The following is copied and slightly amended from The Virtual Wall - www.virtualwall.org
The battle on 15/16 June 1966 on Hill 488 (Nui Vu) involved a full battalion of North Vietnamese Army regulars assaulting 18 men of the 1st Platoon, C Company, 1st Recon Battalion, led by Staff Sergeant Jimmie Earl Howard. The Recon Marines had established an observation post atop Nui Vu in order to identify and prosecute by remote fire VC/NVA forces operating in the mountains west of Chu Lai.
The operation was sufficiently effective to get the NVA commander's attention and sufficiently dangerous for him to commit a fresh battalion to eradicate the Marines. They failed.
The NVA assault on Hill 488 began in the late evening of 15 June 1966 and continued through the night. The beleaguered Marines were assisted by Marine and Air Force helicopter and fixed wing air support, but it was sheer courage and determination that permitted the Marines to hold until the morning of 16 June when Charlie Co, 1st Bn, 5th Marines was airlifted onto the side of Hill 488 and the Marine infantry fought their way up the hill to assist and relieve their Recon brothers.
Of the 18 men in the Recon Platoon, 6 died and 12 were wounded (including HM3 Billie D. Holmes). Three men from Charlie 1/5 and one each from VMO-2 and VMO-6 also died. One Medal of Honor (Staff Sergeant Howard), 4 Navy Crosses, and 13 Silver Stars were awarded to the Marines of the Recon Platoon. Another Navy Cross was awarded to a helicopter pilot from VMO-6 and another Silver Star to an infantry Lieutenant from Charlie 1/5.
Immediately after the battle, Captain F. J. West, USMCR, interviewed men from Howard's platoon, Charlie 1/5, airmen from the squadrons which supported Howard, and others. In 1967 the History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U. S. Marine Corps, published his account of the fight on Hill 488, titled "Howard's Hill." It is found in a collection of other accounts by Capt. West titled "Small Unit Action in Vietnam – Summer 1966".
The battle on 15/16 June 1966 on Hill 488 (Nui Vu) involved a full battalion of North Vietnamese Army regulars assaulting 18 men of the 1st Platoon, C Company, 1st Recon Battalion, led by Staff Sergeant Jimmie Earl Howard. The Recon Marines had established an observation post atop Nui Vu in order to identify and prosecute by remote fire VC/NVA forces operating in the mountains west of Chu Lai.
The operation was sufficiently effective to get the NVA commander's attention and sufficiently dangerous for him to commit a fresh battalion to eradicate the Marines. They failed.
The NVA assault on Hill 488 began in the late evening of 15 June 1966 and continued through the night. The beleaguered Marines were assisted by Marine and Air Force helicopter and fixed wing air support, but it was sheer courage and determination that permitted the Marines to hold until the morning of 16 June when Charlie Co, 1st Bn, 5th Marines was airlifted onto the side of Hill 488 and the Marine infantry fought their way up the hill to assist and relieve their Recon brothers.
Of the 18 men in the Recon Platoon, 6 died and 12 were wounded (including HM3 Billie D. Holmes). Three men from Charlie 1/5 and one each from VMO-2 and VMO-6 also died. One Medal of Honor (Staff Sergeant Howard), 4 Navy Crosses, and 13 Silver Stars were awarded to the Marines of the Recon Platoon. Another Navy Cross was awarded to a helicopter pilot from VMO-6 and another Silver Star to an infantry Lieutenant from Charlie 1/5.
Immediately after the battle, Captain F. J. West, USMCR, interviewed men from Howard's platoon, Charlie 1/5, airmen from the squadrons which supported Howard, and others. In 1967 the History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U. S. Marine Corps, published his account of the fight on Hill 488, titled "Howard's Hill." It is found in a collection of other accounts by Capt. West titled "Small Unit Action in Vietnam – Summer 1966".
The following is copied and slightly amended from The Virtual Wall - www.virtualwall.org
The battle on 15/16 June 1966 on Hill 488 (Nui Vu) involved a full battalion of North Vietnamese Army regulars assaulting 18 men of the 1st Platoon, C Company, 1st Recon Battalion, led by Staff Sergeant Jimmie Earl Howard. The Recon Marines had established an observation post atop Nui Vu in order to identify and prosecute by remote fire VC/NVA forces operating in the mountains west of Chu Lai.
The operation was sufficiently effective to get the NVA commander's attention and sufficiently dangerous for him to commit a fresh battalion to eradicate the Marines. They failed.
The NVA assault on Hill 488 began in the late evening of 15 June 1966 and continued through the night. The beleaguered Marines were assisted by Marine and Air Force helicopter and fixed wing air support, but it was sheer courage and determination that permitted the Marines to hold until the morning of 16 June when Charlie Co, 1st Bn, 5th Marines was airlifted onto the side of Hill 488 and the Marine infantry fought their way up the hill to assist and relieve their Recon brothers.
Of the 18 men in the Recon Platoon, 6 died and 12 were wounded (including HM3 Billie D. Holmes). Three men from Charlie 1/5 and one each from VMO-2 and VMO-6 also died. One Medal of Honor (Staff Sergeant Howard), 4 Navy Crosses, and 13 Silver Stars were awarded to the Marines of the Recon Platoon. Another Navy Cross was awarded to a helicopter pilot from VMO-6 and another Silver Star to an infantry Lieutenant from Charlie 1/5.
Immediately after the battle, Captain F. J. West, USMCR, interviewed men from Howard's platoon, Charlie 1/5, airmen from the squadrons which supported Howard, and others. In 1967 the History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U. S. Marine Corps, published his account of the fight on Hill 488, titled "Howard's Hill." It is found in a collection of other accounts by Capt. West titled "Small Unit Action in Vietnam – Summer 1966".
The battle on 15/16 June 1966 on Hill 488 (Nui Vu) involved a full battalion of North Vietnamese Army regulars assaulting 18 men of the 1st Platoon, C Company, 1st Recon Battalion, led by Staff Sergeant Jimmie Earl Howard. The Recon Marines had established an observation post atop Nui Vu in order to identify and prosecute by remote fire VC/NVA forces operating in the mountains west of Chu Lai.
The operation was sufficiently effective to get the NVA commander's attention and sufficiently dangerous for him to commit a fresh battalion to eradicate the Marines. They failed.
The NVA assault on Hill 488 began in the late evening of 15 June 1966 and continued through the night. The beleaguered Marines were assisted by Marine and Air Force helicopter and fixed wing air support, but it was sheer courage and determination that permitted the Marines to hold until the morning of 16 June when Charlie Co, 1st Bn, 5th Marines was airlifted onto the side of Hill 488 and the Marine infantry fought their way up the hill to assist and relieve their Recon brothers.
Of the 18 men in the Recon Platoon, 6 died and 12 were wounded (including HM3 Billie D. Holmes). Three men from Charlie 1/5 and one each from VMO-2 and VMO-6 also died. One Medal of Honor (Staff Sergeant Howard), 4 Navy Crosses, and 13 Silver Stars were awarded to the Marines of the Recon Platoon. Another Navy Cross was awarded to a helicopter pilot from VMO-6 and another Silver Star to an infantry Lieutenant from Charlie 1/5.
Immediately after the battle, Captain F. J. West, USMCR, interviewed men from Howard's platoon, Charlie 1/5, airmen from the squadrons which supported Howard, and others. In 1967 the History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U. S. Marine Corps, published his account of the fight on Hill 488, titled "Howard's Hill." It is found in a collection of other accounts by Capt. West titled "Small Unit Action in Vietnam – Summer 1966".
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