 From their base camp at Khushi, 25 kilometers northwest of Saigon, elements of the 25th Infantry Division set out on another search and destroy mission. This sweep on November 3rd is part of Operation Kalihi, which began in early September. From Hobo Woods to the northern reaches of Warzone Sea, these airborne strikes against the Viet Cong are an old story to the men of the Tropic Lightning Division. All strikes are similar, yet each operation is different. Landing in some jungle meadow where the enemy may be watching and waiting is always an anxious affair. For the men of the first wave, the immediate job is to secure the landing zone, and they move quickly to the perimeter of the field. Within minutes, the second wave of troops arrives, and the mission to search the field hole rubber plantation is about to get underway. On the perimeter of the landing zone, the company commander radios an armored column which will rendezvous with the troops. Some distance away, the APC is respond. Then it's time to move out, and the troopers of the red taro leaf enter the jungle which borders the huge rubber plantation. Again and again, the enemy has been reported in this area, one of the toughest Viet Cong strongholds in Vietnam. Six hundred meters from the landing zone, the infantrymen are joined by seven armored personnel carriers. During the night which followed, these units were hit by the Viet Cong with mortars and rifle grenades. Our return fire continues well into daylight. Hours, the men of the 25th are closing in on the cluster of buildings which once housed the plantation offices and workshops. The shelling from the APCs and our mortars has reduced the structures to rubble. The Viet Cong have withdrawn, taking their casualties with them. The searchers press onward toward the village of Phu Hoa Dung, where they will serve as a blocking force for Vietnamese Rangers of the 5th Arvind Division, sweeping down from the northeast. Through the tangle of vines and clinging jungle growth, the APCs cut a swath where the advancing troops can follow. Emerging from the dense jungle surrounding the rubber plantation, the troopers find the Viet Cong have scattered. Here a meeting is held to coordinate forces. Before entering the village, the plan is discussed with the American advisor to the Arvind units. The Viet Cong stronghold appears deserted as the traffic lightning troops cautiously begin their probe. With the Arvind forces covering all avenues of escape to the north and east, the Americans search from house to house. The unnatural silence is oppressive and tension mounts. One of the searchers has triggered a Viet Cong booby trap. He is badly wounded and must be evacuated immediately. A howitzer shell was rigged as the booby trap. The mission goes on. This is what it's like during Operation Kalihi. An urgent request for artillery support is called in from a reconnaissance platoon hit by the Viet Cong grenades and rifle fire. The response of the howitzer battery is immediate and their 105 millimeter guns open up. It is 18 November and Operation Attleboro, the largest scale operation in the war to date, is in its fourth week. Its objective? To destroy war zone C as a Viet Cong sanctuary. Brigadier General John R. Dean, Assistant Commander of the First Infantry Division, is briefed on the engagement. The 28 man patrol was hit while moving through a wooded area 30 kilometers northwest of Tainin. As the patrol moves clear of the area, an airstrike is called in. The strain of concern and fatigue is etched on many faces as the strike is directed onto enemy positions threatening the patrol. First Infantry Division Commander, Major General William Depew arrives to discuss the situation with Major General Fred Wyant, Commander of the 25th Infantry Division. Attleboro involves elements of several divisions with a big red one in operational control. UH-1D air ambulances begin to arrive with the first of the wounded from the ambush patrol. Some men have been hit pretty hard and are being landed at the command post for emergency treatment before going on to hospital. General Depew personally presents several purple hearts right on the spot. The wounds are bandaged and splints fixed in place as quickly as possible. Then the wounded are put back aboard the choppers and evacuation continues. A call from the patrol leader is received confirming that the bombardment and airstrike has driven off the enemy. The platoon cautiously returns to sweep the area and a cache of enemy weapons is discovered. They are examined by General Dean and Brigadier General Charles Hollingsworth, also Assistant Division Commander of the First Infantry. The captured equipment includes ammunition, grenades, several types of mines, rifles and a shotgun, as well as a number of Viet Cong maps. Operation Attleboro, which has already claimed a thousand enemy dead and three million pounds of captured rice continues successfully. Airboat operation in Vietnam begins in the classroom where skilled instructors using enlarged mock-ups of controls teach Vietnamese Army personnel and mercenaries fundamentals. An engine is checked out by an instructor prior to a trial run. Then the boats line up for the start. A machine gunner gives his weapon a last-minute check. The fiberglass propeller-driven boats are powered by 180 horsepower engines. In these scenes photographed at Kham To and Khai Khai on 15 and 16 November, trial runs across reed-filled marshes give the new crews experience in maneuvering. The instructor teaches the operators to cross low obstacles in the water. Gunners learn to scan the growth for any signs of the Viet Cong hidden along their route. Maneuvering in narrow canals is practice. Trainees learn to pass each other in the limited space, but occasionally one is hung up. But they are soon disengaged and off again. Precise beaching techniques are taught using markers. The instructor is exacting with the trainees. The boats continue beaching practice under the instructor's critical eye and when they're right it's thumbs up. A young crew member enjoys recognition of his friends on shore as the boat moves rapidly past the village. Soon the boat teams are out on actual patrol. Their normal crew augmented by three civilian irregular defense personnel. The boats are now operational in four sections of the fourth core area. The Viet Cong have a great fear of these boats which they refer to as Jeep boats. The soldiers stop at a civilian hut to ask if the Viet Cong have been in the area. Fast and efficient these boats greatly increase the effectiveness of water patrol teams. At dawn on 9 November in Vietnam an escorted convoy prepares to leave Nha Trong. Weapons are checked as the road to Banh Mi Thu Th may be intercepted by the Viet Cong. Tankers carrying vital fuel are protected against possible attack by the enemy. Members of the 272nd MP Company of Nha Trong remain on the alert as the convoy proceeds along the road. The convoy arrives safely at Banh Mi Thu Th and stands by to refuel the depot. The fighting men of the 1st Brigade 101st Airborne Division form up to pay tribute to a comrade on the 28th day of October. Here at Tui Hoa 1st Sergeant Walter Sabelowski is retiring after 30 years of service. General William C. Westmoreland U.S. Commander in Vietnam and Brigadier General Willard Pearson commanding the 1st Brigade troop the line. These ceremonies not only mark the end of a gallant soldier's career spanning three wars but honor him for repeated acts of bravery while engaged in a two-day battle with the Viet Cong on June 9 and 10. During the battle at Duc Tha Khan Valley 1st Sergeant Sabelowski was wounded but refused evacuation fighting on until the enemy was repelled. Now he is awarded the distinguished service cross by General Westmoreland. For 1st Sergeant Walter Sabelowski a fitting climax to the veteran's years of service. Patrol boats of the U.S. Navy move up the Jau Doc River to search for people stranded in Vietnam's worst flood in years. The entire Mekong Delta land is affected in the region 190 kilometers southwest of Saigon. Villages and farms are completely inundated as the Mekong River and its tributaries overflow their banks. Fed by heavy rains of the monsoon season the rivers flood these lowlands every year but 1966 is the worst on record. Every bit of high ground such as Nui Sam mountain is occupied by refugees during the first week of October. At Nui Sam members of the U.S. Army Special Forces have set up a refugee relief camp and daily distribute food and administer medical aid. Similar camps have been established in other localities. Long accustomed to a life of privation and hard labor these Vietnamese peasants accept the new burden imposed by nature with calm resignation. When the floods recede they will resume their work in the rice fields. For those who live and work in the towns like Jau Doc the flood is an even greater disaster. Shops and merchandise, businesses and homes all are ruined. Communications are disrupted and food is in short supply. Excluding the loss of the rice harvest damages estimated in the millions. In a joint effort to assist the flood victims the U.S. Army Special Forces, the U.S. Navy and the United States Agency for International Development are cooperating in the relief program. A mobile Navy medical unit administers typhus serum with a lightning fast high pressure air injector. With the crisis now under control Vietnam looks toward a rapid recovery from the flood of 1966. Thanksgiving in Vietnam takes many forms. At the fifth special forces camp near Benoit the traditional turkey is ready for a rather untraditional journey. Prepared by Sergeant Lonnie Mitchell the bird is destined for a special forces detachment dug in at Zom Kot in war zone D and accessible only by air. After being carved and packed in marmite cans the turkey and trimmings are ready to go. Since the bird can't do any more flying of its own a chopper does the honors. After being landed at an LZ near the 12 man unit the eagerly awaited feast is trucked over the last leg of the journey. On reaching the detachment the sergeant sets up his chow line as quickly as possible. The men are expecting an attack by a North Vietnamese unit but even that grim prospect doesn't dim their enjoyment. Thanksgiving dinner with cranberry sauce sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie still tastes mighty good. Similar airlift operations to many isolated units were typical of this year's Thanksgiving in Vietnam. Near Melgar at the Colombian Army's engineer maintenance and supply company a U.S. mobile training team from the canal zone begins maintenance classes for a group of soldier mechanics. The company supported by the U.S. military aid program is almost entirely concerned with road building projects throughout the nation. For Colombia which is divided into three parts by the Andes modern roads are vital to development. Many of the classes are held outdoors and stress practical experience with the more than 600 pieces of equipment in use by the outfit. When the Americans leave some of the NCO students will take over as instructors for incoming recruits. In a related project another U.S. team has been assigned to the Colombian mechanized reconnaissance battalion in Bogota. The Colombian unit possessed a wide range of map supplied equipment but there were few operators qualified to use it. The U.S. team set up a four week course for officers and NCOs covering theory, engineering, maintenance and plenty of practice. Several days are spent on each type of radio and the progress of each student carefully graded. Sergeant Elio Fregoso instructs the group in the use of the A.N. slash OR-109 portable radio with hand-cranked power supply. Graduation is held at the completion of the course. Each man receives congratulations and a diploma certifying him as a qualified operator. The 7th Army Aviation Training Center at Schlesheim, 10 miles north of Munich, has been organized by a directive of the Department of the Army based on its worldwide requirements for additional helicopter pilots. The mission of this center is to qualify 250 Eusserur fixed wing aviators as rotary wing aviators prior to 31 December 1966. The intensive course includes 136 hours of academic instruction including aerodynamics, helicopter maintenance, tactics and flight line subjects. Military instructors are aided by field service representatives such as Mr. Bill Owens of Bell Helicopter Corporation who explains the system of the Rotor Blade Assembly. 145 hours are devoted to flying time. The aviators learned to pilot the OH-13 with transition training in the UH-1B and CH-34. Takeoff, landing and aircraft maneuvering have been integrated into the course. Advanced students are trained to airlift sling loads. Guided by a signalman the student pilot comes in for a clean hookup. Clearly the 7th Army Aviation School is taking up the slack in the training of helicopter pilots. The 32nd Army Air Defense Command with its Nike Hercules and Mobile Hawk missile battalions serves to protect Europe's skies against enemy aggression. To ensure maximum operational readiness among Hawk missile batteries, operational readiness evaluation teams visit the sites for spot checks. Upon their arrival part of the team checks in at the Battery Control Center. The operator is informed that an ORE is about to begin. To simulate battle stations the evaluator announces blazing skies and starts to clock the fire unit. The alert is sounded. And the crew emerges from the ready room on the double. On a dead run they head for their assigned posts. They must be ready to fire in 15 minutes. Communications are established with the control center while the crew prepares the missiles. The evaluator carefully observes the checks being made to ensure that they are being properly performed. At the radars another ORE evaluator observes the crew as they apply power and make adjustments. The system is on the air. Another readiness evaluation has been made by ORE. At the Luxembourg American Military Cemetery on 11 November a ceremony is held in honor of General George Patton who led the troops liberating Luxembourg. The formalities are part of the Armistice celebration held near Luxembourg city. Brigadier General Edward A. Bailey assistant division commander eighth infantry division addresses the guests. Then members of girl scout and boy scout organizations carry wreaths from the monument down the chapel steps to be placed on the grave sites. Among the graves honored is that of General Patton. The ceremony reflects the inscription on the monument. Proud remembrance.