For four days in mid-November 1965, the skytroopers of the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) grappled with the soldiers of the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) in the elephant grass and jungle growing below the heights of the Chu Pong Massif in western Pleiku Province. The Battle of the Ia Drang Valley [Ia is pronounced “Yah” and means “river” in one of the Montagnard languages of the Central Highlands] marked a milestone in the Vietnam War. For the first time in the conflict, main-force units of the PAVN fought against battalion-sized formations of the U.S. Army. Continue Reading »
