Campaign
Campaign
Operation Frederick Hill
On March 18 Operation Frederick Hill was initiated in the northern sector of the division by the 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry, and 196th Infantry Brigade, and the 5th ARVN Regiment. In the center of the division, Operation Geneva Park was embarked upon by the 'Brave and the Bold' of the 198th Infantry Brigade and the 6th ARVN Regiment. Rounding out action in the southern regions of the Americal was Operation Iron Mountain started by the 'Jungle Warriors' of the 11th Infantry Brigade and the 4th ARVN Regiment.
In the month of May Brigadier General Edwin L. Powell became assistant division commander; a 1st/6th Infantry visit to Ky Sanh village marked the unit's 10,000th MEDCAP; and machine gunner SP4 Stanley Goff received the Distinguished Service Cross after single-handedly routing 100 heavily-armed NVA regulars in a trench line.
In the middle of May in the triple canopy jungles west of Tam Ky, the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, under the operational control of the Americal Division, joined the 196th Brigade to alleviate Communist pressures in the area.
The operation, named Lamar Plain, stared on May 15 as the 1st Battalion, 46th Infantry, was placed under the operational control of the 101st. By the second week in June, the operation had accounted for more than 130 enemy dead and Landing Zone Professional west of Tam Ky was released from enemy pressures. Three months later the Communists backed off from the area and Operation Lamar Plain was concluded.
On June 1, 1969, Major General Lloyd B. Ramsey, former Deputy Commanding General of the 1st Logistical Command, assumed command of the Americal Division, replacing Major General Charles M. Gettys.
Communist sappers continued to harass Americal firebases during June, and infantryman [sic] repelled a heavy attack on Landing Zone East, 11 miles west of Tam Ky in early June, killing 55 NVA and seven Viet Cong.
During four days of fierce fighting throughout the division starting June 8, Americal forces killed 249 NVA and 87 VC while capturing 89 assorted enemy weapons.
By the second week in June, U.S. forces had accounted for more than 130 NVA and 40 VC killed in the Lamar Plain area alone.
