Vietnam War/Counteroffensive Phase III Campaign (1967-68)/Operation MacArthur/Battle of Dak To
From Month/Year
November / 1967
To Month/Year
December / 1967
Description 173rd Airborne Brigade participated in Operation MacArthur, 1 November - 14 December 1967 Dak To / Kontum. On November 6th two companies from the 4th Battalion, 503d Infantry encountered elements of the NVA 66th Regiment on the Ngok Kom Leat chain of hills south of Ben Het. Seven Sky Soldiers fell from enemy bullets. On Veteran's Day Task Force Black made up of elements of C/1/503 and two platoons from D/1/503 were ambushed. American losses from the ambush were 20 killed, 154 wounded and 2 missing. PFC Barnes was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor because of this action.
On November 19, the 2/503d Infantry began climbing Hill 875. Companies C and D were hit with automatic weapons fire as they reached the first of two ridges. As the men moved up and spread out on line they came under fire by recoilless rifle fire and rifle grenades. A Company secured the rear when it came under intense attack by the NVA. PFC Carlos Lozada received the Congressional Medal of Honor for holding off the enemy while the remainder of the company made its way up the hill to join the rest of the battalion.
The enemy had prepared the battlefield extremely well. Hill 875 was no less than a fortress, with bunkers and trenches connected by tunnels. The underground bunkers had as much as two meters of overhead cover to protect their occupants from bombing and artillery, and slit gun ports opened onto excellent fields of fire. When the NVA infantry went on the attack, the soldiers were camouflaged and had prepared avenues of entry and withdrawal from the battlefield.
Chaplain Charles Watters was moving among the wounded men administering last rites when a jet fighter diving at over 300 miles per hour dropped a 500-pound bomb on the embattled battalion killing 42 troopers. He was also awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for this engagement.
On Thanksgiving Day the 4th Battalion assaulted up the hill with the remainder of the the 2nd Battalion, taking the peak at 1122. The capture of the Hill 875 marked the climax of the battle of Dak To. The 2nd battalion lost 107 men killed and 282 wounded and 10 MIA.
