SEPTEMBER 1969
General Elvy Benton Roberts’s 1st Air Cavalry Division retained the offensive throughout the summer as the monsoon season approached. Units of the 1/9 saw much of the action as they struck enemy troops, supply lines, and assembly areas throughout War Zone C. The 1st Squadron accounted for 25 percent of casualties inflicted upon the enemy during the month of September. The NVA lost 149 soldiers to the 1st Cav in a single week; the 1/9 accounted for 100 of these kills.
Air power pounded War Zone C. Fighter jets dropped tear gas to run the enemy out of his holes, then massed B-52 bombing runs smashed him with Arc Light attacks. Large amounts of chemical gas crystals fell from the air to contaminate enemy supplies and channel enemy movement. Helicopter gunships constantly harassed the enemy.
Air assaults, “bunker busting,” and search-and-destroy missions continued as the 1st Cav stretched its screen entirely across northern III Corps, systematically whittling down the offensive momentum of the four NVA/VC divisions in the AO and rendering them incapable of inflicting damage on Saigon. This activity cost the lives of 567 cavalry troopers. Another 3,555 were wounded.