(2 of 2)
The Americal fought none of the big TV battles, like Khe Sanh, or the seemingly more glamorous war of the helicopter-equipped Airmobile units. Rather, it slugged it out day by day, village by village, in one of the largest, most hostile areas of Viet Nam: Quang Ngai and Quang Tin provinces, Viet Minh strongholds since World War II and, to the V.C., the "cradle of the revolution."
"This division had some of the most violent combat in the country," says Kroesen. "When I was here before, there never was a day that some unit didn't have major combat in which men were killed." Notes another officer, Colonel Reamer W. Argo Jr.: "They saw more of the enemy and less of the enemy than any other division. They were sitting on top of that huge area, grinding it out, never really in contact with the enemy, and always suffering from him." The casualty toll was tremendous. More than 100,000 men wore the Americal patch. Of those 11,500 were wounded and hospitalized, 11,000 were wounded and returned to duty, and 3,400 killed.
Fading Away. There is, of course, another tragedy of the Americal Division, that of the thousands who fought bravely and well, many for a cause that they barely understood or in which they did not believe. Militarily, the division did accomplish its objectives—pacification and Vietnamization—as well as any unit in the U.S. Command. But in the years to come, it will likely be My Lai and the other disasters that come to mind when the Americal is mentioned, not the far more numerous acts of valor and sacrifice.
Meanwhile, the Americal seems incapable of pulling up stakes and quietly fading away. Late last week a group of soldiers was playing football on the beach at Chu Lai when one was caught in an undertow and swept out to sea. In an attempt to rescue him, eight more were caught. Four of the men were pulled to safety aboard helicopters, but the others are still missing and presumed drowned.
*The original Americal Division was created in New Caledonia in 1942. Its name was derived from the phrase "American troops in New Caledonia." Following World War II, the division was disbanded, and the name was not revived until the Viet Nam War.