Bob,

The Plei-Trap was directly west of Kontum. There was an airfield at Polei-Kleng and also a SF camp. The Plei-Trap started just to the west of Polei-Kleng at that mountain range. The mountains to the north is where LZ Mile High was located and was also refered to as Big Ma Ma. It extended to Cambodia in the west and to a place we called the Punch Bowl to the south. If the valley continued south it would become the Ia Drang as Vietnam curved to the west near Plei-Mrong.

The Plei-Trap was not a true valley. It was surrounded by mountains on all sides but instead of a flat area in between the mountains it has several high ridgelines and smaller valleys and many rivers and streams that ran through it. There was an old road system that ran from Cambodia to Kontum. This is where most of the NVA army with their tanks would come from in 1975. Their goal was to cut Vietnam in two which they did. The triple canopy jungle along with good water made this the perfect place to stage troops and rest them after their journey down the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

During the time we spent there in 1969 the NVA had 37mm anti-aircraft guns. 12.7mm anti-aircraft guns. Quad fifty set ups and 105mm howitzers which they used against our firebases. During one air strike two US made howitzers were damaged and later captured by units of the 1/8 Infantry. These had manufacture dates of 1942 and 1945. These guns were probably left overs from the French after they were defeated in 1953. The quad fifties were actually .51 cal. Soviet made machine guns. Red and Green tracers were their calling cards.