World: Back to the Valley of Death

While the political agitators in the cities railed against South Viet Nam's government and the U.S. presence, the allies went on with the grim and grinding task of preserving the nation on the battlefields. For six days the reconnaissance helicopters of the 1st Cavalry Division (airmobile) hummed over mountaintops, darted down the alleys of valleys, recklessly trying to draw fire—which would pinpoint an enemy in the elephant grass below. It was familiar terrain: the Chu Pong massif and Ia Drang valley in the western highlands near Cambodia, the "Valley of Death," where the division last fall had fought the bloodiest battle...