The idea for this section originated with Dennis Junger, who manages our Troop Roster. The Troop, and Dennis, wish to thank all the Troopers who contributed to this endeavor, and to those who personalized it by adding their personal experience in the different Areas of Operation.

August 1965 The Troop left for Vietnam on the ship USS Boxer LPH-4, from Mayport Florida. The ship’s crew transported 1,200 soldiers from the First Air Cav Div along with 205 helicopters and six OV-1 aircraft to Vietnam. The OV-1’s were on her flight deck, along with four CH-54, fifty-six CH-47, and 36 UH-1.

The remaining 109 helicopters are stowed on the Boxer’s hangar deck below.  They crossed the Atlantic Ocean, sailed through the Mediterranean Sea, the Suez Canal, Red Sea, Indian Ocean, the South China Sea, to Cam Ranh Bay Vietnam where they unloaded several Mohawk fixed wing aircraft. They then steamed up the Vietnam coast to Qui Nhon. They off loaded and helped establish the First Air Cav base near An Khe, at a spot known as Hong Cong Hill.

The advanced 1/9th C troop party arrived there in C-130. From Ft. Benning we traveled to Robins Air Force Base, and loaded in a C-130; and left to Oakland, CA; and then left to Vietnam. We stopped for a couple of days in Hawaii and then on another island (I don’t remember which one) and then the Philippines: and then to Nha Trang, Vietnam. We cut down trees and made a few pads for helicopters and a metal runway for a C-130 to land. After the division arrived Charlie troop left and took off in helicopters to their mission, to find and kill and run pissing off the enemy!!
—–Armond Salazar

September 15, 1965 Charlie Troop began offensive combat operations.

I arrived at Charlie troop 1-9 Cav on or near 12 Dec 1965 and was assigned to the weapons platoon (red) as a UH-1B Huey gunship crew chief-door gunner, under Plt Sgt SFC Guadalupe. Major Billy Joe Nave was troop commander. LTC John Stockton was Sqdn Cdr. as I recall. 1-9 Cav was located on the eastern side of the base perimeter and the “golf course heli pad.” There was a hill on the eastern side we called “officers country” because all the pilots had built hooches out of ammo crates on the hillside. Next to us, on the north side of our camp, was the 1-7th Cav. They had an enlisted mans club called the “corral”. We used to go there for a few “33” beers when we were in base camp after field ops. Just south of 1-9 down perimeter road was the 1st Brigade “airborne all the way”. To get down to the 1-9’s aircraft on the “golf course” helipad, we had to cross the perimeter road, go down into a grassy gully, cross over a creek-stream on a rickety wooden plank structure, climb up a bank, walk about 1/2 mile passing the 228th Chinook heli pads, then arrive at 1-9th avn area. Each troop had an assigned area. The place we called “hong kong mountain” was on the far western side of the golf course. In late 1965, early 1966, the operational airstrip for air force and army fixed wing aircraft was outside the base camp on the eastern end of An Khe village off of Highway 19. By mid 1966,the engineers had completed a new airstrip inside the base perimeter, close to “hong kong”. The base camp itself was huge. I don’t recall the square miles. The south end faced the main gate which led to Highway 19 and the western end of An Khe village. Along the eastern side of perimeter north of the 1-9 Cav area was the vast 27th Field Maint complex. By late 1966,the engineers had built wooden mess halls with concrete floors, in Dec 1965, we lived in tent city. In our spare time, enlisted men bought materials in An Khe and built their own hootches, moving out of tents. At night you could hear rats tearing open the rations in the mess supply tent. We even had rats inside the hootches at night. I bought a few rat traps in the ville and caught a few rats each night. We spent the bulk of our time on field operations in places like Bong Son, Kontum, Dak To, LZ Oasis, the Ia Drang, along the Cambodian border etc. There were not too many four legged rats out there ( lots of two legged NVA rats) but lots of creepy insects, pythons, etc. I hope this info was of some help.—Mike Kelley

My DD214 says I was assigned to C Troop 1/9 on September 10, 1966. I joined the troop at Phan Thiet (Binh Thuan Province) on the coast near Saigon. I was there less than a month before we moved on short notice to Hammond Field, which was in Binh Dinh Province. A Troop and B Troop had been mortared and lost a number of helicopters so we went up to reinforce them. PFC Willie Green Jr was killed in a hot landing at Bong Son on October 3, 1966 which fixes that date forever in my mind. The troop was still at Hammond Field when we crashed on December 18, 1966 and I was sent to the hospital at Qui Nhon before being moved to the 106th Hospital in Japan. So I can say with certainty where C Troop was from 10 Sep 1966 to 18 Dec 1966.
Jerry Berggren

My memory may be flawed but here goes for 1967 and 1968:
December 1967 LZ Two Bits. Located between LZ English and Phi Cat AFB. NW of Quinones.
January 1968 moved North and temporarily settled at several sites. — LZ Tombstone. Vietnamese graveyard 2km North of Phi Bai. Stranded because USMC fuel support was constrained by USN. I think we were here less than week once our tankers caught up to us.
– Dong Ha. occupied revetments built for USMC. On Southside of of cantonment area. Once incoming could range us from DMZ we moved again.
– Quang Tri less than week.
– LZ Evans along Blackhawk strip. SW portion of Evans. With Evans as our base we occupied several area in support of:
Operation Pegasus (relieve KheSahn) Spent several nights at LZ Calu, Rock Pile and LZ Carrol
Operation Delaware. Establish strongpoint in Ashau Valley. Lived on Aloui and Tabat Airstrips in the Valley floor.
I don’t remember the specific date in October when we moved from LZ Evans to Phouc Vinh.
I PCS’d December 1968.
Regards,
Rich Noel

January 1968 Charlie Troop moved to “I Corps” at Camp Evans. They were at a location called Dong Ha. <>

In October, 1968 Charlie Troop moved south to III Corps with the rest of the First Cavalry Division. Charlie Troop set up in Phouc Vinh, with A Troop in Tay Ninh, and B Troop in Quan Loi.

Side Note: May 1970 Charlie Troop was a key unit in the incursion into Cambodia, in the “Fish Hook” region. Charlie Troop occupied Mimut and Snoul Cambodia.

In December 1970, Charlie Troop moved to Tay Ninh.

March 26, 1971…..Official end of First Air Cavalry engagements.
June 28, 1971…….The unit left Vietnam
Jan 27, 1973………Cease fire signed in Paris
February 26, 1973…. 1/9 Cavalry Regiment and Charlie Troop was inactivated.