Timeline: Vietnam Counteroffensive  Phase VII, 
1 Jul 1970 - 30 Jun 1971

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Jul 70

Aug 1
- A Troop attached to 1st Bde, 25th Inf Div.
Aug 16
- Cpl Randy Brackin injured in accident.
Aug 17
- 3/4 Cav attached to 3rd Bde, 25th Inf Div.
Aug 23
- A/2/22 Inf reported killing 6 NVA.  A/2/22 Inf could only account for 2 of the bodies.
Aug 24
- 1225 hrs A Troop located the other four bodies from A/2/22 Inf previous contact 1 km west of it at (XT611291).
- 1600 hrs A Troop located six more enemy bodies at the same spot.
- KIA Bruce Tindall (view photo).
- General Creighton W. Abrams, COMUSMACV, visited Cu Chi Base Camp to present a Presidential Unit Citation for the Tet 68 action to the 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry. (See Tropic Lightning News Sep 14, 1970)

Sep (NEED DATE?)(Tropic Lightning 14 Sep 70)
DAU TIENG  elements of the 25th Division uncovered a former enemy base camp while involved in a massive land clearing mission recently. A Troop, 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry teamed with the 984th Land Clearing Company in a month-long operation near a thickly-treed French owned rubber plantation north of here.  During the early days of the operation, the Cav uncovered a bunker complex which looked like a former enemy base camp.
The complex consisted of ten steel reinforced bunkers. Inside were several RPG rounds, one 155mm round, ten mine detonators and numerous booby traps.
Also found were numerous trails in the area which showed signs of very recent enemy activity. Fighting positions were found also. There were unopened cans of food and empty ammo cartons for SKS, AK-47 and RPG rounds.
During the 31 days of the operation, the 30 Rome plows of the engineers cleared 3,576 acres of dense jungle.
Sep 1
- 3/4 Cav attached to 1st Bde, 25th Inf Div.
- Randy Brackin died from injury. Note: Randy was the troop's last casualty in Vietnam.  (View Photo)
Sep 4
- 0800 hrs A/3-4 Cav evacuated 15 pounds of medical supplies and one US pistol belt from a bunker complex 4.5 kms southeast of Phu Khuong (XT367549).
Sep 15
- Documents found in a base camp approximately 8 kilometers southeast of the contact area (XT487375) on 15 September 1970 by A/3-4 Cav indicated that an important political meeting was to take place in the near future consisting of staff members of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 101st NVA Regiment, members of the Political Staff, 101st NVA Regiment and possibly officers from COSVN headquarters.
Sep 19
- Crescent (XT397496) Tay Ninh Province Troop D (-), 3rd Squadron, 4th cavalry and 1st and 2nd Platoons, Troop A, 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry.
- Intelligence indicated that elements of the 101st NVA Regiment were operating in the area. 
- The air and ground reconnaissance undertaken by D/3-4 Cav and A/3-4 Cav in the contact area were initiated to try and detect this meeting and/or locate enemy infiltration routes or supply points in the area.
- The mission of the LOH, as part of a Light Scout Team (LST), was to visually recon the general area around the Crescent (XT3949) to detect enemy movement along trails which showed signs of recent activity.  The Aerial Rifle Platoon from D/3-4 Cav was on an insertion mission to the northwest into a suspected enemy base camp.
- A/3-4 Cav was engaged in searching for the meeting area of political and military personnel of COSVN, which was supposed to have been in the area, as well as searching for enemy supply and infiltration points.
-1325 hours, the crew of a light observation helicopter (LOH) from Troop D, 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry was conducting a low level reconnaissance flight over the area of the Crescent (XT397496) when signs of enemy activity were detected.  Reconning as part of a LST, the LOH was accompanied by an AH1G Cobra gunship.  The LOH was piloted by CW 2 Loren McCoy, SP4 John Adams was the crew chief and SP4 Milan Lee the observer.  Two and three man trails were spotted.  Visual reconnaissance was conducted for approximately 20 minutes, during which time no sign of the enemy was observed.  To make a determination of how recent the enemy activity in the area was, Mr. McCoy decided to land and check out the water jug and trails.
As the LOH made its final approach, approximately 10-15 feet from the landing site, an unobserved enemy opened fire on the aircraft.  The initial burst sprayed the front of the aircraft (18 rounds total, 13 rounds hit the front of the LOH) wounding CW 2 McCoy in the right arm and killing SP4 Lee.  As McCoy and Adams exited the aircraft, they began to return fire toward the suspected enemy position with an M16 rifle and an M60 machine gun.  While McCoy was firing, Adams crawled back into the aircraft and confirmed that Lee was dead.  During this time, the accompanying Cobra engaged an estimated three to four enemy 100 meters to the southwest of the downed LOH.  Responding to the emergency call from the Cobra, a mini-cav of three UH1H helicopters and two AH1G Cobras was diverted from another mission, 15 kilometers to the west, and inserted the Aerial Rifle Platoon (ARP) 25 meters south of the downed LOH.  The time elapsed from the call for assistance and the insertion of the ARP was less than 10 minutes.
On the ground, the ARP swept the immediate area and formed a perimeter around the downed LOH as preparations for extraction were made.  As the mini-cav was inserted, CW 2 McCoy and SP4 Adams were evacuated to Dau Tieng.  The dust-off ship returned immediately and removed the body of SP4 Lee to Dau Tieng.
-1435 hours  The heavily damaged LOH was extracted by a UH1H helicopter.
-1545 hours.  The ARP then swept the area to the west, found one enemy KIA (BC) and returned to the vicinity of the downed LOH.
-1600 hours The 1st and 2nd Platoons of Troop A, 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry, who were on a ground reconnaissance approximately 6 kilometers to the east, joined the ARP and together, the two units made a further search to the west) finding nothing.
-1630 hours The ARP returned and was extracted.
- 1700 hrs, the prisoner-of-war captured by A/3-4 Cav on 19 September in the vicinity of XT395496 identified his unit as the 3rd Company, D14 Battalion of Tay Ninh Province which had been inactive during the last few months.  The PW stated that the 3rd Company's headquarters was located about 4 kilometers northwest of his place of capture.  He did not know the whereabouts of the D14 Battalion headquarters but had heard it was located in the jungles of Duong Minh Chau, Tay Ninh Province.
- Captain Thomas Morgan, the Commander of A/3-4, continued the search, this time moving his two platoons farther south and west.  An LST (Centaur 40 and 55) flying cover for A/3-4 Cav observed and engaged an estimated six enemy soldiers inside a bamboo hedgerow to the north of where A/3-4 Cav was sweeping .  Captain Morgan moved the 2nd platoon north to the area of contact.  They found one wounded enemy soldier and evacuated him to Dau Tieng.  Movement was then detected in some bushes to the south.  As the 2nd Platoon swung around and cordoned the area, Morgan ordered his 1st Platoon to check out the area due east where fishtraps, footprints and other signs of enemy activity had been reported (see Sketch Map 4).  Dismounts from the 1st Platoon moved to the bushes where they received small arms fire.  The dismounts pulled back and the tracks were brought up.  The area was heavily fragged and swept with fire.  Another dismounted sweep was conducted and one seriously wounded enemy soldier was found who later died of wounds.  As the sweep continued, a third enemy fired and wounded one US dismounted soldier.  The man was evacuated to Dau Tieng by Centaur 40 (LOH), while fire was returned into the enemy position.  A final sweep uncovered another seriously wounded enemy soldier who died almost immediately.
As darkness closed in, a night laager site was set up and resupply arranged.  The Centaur remained on station to recon suspected enemy positions.  Later that evening, the Centaur was replaced by Diamondhead gunships and Shadow 67 (spooky) which placed illumination and fire on the wood lines throughout the night.
- This operation was a successful air and ground reconnaissance carried out by 1st Brigade elements. Enemy personnel losses during the day were three killed and one wounded prisoner-of-war captured.  US forces suffered one man killed and two men wounded.
Lee, Milar SP4 D/3-4 Cav 19 Sep 70 KIA
McCoy, Loren     WO2     530449436     D/3-4 Cav     19 Sep 70 WIA
Arenholz, Kenneth     SP4     094403221     A/3-4 Cav     19 Sep 70 WIA

Oct 1
- 1735 hrs A/3-4 Cav located 16 bunkers 4 kms east of Phu Khuong (XT386(illegible).  They destroyed the bunkers and evacuated one offset printing press, one plastic bag of medical supplies and four pounds of documents.
Oct 2
- 1430 hrs A/3-4 Cav destroyed 15 bunkers 5 kms east of Phu Khuong (XT395564) and evacuated one M-2 carbine with magazine, one US protective mask, one US canteen, one US steel helmet, two M16 magazines, 400 feet of nylon roper, three time fuses, two ChiCom hand grenades, miscellaneous cooking pots and two .50 caliber ammo cans of documents.  The documents identified the Tay Ninh Province Rear Service Section.
Oct 3
- 1225 hrs a small medical cache was located in five bunkers by A/3-4 Cav 4 kms east of Phu Khuong (XT379574).  They destroyed the bunkers and evacuated 495 bottles of novocaine, seven quinine tablets, six bottles of unknown type pills, one bottle of calcium “C”, 45 sulfa tablets, 28 bottles of aspirin and two bottles of penicillin.
Oct 21
- 1203 hrs A/3-4 Cav engaged three enemy with organic weapons 7 kms northwest of Phu Khuong (XT282618) resulting in three enemy killed.  Enemy small arms fire wounded two US soldiers.
- 1305 hrs, A/3-4 Cav received one 60mm mortar round 1.8 kms southwest of the 1203 hours engagement (XT(illegible) resulting in one US soldier wounded.
Oct 31
- 3/4 Cav(-) attached to 1st Bde, 25th Inf Div.

Nov 70

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