The day begins with the crews being pulled from their bunks at 0400hrs. Element of the 3/8th are assaulting the top of the ridgeline near LZ Brace at dawn and we are to be there when this happens. The brass feels that the enemy might counter-attack at Hill 947 and we will need to get people into those two positions.
Landing Polei-Kleng we are informed that Bravo, Charlie, and Recon/3/8 have taken what would become LZ Brace. B/3/12& D/3/12 are to be combined into Task Force Swift and airlifted from their night location to LZ Brace. C/3/12 which is at LZ Swinger will be moved to Hill 947. The remaining elements of 1/35th will be taken to LZ Mary. This will be a neat trick seeing we only have eight ships this morning.
We are divided three groups. My ship gets the duty of taking C/3/12 into Hill 947. As each sortie is brought in we are loaded with some of the dead which had been recovered in the contact area of A/3/8. We are to drop them off at LZ Pause. There they will be idenified before they start their journey home. Our brothers who no longer suffer must wait until we have cared for the living.
The morning is spent redeploying troops everywhere. To the south of Hill 947, B-52 pound the area where the NVA base camp is located. By mid day we are now given the job of taking the dead from LZ Pause to LZ Mary Lou. This task took the spirit out of every crew that day. Many of these troops had been the ones which we had taken to LZ Mary five days ago. This was the duty which no words could describe.
The long day turned into night before we departed Polei-Kleng. We had spent the day moving troops and resupplying them. I sat with a cigarette hanging out my mouth. The blood of the dead and wounded had dried on the gray floor of my ship. A lone piece of spent brass rounded from one side of the cargo compartment to the other. This was the picture which war had painted. I wondered how many more days like this one I would endure before I got home. The water truck would erase this picture from my floor tonight but not from my mind.
The battle for LZ Brace had cost the companies of the 3/8th dearly. A/3/8 had suffered 32 KIA 52 MIA and 3 MIA. Bravo, Charlie and Recon/3/8 would endure another 32 KIA 125 WIA and 1 MIA. An estimate of enemy losses were 241 NVA killed. During this time artillery from B/6/29 & C/6/29 totaled 4478 rounds of HE fired in support.
The battle involved several chains of events for it to unfold the way it did. On March 2nd Alpha, Bravo and Delta assaulted LZ Mary. Alpha swept to the north, Bravo south and Delta into the center. On March 3rd Alpha had moved to the east to what they thought was their night location. They were in fact farther west then theu thought. They had walked into a battalion size base camp. They had failed to cut a landing zone. This made resupply difficult and reinforcement impossible. Bravo was moved to a location south of Alpha's planned night location. Because of harsh terrain and the fact they were to far east of Alpha, they were unable to reinforce them. Alpha was separated, surrounded and lost. Delta had moved to reinforce Alpha when they encountered a superior force. They withdrew, established a perimeter that they could defend and cut a landing zone. With air and artillery support proved the difference that enabled Delta to hold their position.
The assault of Recon and Bravo/3/8 the following day was hampered by the fact that there was not a suitable landing zone near Alpha. The area which had been choosen turned out to be heavily defended. These companies were forced to fight an up hill battle against a superior force. Delta was kept at bay by mortar and ground attacks while the NVA continued to inflect damage to Alpha. Suffering many dead and wounded plus the fact they were out of ammo they retreated.
The assault of C/3/8 came one day to late. Because the enemy held the high ground and they had reduced Alpha to nothing they continued to defend their position and still hold Delta at bay on Hill 947. By the time all three units were able to take the ridgeline the enemy had moved to the south and escaped.
LZ Brace would proof to be the most significant battle of Operation Wayne Grey. Before the end of March many more American would loss their lives in the area around those small hills of the Plei-Trap.