101st Airborne Division Vietnam Photo's

As a prelude to Phuoc Yen, the classic cordon operation of the Vietnam war, paratroopers from the B/2-501 IN, D/2-501 IN, A/1-502 IN, A/1-501 IN, followed by two PF Platoons into the village of Thon Kim D. Immediately the village was sealed off allowing artillery and airstrikes to pound the enemy force. The first day yielded 21 enemy bodies. Illumination continued through the night as the trapped enemy unit tried to exfiltrate the village. The following day found airborne riflemen firing into the village while air strikes and artillery continued to batter the remaining NVA. The day's results were 47 NVA killed. The final day saw the 2nd Brigade troopers sweeping the village and raising the total body count to 95. The tactic of cordoning a village continued to develop through the 2nd Brigade and the coastal plains operations. The concept consists of keeping the companies in constant sweeping motions and still within striking distance of each other. Then when a lucrative target is found artillery and air strikes contain the enemy until additional airborne units are airlifted to the area sealing off any possible escape routes. The classic cordon of the Vietnam war occurred on April 28, around the village of Phuoc Yen. The Phuoc Yen battle began with units from the 2nd Brigade trapping the 8th Bn, 90th NVA Reg in the stocking area of the Song Bo River, 2 miles northwest of Hue. For four days, companies from three 2nd Brigade battalions, plus local Popular Forces (PF's), and the "Black Panther" Company of the 1st ARVN Division, lay siege to the stocking shaped village complex that intelligence sources said was harboring an NVA battalion. The paratroopers were joined by the batteries of the 21st Artillery, helicopter gunships, and Air Force fighter-bombers. By morning of the fifth day, the NVA body count reached 419, and another 107 became the NVA force to surrender in mass to an American unit in the history of the war.