Another long but very nostalgic day. Five of us decided to add an optional trip to the infamous A Shau Valley. This is where I first saw combat with the 1st Cavalry Division. One other member of our group was in the 101st Airborne and participated in the battle for Hamburger Hill in May of 1969. We left our Hotel at shortly after 6:30 AM and headed north to pick up Highway 547, which heads west from southern Hue and goes west to the A Shau Valley. The valley is about 90 Km in length and runs north/south along the Laotian border in the northwest corner of the former South Vietnam. It was a sanctuary for the NVA coming off the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The NVA had been uncontested in this area since a Special Forces Camp had been over run there in 1965. After over 3 years, it was decided that the 1st Cavalry would reclaim this territory. In early April 1968, after about two weeks of intense aerial bombardment, the 1st Cavalry launched a Brigade size Air Assault into the Valley. The initial focus being the A Loi airstrip on the floor of the valley. Even after the intense bombardment, it was immediately obvious that the NVA would bitterly contest control of their long time sanctuary. About 30 Cavalry Helicopters were shot down in the first day of the assault. The NVA had the entire area zeroed in with artillery firing from sanctuaries across the Laotian border. US policy did not allow for counter fire across the border. Flying into the valley became extremely hazardous for any aircraft attempting to resupply the beleaguered Cavalry Troopers or to evacuate their wounded. Eventually, various air assets began parachute dropping needed supplies to the valley floor. During this phase of the battle, the NVA shot down a large C 130 aircraft. The Troopers on the ground quickly began the task of securing the Air Field in a large defensive perimeter. Artillery and more Troopers began arriving and the resulting operating base was labelled LZ Stallion. Several other forward LZ's were eventually opened in other areas of the valley. One on the eastern slope was named LZ Cecille. This is where I was delivered by helicopter on May 3. Two days later I was flown out to rendezvous with my unit, B Company, 2nd Bn, 8th Cavalry. I took the place of another Medic who had been KIA the day before. The 1st Cavalry Division continued operations in the valley and its surrounding areas until the entire Division was moved to the area Northwest of Saigon in the Fall of 1968, to face an expected large scale NVA attack on Saigon, from their sanctuaries in Cambodia. The area of operations was left to the 101st Airborne Division, which had been recently reorganized to become the US Army's second fully Airmobile Division. The two of us in the group who had served in the A Shau Valley were astounded to see what we encountered today when we exited Highway 547 and entered the valley once again! We visited the site of the former battle on Hamburger Hill. A hard fought battle was fought there between the 101st and a large enemy force that held the hill. It lasted nearly a month until the 101st finally took the hill and the remaining NVA troops who had not been killed had escaped to Laos. After a difficult trek up that hill early this afternoon, we were astonished to find a memorial to the "heroic victory" of NVA forces! Another example of how the current government allows access and preserves former American bases and battle sites, when it meets their propaganda purposes. The road to get to the base of the hill winds through the valley and the many small villages that have popped up in the valley since the war ended in 1975. The government has provided all types of incentives to get people to relocate to these areas, that were very sparsely populated during the war. The economy is largely agrarian and the Villagers subsist on all types of farming and cash crops like the ever present Acacia trees. We were surprised to find a part of the former site of the 101st Airborne's former base at FSB Birmingham, still somewhat recognizable. As I have previously noted, the present government has made it a point to make sure that all traces of the American presence have vanished. What remains is only a couple hundred yards off of the current Highway 547, now a paved road. Part of the old airfield is still visible and it appears several small houses have been added to the area. It appears that some large scale construction is about to take place there. Even more surprises were in store for us when we got to the floor of the valley. The A Loi airfield and our LZ Stallion has disappeared completely and has been replaced by a small city with many stores and other signs of commercialism. There now is a modern road that runs along much of the valley floor. In some places, it is a 4 lane divided highway. I'm sure this will be as shocking to my fellow Troopers who operated off of LZ's Stallion and Cecille, as it was to me. Not unexpectedly, this new road is called the Ho Chi Minh Highway. Parts of it follow the path of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, as it wound its way out of Laos. we made one more stop, before retracing our route and returning to Da Nang. We dropped the government provided local guide off at her home in one of the villages. All told, we covered 278 miles today, returning to our hotel in Da Nang at 6:00 PM. Just in time for a seafood and meat barbecue around the beachside pool. We will be flying to Saigon tomorrow, which is our last stop in Vietnam, before returning home.

Looking south along the new Ho Chi Minh Highway, very close to where the A Loi Airfield and LZ Stallion once stood. A very strange feeling for me to see this, as I'm sure it will be for my fellow Troopers who served there, nearly 50 years ago!

The government office building that is also very near where LZ Stallion once stood. We had to stop there to get a special permit and government sanctioned local guide, before venturing out on our own in the A Shau Valley.

The steps that lead to the trail up to the top of Hamburger Hill. Like the road that leads to this point, most of the roads in the valley are barely more than one lane trails that have been roughly paved.

An example of the type of thick jungle we had to move through when we operated in the A Shau Valley in 1968.

A typical jungle trail we encountered when patrolling the valley in 1968. It gave me a chill just looking down it and taking this picture.

Looking down the old airfield at FSB Birmingham. A member of our group spent considerable time in and around this base in 1969.

Another scene of what remains of FSB Birmingham. Evidence of obvious new construction activity can easily be seen.

Vietnamese kids playing around their houses that now occupy the former FSB Birmingham. They were too busy playing to get them to stand still for a better picture.

Our Guide Phai standing in front of the government constructed monument at the top of Hamburger Hill. It touts their fictionalized "heroic victory" at the battle for Hamburger Hill. I'm sure the 101st Airborne Troopers who fought so hard there in May 1969 to capture that hill, will find the Government version of events there as ludicrous as we who visited today did!