page_title: Operation Wheeler/Wallowa
section_title: Operation Wallowa
hierarchical_section_title: Operation Wheeler/Wallowa / Operation / Operation Wallowa
caption_attribution_description: English: Operation Wallowa October 1967
context_page_description: Operation Wheeler/Wallowa was a U.S. offensive operation during the Vietnam War, launched on 11 September 1967 as two separate operations and concluding in November 1968. Initially as Operation Wheeler and Wallowa; this was merged in November 1967 as Wheeler/Wallowa. Initially conducted by the 101st Airborne Division and 1st Cavalry Division, Wheeler/Wallowa it was progressively taken over by 23rd Infantry Division.
  Some of the Tiger Force killings took place during the operation.
context_section_description: Operation Wallowa was launched on 4 October 1967 under the control of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, when it replaced the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division and two battalions of the 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division. The operation involved intensive surveillance of the Hiệp Đức District-Quế Sơn Valley. Small units were combat assaulted into the area to find the PAVN prior to the insertion of ready reaction forces. Led by Col. Hubert S. Campbell, the 3rd Brigade established its main base at Landing Zone Baldy, positioned on Highway 1 at the mouth of the valley near the Thăng Bình District, some 11km south of Hội An.
  Aided by mild weather that rarely curtailed flying, their Huey gunships found plentiful targets since the PAVN troops in the Quế Sơn Valley, accustomed to fighting marines who had few helicopters, were used to moving around during the day. By the end of October, Koster could boast that his two brigades had drawn at least five of the 2nd Division's nine battalions into combat and that they had killed or captured more than 1,600 soldiers. Despite its losses, the 2nd Division refused to leave the Quế Sơn Valley. On 8 November, troops from the 3rd Regiment used a dozen or more carefully concealed 75mm recoilless rifles to ambush a column of armored personnel carriers from the Americal Division's reconnaissance unit, the 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry, near Landing Zone Ross, a battalion camp for the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, located 15km northwest of Hiệp Đức. The attack cost the Americans 10 killed and 46 wounded, as well as four armored personnel carriers destroyed. The 1/1st Cavalry, found three of the 75mm recoilless rifles and 45 PAVN dead when it searched the battlefield the next day. The clash produced disquieting intelligence, a captured PAVN soldier reported that two battalions from the PAVN 68th Artillery Regiment, a unit armed with 122mm rockets, had recently moved into the hills overlooking the Quế Sơn Valley. Although the weapons were inaccurate, they had a 12km range and their warheads packed a substantial punch. If the prisoner's report was true, that would give the 2nd Division a long-distance striking power it had formerly lacked and would put American bases at greater risk. General Koster could not allow the rocket threat to go unchecked. To find the PAVN before he struck, Koster turned to his aerial reconnaissance teams, a combination of OH–23 scout helicopters and UH–1 Hueys that carried six-man reconnaissance squads. Now familiar with US airmobile tactics, the PAVN initiated countermeasures. On 13 November, machine gun fire brought down a Huey carrying a Blue Team in a rice paddy southeast of LZ Ross. When a trio of helicopters flew in to rescue the downed aircrew, as many as six PAVN 12.7mm machine guns concealed on a nearby knoll opened fire. The effect was devastating. One helicopter exploded in midair and two more were forced to make emergency landings. The 2nd Division had executed its first preplanned helicopter ambush. The commander of the 101st Airborne's 1st Brigade, General Matheson, ordered the commander of the 1/35th Infantry, Lt. Col. Robert G. Kimmel, to mount a relief operation to save the downed aircrews. After suppressing the nest of machine guns with air and artillery strikes, the colonel landed three rifle companies into the area to establish a perimeter around the downed Hueys before night fell. The following morning, Colonel Kimmel flew out in his command helicopter to direct the sweep for the PAVN ambushers. While his men were beating the bushes and inspecting hamlets, a concealed PAVN machine gun opened fire on Kimmel's aircraft, severing its main rotor blade. The subsequent crash killed everyone on board, including Kimmel. His battalion continued its mission, later passing to the control of Lt. Col. Marion C. Ross when he arrived with his 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry, later that afternoon. Neither battalion regained contact with the enemy, prompting Colonel Ross to terminate the mission two days later. US casualties came to 22 killed and 28 wounded. PAVN 
caption: Operation Wallowa October 1967
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