The living and the dead on LZ X-Ray

17 November 1965, LZ X-Ray, Ia Drang Valley, Vietnam. Associated Press Photo by Rick Merron
17 November 1965, LZ X-Ray, Ia Drang Valley, Vietnam. Associated Press Photo by Rick Merron

On the fourth night of the 1st Cavalry Division’s fight in the Ia Drang Valley, parachute flares float to earth, bathing the dead and wounded in an eerie light. In this long exposure, you can see the shadowy forms of wounded Soldiers watching the flares come down. They appear almost as ghosts, while the dead – covered with wet ponchos – lie starkly still.

The 1st Cavalry Division’s fight at Ia Drang is one of the best-documented battlesof the Vietnam War. Over the following years, there were many larger fights, but Ia Drang marked the first large scale battle between the US Army and the North Vietnamese Army.

On the morning of 14 November 1965, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, air assaulted into LZ X-Ray in Pleiku Province. This was located about 15 miles west of Plei Me on the east side of a key terrain feature, the Chu Pong Massif, in Vietnam’s Central Highlands.

In the following days, more 1st Cavalry Division units were fed into the fight until the bulk of an entire cavalry brigade was committed. US troops totaled about three understrength infantry battalions against roughly two NVA infantry regiments. The battle developed into a bitter fight that required close support by US artillery and airpower.

1/7 Cavalry troopers rush a casualty to a distaff on LZ X-ray, 1965. Stars and Stripes Photo by Joe Galloway

Among the firsts in the Ia Drang was the employment of B-52 Superfortresses in direct support of the beleaguered Skysoldiers. The battle also marked the first time a major battle was sustained and supplied by helicopter. The battle served as a validation of the airmobile concept such as high mobility and flexibility in combat. It also highlighted some of the inherent shortcoming of the concept, such as sustaining a major fight with limited helicopter support.

The Skytroopers of the 1st Cavalry Division essentially fought the enemy to a draw in the Ia Drang. As with every battle, there was sacrifice, with 305 troopers killed and 524 wounded.(1) Divisional body counts of dead NVA troops produced conflicting numbers between 1,519 and 2,042.(2) After the war, the NVA official history put their casualties at 1,228 killed or wounded.(3)

Never forget, Mark

Notes

1. Casualty figures extracted from United States Army in Vietnam Combat Operations – Stemming the Tide, May 1965 to October 1966, page 150, by John M. Carland, Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 2000. Chapter 6 provides an outstanding narrative of the Pleiku campaign, which included the 1st Cavalry Division’s battles in the Ia Drang.

2. Op cit, page 150. Accurate body counts of enemy dead were not possible in the Ia Drang battles of November 1965. Even in 1965, US commanders debated the true number of NVA troops killed in the battle.

3. NVA postwar casualty count (559 KIA/669 WIA) are on the Wikipedia Ia Drang page in the casualties table.

4. For an excellent overview of the North Vietnamese perspective of this battle, visit The Fog of War: The Vietnamese View of the Ia Drang Battle.