 In the narrow corridor across the northern portion of South Vietnam, you will find some of the finest fighting men who have ever worn the uniform of the United States Army. Their job is tough, but they are tougher still, whether a float, on wheels and treads or a foot, they do what they have to do and nothing stops them. With all their supporting units, the men of this division come from a special task force, designed to secure the land and defeat the enemy no matter where he may be. There's is a proud history of jungle warfare victory under the sign of the Southern Cross. This is the inspiring saga of the American Division. World War II in the Pacific. They called it Task Force 6814, 25,000 American troops from Massachusetts, Illinois and North Dakota. In March 12, 1942, they landed at Numea, New Caledonia. Their mission was to help the French defend the island against invasion by the Japanese. Within two months after their arrival in New Caledonia, the Task Force was activated as a full U.S. Army Division under the command of Major General Alexander M. Patch. It was the first time a U.S. Army Division was ever activated on foreign soil. Instead of a numerical designation, the division became known as the American Cal Division, a combination of the words America and Caledonia. In October 1942, the division began a two-year odyssey to find and fix the Imperial Japanese Army forces in the South Pacific. Troops of the 164th Infantry Regiment landed on Guadalcanal and became the first American Army unit to conduct offensive operations against the enemy in any theater of war. These American troops spent five months participating in the battles to hold Guadalcanal. The men of the 182nd Infantry Regiment fought in the green hell of Bougainville from Christmas Day 1943 to December 1944. They crushed elements of the Japanese Army's sixth division in a bloody struggle for Hill 260. Staff Sergeant Jesse Drowley received the Medal of Honor for his exceptional bravery on Bougainville. Throughout the spring and summer of 1945, the American Cal Division swept through the Philippines, landing at Laity, Cebu, Negros, and Mindanao. At the end of the Philippines campaign, they spent time as occupation forces in the Japanese homeland. In December 1945, the division was sent home and deactivated. 1967, Vietnam, 22 years after the close of World War II, history begins to repeat itself. It's a different war in a different land and once again there's a special need for an Army task force designed to secure the land and defeat the enemy in a given area. To meet this need, the U.S. Military Assistance Command organizes Task Force Oregon, which as it turned out later, was to become the new American Cal Division. Assigned to the task force are two light infantry brigades, one brigade of regular infantry, one airborne brigade, and one brigade of air mobile cavalry. The Republic of Vietnam for military purposes is divided into four parts called core areas. The first core is the area immediately below the demilitarized zone, which separates north and south Vietnam. Known as I-Core, this area is one of the worst troubled spots of the war. Originally, the United States Marines kept the lid on in this group of provinces. But in late 1966, the demilitarized zone became such a hotbed of enemy activity, the Marines were obliged to concentrate their forces in the area between Da Nang and the DMZ. This left the entire southern portion of the I-Core area without an adequate fighting force to control the Communist enemy there. The commander of the U.S. Military Assistance Command, concerned for the security of Highway 1, a vital supply route running through the core area, and for the dwindling economy of the region, selected the peninsula at Chulai as headquarters for a special task force of U.S. Army units. The highlands overlooking the corridor served as a stronghold for the second North Vietnamese Army forces. At night, the NVA would travel down the many rivers to infiltrate the villages and sabotage the highway. From their hidden artillery positions high in the mountains, they shelled the valleys, towns, and airstrips below. Whatever the North Vietnamese Army forces didn't do, Viet Cong guerrilla bands did for them. The 196th Light Infantry Brigade was the first element of Task Force Oregon to arrive in I-Core area. They began operations to clear the area around Chulai. It was mid-April 1967. In the forward area, the chargers of the 196th established bases from which they could patrol the surrounding countryside and coastal waterways. In the rice farming district, the Viet Cong collected unbearable taxes from the farmers and forced the peasants to give them shelter and provide them with hiding places. Under orders from Major General William B. Rosson, commander of Task Force Oregon, the U.S. troops began searching out the V-C, who so cleverly concealed themselves in these villages. The job had begun. The second element of Task Force Oregon, the third brigade of the 25th Infantry Division, took charge of the sector around Duc Phu. Immediately after their arrival, they launched Operation Malheur to rid the district of Viet Cong. During the third week of May, they made contact with the battalion-sized force of Viet Cong. The enemy was well entrenched and some of the bitterest fighting in the history of Quang Nai province took place. By the time Operation Malheur ends, this unit of the 25th Infantry Division has been redesignated, the third brigade of the 4th Infantry. The enemy leaves behind him contaminated rice supplies. Following a search for hidden weapons, the rice is destroyed. Brigadier General Matheson, commander of the 101st Airborne Brigade, arrives at a mountaintop command post, where his unit, now part of Task Force Oregon, is about to launch tactical operations in the area around Duc Phu. These combat veterans plan their campaign well, pinpointing objectives in the jungles to the west. The men of the 101st also find the enemy to be well dug in and tenacious. Digging them out and keeping them out is a full-time assignment which keeps the 101st busy from early May until September 1967. Each encounter, captured enemy weapons are examined, tagged and sent to brigade headquarters for further study. The enemy himself is closely questioned when captured. U.S. intelligence officers gain much useful information from such interrogation, often leading to capture of additional enemy troops. Meanwhile, northward at July, men of the 196th are busy evacuating and resettling the inhabitants of various villages, where until now the Viet Cong have held sway. There's 80,000 residents. Only some 30,000 are considered loyal to the South Vietnamese government. The remaining 50,000 are enemy sympathizers. Everything is done to pacify the area. Civic action programs bring medical assistance to remote hamlets where no doctor has ever set foot and where the need for such service is great. The rivers of the region serve as watery highways, not only for the native fishermen of the area, but for the enemy as well. U.S. assault and patrol boats must keep constant vigil for enemy arms shipments, clandestine troop movements, and transport by water of supplies for the enemy infiltrators. Native boats are examined for secret cargoes of guns and ammunition. When satisfied, the troopers head inland. Fishing communities and farms along the way are checked thoroughly for hidden Viet Cong and to evaluate the sympathies of the residents. Often the patrols find the villages deserted. The fact that the inhabitants of flood is considered strong indication of the presence of Viet Cong. Men arriving at Chu Lai as replacements for the 196th Light Infantry Brigade, I sent through the brigade's Charger Academy. Here, the new soldiers from Stateside are given a rigorous course on how to stay alive in Vietnam. You've also got to know what size ticket it takes to knock him down with. Because if you just stun him, you're in for another behind whooping, right? And we can't go for that out here in the combat zone. Sophisticated ambush tactics learned the hard way are taught by battle-hardened veteran instructors. We've walked down trails over here. Therefore, we couldn't have made these trails. Check my hand out. Now, I crossed here. You can see the guy can't look down there and see me, right? We like to cross the road or trail at the bend. Then he will establish one on the far side in case we get hit when we're almost all the way across there. Then they will move out in a particular farm base that they're going to be traveling in. Above Chu Lai in the Tom Key sector, the men of the 101st Airborne launch Operation Wheeler in mid-September 1967. It is to be one of the longest running continuous military operations of the war. Confronting the Americans are the elite troops of a North Vietnamese division. Aided by the Viet Cong, they are deeply entrenched throughout the entire district with headquarters somewhere in the forbidding mountains marking the Laotian border. Every inch of ground is carefully scrutinized by patrols as they probe the area for hidden enemy arms caches and underground fortifications. 1967 marks a turning point for the men of Task Force Oregon. Troops of the 3rd Brigade 1st Cavalry Division Air Mobile join the Task Force and in the mountains and plains of the Chu Lai district commends Operation Wallowa. Task Force units are now in action throughout all of southern I-Core. At the same time, another light infantry brigade, the 198th arrives in the Duc Phau area. The troops fresh from the United States are trained in the ways of the enemy they soon will have to face. Their instructors are experts on Viet Cong booby traps and tactics. Native women may be used by the enemy to trap the unwary. Operation Wallowa really puts the pressure on the enemy. Air support of American ground troops and the use of high-speed Huey gunships impresses the enemy clearly with the meaning of air cavalry. Enemy forces firing from the cover of buildings are neutralized. On the occasion of October 26, 1967, the Americal Division is officially reborn. All five major army units, which along with supporting elements made up Task Force Oregon, are represented at the ceremonies in Chu Lai. Task Force Commander Brigadier General Samuel W. Coster is promoted to Major General and named Commander of the new Americal Division. As the colors of the Americal Division are presented to Major General Coster, the division is officially activated under his command. General Westmoreland, then commander of all U.S. military forces in Vietnam, pays tribute to the men of the former Task Force and reminds them of the Americal Division's proud history in World War II. Two months later on December 20, 1967, the last brigade to join the division, the 11th Light Infantry Brigade, arrives at the port of Quynh Yen. Its arrival makes the Americal Division the largest U.S. Army division in Vietnam. The men of the 11th Brigade are assigned to the Duc Phu area for in-country combat training and orientation. As the new year of 1968 begins, units of the Americal Division are stepping up the pace of their efforts to rid southern I-Core area of any major enemy threat. By now, Operation Swiehler and Wallowa have been combined. In the Kwaesong Valley region, west of Chulai, troops of the 1st Cavalry are joined by elements of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade and together they effectively curtail activities of the North Vietnamese Army. In the northern reaches of Quang Nai province, hundreds of enemy tunnels are discovered by soldiers of the 198th Light Infantry Brigade and elements of the 11th Light Infantry Brigade while conducting an Allied Forces search and clear operation called Operation Muscatine. In addition to finding valuable intelligence material and weapons in these subterranean passageways, demolitions men are called in and the vast underground complex is destroyed. In the intensified fighting throughout I-Core, the men of the Americal Division create a valorous new chapter in the Division's history. In mid-March, Major General Samuel W. Coster, Division Commander, bestows medals for exceptional heroism to many men in the field. Easter Sunday, 1968. Religious services are brought to the men of the Division wherever their post of duty requires them to be. Spring has come to Vietnam and by now the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Air Cavalry Division has returned to its Air Mobile Parent Division. Gone too are the fighting men of the 3rd Brigade 4th Infantry Division and Americal is now at its authorized strength. The Americal Division does not go unscathed. In rice paddies, jungles and mountains, the Dark Struggle claims the lives of many good men who wear the star-studded shield. Every American lost, the Division kills 10 to 15 of the enemy. With each man lost, the Division's resolve to win is strengthened and Americal's fighting men press forward in their mission. Throughout the sweltering summer of 1968, the Division steps up its program of training for members of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. The M-60 machine gun is phased into the Vietnamese Army weapons system. Allied soldiers are taught to use scout dogs. The training is thorough and the Vietnamese soldiers are quick to learn. Mortar teams are drilled in exercises to set up and to site in plot and fire the big 81 millimeter U.S. mortars. In the field of medical service, Vietnamese trainees are taught efficient first aid techniques and battlefield medical procedures. Every effort is made to help the soldiers of the Vietnamese Republic increase their capabilities and thus contribute more effectively to the defense of their own freedom. By late summer, units of the first armored cavalry regiment, which have been part of the Americal Division since the first of the year, are teaming up with infantry to crush enemy resistance in the Division's area of responsibility. The mechanized forces of Operation Burlington Trail scour the Tom Key district, keeping Highway 1 open for all allied traffic moving northwards. In one battle during the operation, men of the 196 supported by armor kill 470 North Vietnamese Army troops and still the sweep continues, driving the enemy forces from the district. Everywhere in the southern I-Core area, the Americal Division rests control from the enemy and secures the land. By the end of the year, the Division has a new commander, Major General Charles W. Gettys, as a task force in 1967. These men were given a job to do and did it well. As a combat division in 1968, their deeds were above and beyond the call of duty. If those who'd gone before in the jungles of Bougainville and the Philippines could see them now, the Division of yesteryear would seem never to have slept. The spirit of the Southern Cross is again abroad in the land, as some of America's greatest fighting men carry forward the colors of the Americal Division.