 Artillery units of the 25th Infantry Division are preparing for a fire support mission in the Bongsan Sector of Bindin Province. Operation masher involving troops of the 1st Air Cavalry Division is underway, and during this initial sweep in mid-January, the 175mm guns provide supporting fires. Troops of the 25th answer their mail call and take a short rest period before getting on with a job of digging in. Originally, the Bibwak area had been cleared and secured for these units of the 25th by advance elements of the 1st Air Cavalry. By late January, the sweep of combined U.S. and South Vietnamese Army forces has driven the Viet Cong from the immediate vicinity of Bongsan, and penetration of the enemy-held province continues. 32 km north of Bongsan, Allied troops take another enemy village after inflicting heavy casualties on the dug-in V.C. The prisoners are rounded up and evacuated to brigade headquarters at Bongsan. There, the wounded will be given medical attention and intelligence teams will interrogate the Viet Cong captives. On 2 February, more units of the 1st Air Cavalry Division are deployed to the Bongsan area. Operation in Bindin Province has been renamed. By now, it is known as Operation White Wing. Moving through the elephant grass, these troops are hunting for a V.C. radio team. After landing on the grassy ridge above, the company works its way cautiously down the overgrown slope. Terrain like this helps the enemy guerrillas to escape detection. The air cavalrymen reach the floor of the valley without making contact and push on across a shallow creek. On the opposite bank, they take time out to rest. By now, it is late in the day, and the company commander decides to secure an area for overnight encampment. As clearing work commences and security patrols are dispatched, one man is treated for lacerated hands. Nearby, where another company is settling in for the night, helicopters fly in with resupply for both units. Meanwhile, foxholes and 81-millimeter mortar emplacements are prepared. 40 kilometers north of Saigon, men of the 1st Infantry Division move out from Phase Line Red, a landing zone near Foakveen. The action is called Operation Quick Kick 4, and was filmed during the period 3 to 5 February. Preparatory artillery fire has ripped the area where the intelligence reports indicate the Viet Cong have a large supply depot hidden. The objective is well screened by heavy undergrowth. The advance is halted momentarily when a Viet Cong tripwire explosive device is triggered. Three of the Americans are wounded by the mine explosion and are carried out on makeshift litters to await helicopter medivac. Viet Cong positions have been abandoned, and the enemy is nowhere to be found. Intelligence on this mission was accurate, however, and thousands of pounds of rice and peanuts are located here. A small in-board boat engine with shaft and propeller is also found. Sources of enemy supplies are widely varied. The cache included bags of fertilizer, drums of gasoline, flashlights, cameras, and steel sheeting. A truck is flown in to speed up removal of the Viet Cong's stores, and Chinook helicopters stand by to airlift the captured material to the rear. Under protection of security patrols, the soldiers of the Big Red One complete their task of loading the enemy rice and peanuts aboard the choppers. Denial of this resupply center to the Viet Cong marks the primary mission accomplishment of Operation Quick Kick 4. In the area around Tui Hoa, 400 kilometers northeast of Saigon, units of the 101st Airborne Division continue Operation Harrison on 7 and 8 March. 155-millimeter howitzers are ready for a support firing mission. Preparation fire is to be laid upon known Viet Cong positions 32 kilometers to the west of Tui Hoa. The order to fire when ready has been given. The barrage of high explosive rounds continues unabated. Also supporting the combat troops are unit mortar teams with their 4.2 weapons. Rounds are fired and the 4.2s reset after each round. Target hits can be observed and corrections easily made to blanket the area. With range and trajectory known, the mortar men proceed to obliterate the target. As a result of the punishing fires directed against them, a number of Viet Cong surrendered to the airborne soldiers, presenting safe conduct passes. Brigadier General Willard Pearson, commander of the brigade, was briefed on the progress of these units. Shortly afterward, the troops received a noted visitor from Hollywood, actor Robert Mitchum, whose trip was arranged by the Department of Defense. The new M-72 light anti-tank weapon was among the military ordinance demonstrated for the movie star. Mr. Mitchum tried the M-79 grenade launcher for himself. Then as the men chow down, the hero of many adventure films discusses the war with his combat soldier hosts. Following his hour and a half visit with the men of the 101st, Robert Mitchum departs, taking with him a vivid memory of the American fighting men in Vietnam. Elements of the 25th Infantry Division at Bon Métout, 280 km northeast of Saigon, convoy out on 7 March. Called Operation Garfield, the troop movement is being made to Bon Drang, 88 km to the north. Bon Drang, in the heart of Dalok Province, is to be the new base camp for these traffic-lightening soldiers, and they go to work pitching their tents on the dusty plain. The temporary command post is a busy place, as wounded troops are brought in from security patrol. While setting up perimeter defenses, they were fired upon by enemy snipers. Operation Garfield and the camp tactical situation are discussed by Lieutenant General John A. Hintages, Deputy Commander of MACV, and Major General Stanley Larson, Commander of Field Forces Vietnam. Meanwhile, traffic-lightening troops prepare for search and destroy missions on the perimeter of the Bon Drang sector. Minutes later, they arrive at the loading area and start boarding the waiting helicopters. A short flight brings the assault helicopters over the forward landing zone. Here, they are to discharge the fresh troops and pick up others who have secured the area. As soon as the Hueys touch down, the new assault wave disperses, and the advance party makes its way to the helicopters. When informed that there are Viet Cong in the area, newly arrived troops lose no time in digging in. Artillerymen hastily prepare their gun position. While patrolling the area, the men of the 25th come across this odd storage platform, high in a tree. The Viet Cong have a cache of rice there. Once discovered, the enemy's rice supply is quickly brought down to Earth along with the containers in which it was stored. Then, the entire find is destroyed by fire. The effort to drive the Viet Cong out of the Bon Drang area has begun. On 26th February, helicopters above the Thun Bean area, South Vietnam, are en route to their objective in Operation Eagle Flight. The chopper's head to Earth, carrying troops of the 173rd Airborne Brigade to the starting point of another search and destroy mission. This field is 32 kilometers north of Saigon. As the men move into the jungle, they find signs that the Viet Cong are close at hand. The presence of the enemy is confirmed by sniper fire. Medical attention is promptly given the wounded. A smoke marker signals the Medevac chopper. Litters with the casualties are placed aboard the chopper. As the Medevac copter departs, the troops continue their assault on the Viet Cong fortifications. Activities of the 5th Special Forces were filmed during the period 15 to 22 February. Headquartered at Nha Trong, 40 kilometers north of Cameron Bay, Special Forces Logistics Support Command handles major maintenance of equipment and serves as a supply hub for a far-flung network of strategically located A camps throughout South Vietnam. This is a section of the headquarters supply depot. Material destined for remote outposts is delivered by air. Diesel fuel for camp generators is a critical item. The show is fresh food, not only for the Special Forces A teams, but for the Vietnamese nationals who also live in the tactical camps. A three-month supply of fresh meat and vegetables is being loaded aboard an Air Force C-123 for the camp at Phu Tuck. Livestock loading sometimes presents a problem, but the beef is scheduled for shipment and that is that. Aircraft of all kinds make delivery runs to resupply Special Forces camps. Some of the larger aircraft cannot land at the camps and air drop supplies. Day after day, the resupply flights are programmed out of the Special Forces headquarters. The A camp at Phu Tuck, 40 kilometers south of Phu Tuck is typical of these installations. It has a hard-packed dirt airstrip where logistic support planes skillfully land to deliver a full load of supplies. Without these periodic resupply deliveries, the camps could not operate in enemy territory. As the trucks are loaded, every item is checked to make sure nothing was forgotten. A different kind of delivery is made to zamkaat. Here a palletized three-quarter ton truck is air drop from an Air Force C-130. The zamkaat will be used to transport construction materials from place to place within the camp perimeter while the area is undergoing development. At Duc Co, 48 kilometers south-west of Placo, this Special Forces A camp is in full operation, mounting combat patrols against the Viet Cong and gathering intelligence on enemy infiltration. The camp's first line of defense is a woven barbed wire fence and claymore mine. The trench and zone of sharp bamboo stakes are next. Then come rows of concertina barbed wire and an immobilized M41 tank. The camp's bunkers not only command broad fields of fire, but provide living quarters for the Montagnard troops. Sheltered platforms high in the trees serve as guard posts. This native fisherman repairing his net is one of the residents here. The sticks are being prepared for use in the building of a new house in the camp. Mostly Montagnard tribesmen, the villagers can build a new house in one day. The homes of these mountain people are of woven patch and erected on pilings to keep them off the ground. During the rainy season, the area is a sea of mud. At the American-built community house, the camp's residents gather for sick call. The Montagnard working special forces medic handles patients with the help of an interpreter. Part of the civic action program is a new dispensary where the specially trained medic can perform emergency operations. The strikers, as the native defense guards are called, make daily security patrols in the duck co-area. They are trained and led by special forces personnel. These Montagnard troops are tough, quick to learn, and dependable. During the patrols, these men are alert and perceptive. If the Viet Cong are in the vicinity, the Montagnard's men seem somehow to know it. Here, they have located a hidden VC mine a few kilometers down the road from the camp. A special forces demolition man is called. A plastic explosive charge is rigged to dispose of the mine. While the charge is being prepared, the strikers scan the area on the alert for Viet Cong. The temperature is 100 degrees in the shade. The demolition man finishes his job, and the security patrol heads back to the ACAP at Duck Co. On 7 March, an armored unit of the 25th Infantry Division arrives at the port of Saigon, as U.S. Navy LST, number 1158, moves slowly up channel. Deployed from Hawaii earlier, the unit's move is labeled Operation Moonlight. Due to lack of docking space, offloading is delayed until the following day, and personnel of the unit are sent ashore for the night. The short trip to the dock provides an interesting first view of Vietnam. The following morning, the LST lowers its ramp at the Vietnamese Navy base, and the long voyage from Hawaii is at an end. The men of the armored outfit board the vessel and begin offloading. The first vehicles to come down the ramp are two and a half ton trucks. M-48 tanks are next to appear. The unit brought these with them from Okinawa, where the organic equipment had been pre-shipped. The Okinawa stopover had taken less than a day. Armored personnel carriers are included in this shipment. The system of driving the fully serviced vehicles off the LST greatly speeds the unloading process, and the entire operation is completed in 30 minutes. Shortly thereafter, the convoy of armored vehicles is rolling through the streets of Saigon, heading for the 25th Division Camp at Coochee. The column moves westward at a good cliff and covers the 48 kilometers to Coochee without stopping. As the unit passes through the town of Coochee, the 25th Division Camp is in sight. The operation moonlight is completed, and the mobility and firepower of the Tropic Lightning Division has been greatly increased. On 26th February at Benoit, this howitzer of the 27th Artillery is standing by for action. A fire mission is received. The fire direction crew plots and checks the coordinates. The crew of the 8-inch howitzer repositions the weapon. The training is confirmed, the rounds loaded, and shortly thereafter, firing commences. At Fort Gulick in the Panama Canal Zone, special forces instructors are conducting a new kind of parachute training program. It is known as halo training, or high altitude, low opening. Equipped with oxygen supply and altimeter, as well as a complete combat issue, instructors are being trained to descend upon the enemy from an altitude high enough to avoid detection, either by radar or the human eye and ear. The special equipment is issued to the students on their first day. In their new student jumpsuits, the class of highly qualified parachutists who have been handpicked for this special training learn new methods of parachute rigging for the new shoot design. Throughout the five-week intensive training course, which was covered by our cameraman during February and the early part of March, body positions for the free fall are stressed. Again and again, for five weeks, the Army skydivers are drilled on controlling the free fall. From the top of an ordinary table, trainees are taught special jumping positions required for their equipment load when on actual mission. Proper exit from the aircraft is learned through use of this mock-up of an aircraft doorway. Again, body control is paramount. With the fundamentals thoroughly understood, the progressing students make dizzying leaps from the school high exit tower. The fall is broken by a safety rig attached to the trainee. Proper exits are rewarded by an easy take-off in slack. Bad starts result in quite a shake-off. Instructors make notes on a student's performance and afterward breathe each one. This is not a swimming party. It is more of the exacting training on the subject of body control while exiting from aircraft. The pool is used because of the density of the water and its resistant effect upon an entering human body. A loft, the solid mass of moving air has much the same impact. Learning to control the parachute canopy means gaining control over rate of descent and to some degree direction of drift. Preparing to make actual jumps, the students are given last-minute instructions, and their shoots, harnesses, helmets, and other equipment are thoroughly checked. Then they board an otter aircraft for the low-level practice jumps. At 4,000 feet, the parachute training plane levels off over the jump zone, and one by one, the students exit as trained. Notice the uniformity of body position. In these 4,000-foot jumps accomplished early in the program, shoot openings are delayed five seconds. Progressively longer delays are programmed to ready the special warfare jumpers and the high-altitude infiltration jumps, which require maximum free fall to avoid detection. On the ground at the drop zone, instructors study the descent techniques of the students. Watch to see if each man is getting maximum results from the highly maneuverable special-purpose parachute. Finally, the jumpers are down in prescribed form. The high-altitude jumps are conducted in the rarified atmosphere at 14,000 feet. Here, the now highly skilled men use all of the specially designed halo equipment and up to 80 pounds per man of combat gear. Should the jumper fail to open his main shoot, an altimeter with a timing device attached to his parachute opens that one automatically at 4,000 feet. For landing accuracy, body control in the free fall is vital. This specialized form of clandestine entry into enemy territory has been well learned by these students in the five weeks they have spent at Port Guli. As they complete their long journey toward Earth, the target area is reached with pinpoint accuracy. Ever mindful of possible detection by the enemy, jumpers are trained to remove their shoots from the area of impact point. They are now ready for the larger mission, which lies ahead. At Panmunjom, Korea, on 14 February, the United Nations team arrives for the 310th meeting. The Communist spokesman complains that the UN has spired on a North Korean policeman. The UN representatives listen patiently to the accusation in translation. Notes are recorded of items to investigate and answer at future sessions. A steady stream of accusations have been made during the long series of meetings. Another session ends, and the members depart to prepare for the next time. Ten days later, the North Koreans are told that their accusations are false. The North Koreans offer angry rebuttals. At Nightfield, Yonsan, Seoul, Korea, an 8th Army Honor Guard ceremony is performed on the snow-covered parade ground on 23 February. Members of the Honor Guard from various nations wear their winter uniforms. Participating in the ceremony are representatives of the United States, Britain, Thailand, Turkey, and the Republic of Korea. The members of the Honor Guard pass and review. The Republic of Korea Marines are represented. The international composition of the Guard is representative of mutual defense under the flag of the United Nations. Members of the Rock Honor Guard make up the flag detail. The vigilance of the cooperating nations maintains a stable line in Korea. At the famous Winter Sports Center, Garmish Park and Keshan, in southern Bavaria, the World Biathlon is held on 4 and 6 February. The finest biathletes from 13 nations compete for the coveted World Championship. Our team from Fort Richardson, Anchorage, Alaska is pitted against the teams of Norway, Poland, Sweden, Russia, and other countries. A 20-kilometer individual race, and on 6 February, a 30-kilometer four-man team relay race are highlights of the competition. A relay is affected between two members of team number 12, the Americans. The biathlon is judged on the basis of skiing time and marksmanship. The teams ski 30 kilometers interspersed with shooting phases. Alternating prone and standing positions are required. A 200-meter additional skiing penalty is assessed for each target miss. Meters provide accurate data. The winners are the Norwegians who swept the field. They are warmly congratulated for their spectacular showing.