The word had come down the night before. Now that the 2nd Brigade of the 4th Infantry Divison had been moved up to Kontum from Ban Me Thout we would start putting them into the Plei Trap Valley starting today.

Five slicks from each platoon and four gunships were assigned for this mission. I had spent the night cleaning my machine gun, rifle and pistol. I hated everything about that place. During that month our company had paid a much to high a price in that valley. Besides the place being full of "Bad Guys" it was Thanksgiving and we had been promised a great dinner. Something that was few and far between for the past two months.

Pre-flight was at 0600 hrs. In the air by 0630 hrs. Five slicks and two guns were sent to LZ Mary Lou. The rest of the flight went to the air strip at Kontum. I ended up at Kontum. While the 2nd flight was putting troops into LZ Mile High our flight would assault LZ Roberts.

The Crocs did their thing as we started final approach and we went "Hot" as we started in. I think the "Grunts" expected more that this small hilltop that had been shelled and bombed before we arrived. Turn around was a good 20 minutes before we final got the first company in. Once the lift was completed, two ship broke off to resupply the guys we had just put in while we made ready to assault half a dozen other sites along "Rocket Ridge" to the north. All day I waited for something to go wrong. The "Bad Guys" must have had their own dinner plans because none of us took fire the entire day.

Once the lifts were completed and some of the suppies were delivered to the new firebases, we started hauling turkey dinners out to the guys in the field. Each time we landed, the guys working the pads handed me more and more letters to be mailed. By late afternoon my pockets were full and I was stuffing their mail into my flight bag.

We were finally released at 1700 hrs. We were told to shut down at Kontum and go to their mess hall. The 57th AHC had saved us dinner and we dined on turkey and all the fixings before returning to Holloway. That night after post flight, I stuffed each letter into the mail slot before I made it to my bunk. My first Thanksgiving away from home but one that I would never forget. SHORT!!! 48 days to go.

Taken from my journal dated Nov. 28,1968.