaving behind a large number of casualties, numerous weapons, and a large amount of ammunition.”

But that wasn’t the only testament to the soldiers. According to an after-action report on the 25^th Infantry Division website, “By late May the division was able to move freely throughout the area without fear of small unit contacts. Civic action teams went into the villages to find a new confidence there in the allied ability to defend. Vietnamese civilians, no longer faced with the fear of enemy reprisals cooperated with the American and ARVN soldiers by pointing out booby traps, supply caches and enemy bunker complexes.”

Three weeks after the battle, on May 14, 1969, Patrol Base Frontier City was torn down by the same men who had defended it. Delta Company, 4^th Battalion, 9^th Infantry provided security for them. It had been erected as a temporary stronghold, served its purpose, and then ceased to exist.

So, now I knew what had happened and why the Presidential Unit Citation had been given to the units named. But there was one other thing that I hadn’t understood, and that was the significance of the award.

According to Army regulations, “The Presidential Unit Citation is awarded to units of the Armed Forces of the United States and co-belligerent nations for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy occurring on or after 7 December 1941. The unit must display such gallantry, determination, and espirit de corps in accomplishing its mission under extremely difficult and hazardous conditions as to set it apart and above other units participating in the same campaign. The degree of heroism required is the same as that which would warrant award of a Distinguished Service Cross to an individual. Extended periods of combat duty or participation in a large number of operational missions, either ground or air is not sufficient.”

The battle for, and around Patrol Base Frontier City, is not of major significance in the overall picture of the Vietnam War. Fewer than a thousand soldiers on either side were engaged and the American media took no notice of it. The battle was fought within sight of the Cambodian border, there was a single American casualty and he was only wounded. No one outside of those who took part even knew about it and it certainly hasn’t made any of the major books about the war. But it did mean a lot to the men who were there and who were recognized for their courage, even if that recognition came four years after the battle and certainly after the majority of them had left Vietnam, left the army, and never knew that they had received the award.

I certainly fit into that category. I had only heard that we had been awarded a Presidential Unit Citation, but no one seemed to know what it was for, and while I left Vietnam in September 1969 believing that the award had been received, the General Order was dated 1973.

Given what I know now, given the research I have done, made so much easier by the Internet, I can tell the story of that brief little fight in the dark of April 25 that was over before the sun rose on April 26. The fact that so few know about this, including those of us who were there, just reinforces the public perception of Vietnam. But here was a fight with the Americans outnumbered, using their technology, communications, and courage to repel an enemy force that badly outnumbered them, an enemy who then retreated across an imaginary line on the ground to an artificial sanctuary. Now, however, many more of us know what happened, and we have one more reason to be proud of the Army that did a thankless job in an obscure place in a war that so few understood.