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| 2nd Brigade 101st Airborne Division Awarded the Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm Streamer embroidered VIETNAM 1968 General Order No. 21, Department of the Army, 8 April 1969 |
On 1 September 1967 at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, I took command of the 2d Brigade, 101st
Airborne Division. The division, commanded by Major General Olinto M. Barsanti, had been
alerted for mid-December air movement to Vietnam, to join its 1st Brigade already there. In
September we shipped out our non-deployables, took in their replacements and more, and
organized a fourth rifle company in each battalion. Before departure, half the brigade at a time
would take a two-week leave while the other half prepared for movement. That left but six weeks
for unit training, squad to brigade.
Twenty years later it was satisfying to read in Sergeant Charley Gadd's book, Line Doggie... "It
was snowing lightly ... when our C-141 Starlifter ascended from the runway at Fort Campbell,
Kentucky. We were a well trained group--A Company, 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry--an element
of Uncle Sam's proud 101st Airborne Division... Most of us were replacements ... from every
aspect of training that the Army had to offer--military police, armor, artillery, mechanics, clerks,
cooks ... but three months of intense infantry training had honed us to the sharpness of expensive
cutlery."
We went first to Cu Chi in an enemy infested area near Saigon where a patrol could be fired on
within minutes after leaving the base camp's gates. Before long we received orders to move far
north, by air to the Hue-Phubai airfield where we would report to the 1st Air Cavalry Division;
General Westmoreland suspected that something was up. The afternoon of January 30 we
occupied fire bases north of Hue (the Cav called them LZs, for "landing zones"). That night the
North Vietnamese launched their Tet Offensive.
The next weeks saw the heaviest fighting, largely against North Vietnamese Army (NVA)
battalions, of the Vietnam War. In Hue, in the paddies northward into Quang Tri province, and in
nearby hills and forests, 2d Brigade battalions fought alongside local forces and the Vietnamese
Army's 1st Infantry Division to drive out the enemy and bring security to the area.
One day in early June 1968 I was in the office of Major General Ngo Quang Truong, 1st Division
commander. He invited me to the Vietnamese Armed Forces Day ceremonies at his headquarters
two weeks hence, saying "Bring your colors." He had arranged for the President of the Republic
of Vietnam to present his country's Cross of Gallantry with Palm to the 2d Brigade.
John H. Cushman
Lieutenant General
U.S. Army, Retired
Airborne Division. The division, commanded by Major General Olinto M. Barsanti, had been
alerted for mid-December air movement to Vietnam, to join its 1st Brigade already there. In
September we shipped out our non-deployables, took in their replacements and more, and
organized a fourth rifle company in each battalion. Before departure, half the brigade at a time
would take a two-week leave while the other half prepared for movement. That left but six weeks
for unit training, squad to brigade.
Twenty years later it was satisfying to read in Sergeant Charley Gadd's book, Line Doggie... "It
was snowing lightly ... when our C-141 Starlifter ascended from the runway at Fort Campbell,
Kentucky. We were a well trained group--A Company, 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry--an element
of Uncle Sam's proud 101st Airborne Division... Most of us were replacements ... from every
aspect of training that the Army had to offer--military police, armor, artillery, mechanics, clerks,
cooks ... but three months of intense infantry training had honed us to the sharpness of expensive
cutlery."
We went first to Cu Chi in an enemy infested area near Saigon where a patrol could be fired on
within minutes after leaving the base camp's gates. Before long we received orders to move far
north, by air to the Hue-Phubai airfield where we would report to the 1st Air Cavalry Division;
General Westmoreland suspected that something was up. The afternoon of January 30 we
occupied fire bases north of Hue (the Cav called them LZs, for "landing zones"). That night the
North Vietnamese launched their Tet Offensive.
The next weeks saw the heaviest fighting, largely against North Vietnamese Army (NVA)
battalions, of the Vietnam War. In Hue, in the paddies northward into Quang Tri province, and in
nearby hills and forests, 2d Brigade battalions fought alongside local forces and the Vietnamese
Army's 1st Infantry Division to drive out the enemy and bring security to the area.
One day in early June 1968 I was in the office of Major General Ngo Quang Truong, 1st Division
commander. He invited me to the Vietnamese Armed Forces Day ceremonies at his headquarters
two weeks hence, saying "Bring your colors." He had arranged for the President of the Republic
of Vietnam to present his country's Cross of Gallantry with Palm to the 2d Brigade.
John H. Cushman
Lieutenant General
U.S. Army, Retired