A 1st Cavalry Division fire base in the Hong Kong Mountains. Photo taken May 25, 1967 during Operation Pershing.
In February 1967, the 1st Cavalry Division launched Operation Pershing, what would become an eleven month campaign to clear much of the Binh Dinh Province of NVA and Viet Cong activity. All three of the division’s regiments were committed to this fight, including the 7th Cav, General Armstrong Custer’s old command. During the next year, Operation Pershing triggered eighteen major engagements and countless skirmishes as the troopers of the 1st Cav struggled to clear tunnel and cave complexes on the Bong Son Plain and its environs. The battles in Binh Dinh Province have been overshadowed by the Ia Drang Valley campaign of ’65 and the 1st Cav’s role in it, but the battles fought there in 1967 inflicted heavy casualties on the NVA and VC (almost 8,000 killed or captured) and became the longest single operation of the division’s experience in the Vietnam War.
Bell UH-1 Huey helicopters take off with elements of 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry take off for an air assault mission some 50 kilometers northeast of Ankhe. May 28, 1967. Operation Pershing.
Troopers of the 1-7 Cav on the ground in an LZ outside of Ankhe as a Huey brings in supplies. The photo was taken on May 27, 1967.
The American Warrior 