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Editor's Note-The following dispatch by an Associated Press correspondent covering the A Shau Valley invasion is limited to action in the first three days of the operation-a restriction imposed by the U.S. Command to keep vital information from enemy hands.
By George Esper
A SHAU VALLEY, Vietnam-(Delayed) (AP)-The 25 miles that make up A Shau Valley are a "weird piece of terrain, the screwiest piece of terrain that I've ever seen" and what's more it is not a valley.
So says Maj. Gen. John J. Tolson, the man who directed the invasion of the valley by his U.S. 1st Air Cavalry Division.
"It is like a ditch cut out of a bunch of mountains," he said just after the invasion began April 19. "It's a great big ditch among a whole bunch of hills. The bottom of the thing is 2,000 feet. You fly at 5,000 feet and you're only 3,000 feet above it.
"This is one of the most important pieces of real estate the enemy has, such as Cam Ranh Bay and Da Nang are to us. I call it the Cam Ranh Bay of North Vietnam."
Cam Ranh and Da Nang are the two biggest U.S. supply bases in South Vietnam.
The North Vietnamese apparently valued A Shau Valley-so much so that they have brought in sophisticated antiaircraft guns to defend it against Tolson's "Flying Horseman" with 200 helicopters at their command.
Tolson said he believes some of the guns-37mms that can hit aircraft at 10,000 feet-are radar-guided.
On the first day of the 1st Cav's invasion in Operation Delaware 30 U.S. helicopters were lost to gunfire or accidents while attempting to land in the thick jungles.
Some choppers were hit at 6,000 feet.
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"Hell, I've never lost that many in weeks and weeks," Tolson said. "By far it's the hottest place we've ever gone to …The old opponent gave me a big bad day."
Actually it was the first time any sizable allied force had set foot in the valley in the two years the enemy has held it.
Maj. Charles Gilmer, 35, of Sulligent, Ala., summed it up simply for his helicopter crew: "If you fly over that valley, you've got a good chance of getting killed."
Yet in the first three days of Operation Delaware, U.S. casualties were surprisingly low, despite the loss of so many helicopters.
Other pilots flew through the antiaircraft fire to follow burning helicopters to the ground and plucked the survivors to safety.
The reported American death toll in the over-all operation for April 19-21 was under 20 killed, including four helicopter crewmen. Sixteen crewmen were wounded.
The North Vietnamese lost fewer than 50 men in the opening phases of the invasion.
The helicopters shot down included several of the $1 million cargo-carrying Chinooks and Flying Cranes that can lift up to 18,000 pounds. The Flying Cranes were the first the Cavalrymen have ever lost to enemy fire while on a combat mission.
The Chinooks and Cranes were used to hoist artillery to the jagged peaks overlooking the valley.Pilots said one air burst went off inside a Chinook at about 1,500 feet. The helicopter plunged into a heavy tree canopy 150 feet from the ground, then continued down sideways. When it hit the ground, the rear end burst into flames. The two pilots escaped with burns.
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They spent the night in the bushes, and the next morning they heard a buzz saw. The sound came from American engineers carving out landing mines. The three other crewmen aboard the Chinook were reported as missing.
First Lt. Marland Spicher, 22, of El Paso, Tex., flying an observation helicopter, was escorting a Flying Crane when it was shot down.
IN FLAMES
"The gunners got him and we didn't know what was going on," Spicher recalled. "He burst into flames around 4,000 feet and the rotors flew off. All we could do was shoot up the area. We didn't know where the enemy fire was coming from."
Air Force tactical fighter-bomber pilots reported knocking out three 37mm antiaircraft positions.
To pilots flying through the valley, the peaks suddenly surge out like huge monsters. Snow white clouds swirl over it.
Suddenly it is clear; an hour later, socked in.
The main North Vietnamese supply route from Laos, Highway 548, is distinct as it winds through the valley. Huge bomb craters left by B52 bomber strikes pockmark the valley.
ARMS SEIZED
Air Cavalrymen in the valley uncovered a huge cache of arms and supplies and captured four Russian-made trucks.
The trucks, some only a year old, are now being used by the cavalry troops to transport their own supplies as the operation rolls on.
Delta Company, nicknamed the "Chinese Bandits" of the 1st Battalion of the 8th Cavalry Regiment, made the discovery. Point man on the patrol shortly after being dropped by helicopters was Pfc. Jimmy R. Rose of Smithfield, N.C. He and Sgt. Hillary Craig of Winter Park, Fla., found a single strand of communication wire.
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