In doing research for I SERVED, Don Hall acquired thousands of pages of documentation from the National Archives about F/51st Long Range Patrol (Airborne) Infantry and the other units in their area of operations. (To search the National Archives yourself online, see the link at the bottom of this page). F/51st operated directly under General Fred C. Weyand, who was the II Field Force, Vietnam, commander, and then later, the United States Army Chief of Staff. He retired from the Army in 1976, and died in 2010 at the age of 93. [Click here to read Gen. Weyand’s April 1975 Vietnam Assessment Report (the link is to a large PDF file). Click here for Col. Harry Summers, Jr.’s interview with Gen. Weyand, which appeared in the premier issue of Vietnam magazine in 1988. Click here to read the article about the Tropic Lightning Division’s rededicating of its parade field to Gen. Weyand in 2011.] F/51st was fortunate to have had as its first C.O., Major (and then, later, LTC) William C. Maus. Knowing that General Weyand had great faith in the company’s ultimate success, and that F/51st was a prototype unit which would be closely studied by future military generations, he made sure that contemporaneous, meticulous, accurate, and voluminous documentation was kept about the unit and its operations. F/51st had dozens of clerks whose sole job was to monitor the radios and record the radio communications, type up the after-action reports, transcribe the officer’s daily logs, and document everything that occurred. William C. Maus was a visionary. He knew that their unit represented the vanguard of future U.S. Army military strategy and tactics. LTC Maus knew that in the future, the U.S. Army would study the operations and tactics employed by F/51st LRP (Abn) Inf and would apply the lessons learned from that great unit. The huge amount of documentation that came out of F/51st would be instrumental in teaching future generations of soldiers. Ultimately, this valuable storehouse of knowledge would be used to train our modern-day Ranger and Long Range Surveillance units. LTC Maus was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions commanding F/51st on 31 January 1968 (scroll down to the M’s shown on page 26). Sample documents from F/51st LRP (Abn) Inf: F/51st LONG RANGE PATROL (AIRBORNE) INFANTRY was a company-size LRP unit and operated in War Zones C and D in the III Corps area. The capital city of Saigon was located in the III Corps area. F/51st LRP’s C.O. reported directly to General Fred C. Weyand, the commander of II Field Force, Vietnam. The unit had its first combat operation on 28 November 1967. Annex B, Summary of Individual Patrols OPERATION UNIONTOWN / BREAKTHROUGH 29 Dec –7 Feb 68 Patrols 1 to 6 Patrols 6 (cont.) to 9 Patrols 9 (cont.) to 14 Patrols 15 to 16 Patrols 26 to 30 Patrols 30 to 32 Patrol 32 (cont.) Patrols 33 to 35 Patrols 36 to 37 Patrols 37 (cont.) to 40 Patrols 40 (cont.) to 42 Patrols 42 (cont.) to 44 After Action Report—Operation Breakthrough, 29 Dec 67—7 Feb 68 OPERATION Uniontown III / Boxsprings 10 Feb – 28 Mar 68 Patrols 27 to 29 Patrols 30 to 35 OPERATION WILDERNESS / TOAN THANG I Patrols 24 to 25 Patrols 25 (cont.) to 28 OPERATION WILDERNESS / TOAN THANG II Patrols 192 to 195 Patrols 196 to 199 Patrols 474 to 476 Patrols 476 (cont.) to 479 OTHER MACV Recondo School Handout 401-1—Special Medical Drugs, page 1 MACV Recondo School Handout 401-1—Special Medical Drugs, page 2 Sample documents from other units: 199th LIGHT INFANTRY BRIGADE operated in War Zones C and D in the III Corps area. The 199th was one of the units for which F/51st LRP operated. Daily Staff Journal or Duty Officer’s Log (form DA1594) 11 Jan 70 - Fight Support Base Nancy (Document courtesy of Ricky Jones.) “This is the day before I was hit. I would have gotten all 3 if my magazine hadn't dropped out of my 16. I watched the other two drag him away as I fumbled for ammo. I sure got mad at myself that day.”—Ricky Jones 12 Jan 70 - Fight Support Base Nancy (Document courtesy of Ricky Jones.) “Here you'll see my name along with 3 other WIA's. The enemy KIA and the captured AK-47 were mine.” — Ricky Jones Annex C Operations 199thOperationsAnnexC_page01 199thOperationsAnnexC_page02 After Action Reports 199thJanFeb68_page06 199thJanFeb68_page07 199thJanFeb68_page08 199thJanFeb68_page09 199thJanFeb68_page10 199thJanFeb68_page11 199thJanFeb68_page12 199thJanFeb68_page13 199thJanFeb68_page14 199thJanFeb68_page15 *** 195TH ASSAULT HELICOPTER COMPANY The 195th AHC, known as the “Skychiefs,” served in the Republic of Vietnam from the 2nd of November 1967 through the 14th of December 1970. The first lift platoon was nicknamed “Fly United.” The second platoon, known as the “Ghostriders,” flew for F/51st LRP (Abn.) Inf. The gunship platoon was called the “Thunder Chickens” and did extensive damage to the enemy during the 1968 Tet Offensive. The documents at the links below are courtesy of Don Haase. Letter of appreciation for outstanding performance during the 1968 Tet Offensive. Comments from the 195th C.O. regarding the letter of appreciation. *** Search the National Archives Catalog. “The National Archives Catalog is the online portal to the records held at the National Archives, and information about those records. It is the main way of describing our holdings and also provides access to electronic records and digitized versions of our holdings. The Catalog searches across multiple National Archives resources at once, including archival descriptions, digitized and electronic records, and authority records. The Catalog also allows users to contribute to digitized historical records through tagging and transcription. The Catalog currently contains archival descriptions of the National Archives’ holdings, authority records, and millions of digitized and electronic records. Over 95% of the National Archives’ holdings are described at the series level.”