page_title: 5th Cavalry Regiment
section_title: Vietnam War
hierarchical_section_title: 5th Cavalry Regiment / Vietnam War
caption_attribution_description: English: A map of Operation Thayer I, Vietnam, 1966
context_page_description: The 5th Cavalry Regiment is a historical unit of the United States Army that began its service on August 3, 1861, when an act of Congress enacted "that the two regiments of dragoons, the regiment of mounted riflemen, and the two regiments of cavalry shall hereafter be known and recognized, as the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth regiments of cavalry respectively..." and continues in modified organizational format in the U.S. Army.
context_section_description: The regiment was reorganized in August 1963 as the 1st and 2nd Battalions, 5th Cavalry Regiment and later as the 3rd Squadron, 5th Armored Cavalry. The units arrived at Fort Benning in 1965, and then proceeded to South Vietnam as air and armored cavalry. The 1st Cavalry Division was the first full division committed to the Vietnam War.
  Between 12–13 September 1965, the bulk of the 1st Cavalry Division arrived in South Vietnam and the 5th Cavalry was soon in action; from 18–20 September, 2-5 Cavalry supported friendly elements in Operation Gibraltar.  However, their first real test did not come until the Battle of Ia Drang.  During the fight for LZ X-Ray, elements of the 7th Cavalry were surrounded by large People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) forces, and 2-5 Cavalry arrived to help. They arrived on the American line and quickly engaged enemy forces, eventually rescuing the "lost platoon" led by SGT Ernie Savage. Once the battle was complete, the 2/5th Cavalrymen set out for LZ Columbus while Alpha Company 1/5th Cavalry and 2/7th Cavalry set out for LZ Albany. The column was ambushed by the PAVN near LZ Albany losing 155 killed for the loss of at least 403 PAVN killed. The 1st Cavalry Division earned the Presidential Unit Citation for their role in the Ia Drang Campaign.
  The Viet Cong (VC) was being starved of their food supplies by allied forces, and American commanders launched Operation Paul Revere II on 2 August 1966 to prevent them from capturing rice from farmers; the 1st Cavalry Division was to be used in this operation.  Near the border with Cambodia on 14 August, A Co, 1-5 Cavalry inadvertently engaged an entire PAVN battalion, and at the same time, B Co, 2-5 Cavalry began clearing out a series of enemy bunkers dug into the jungle. The next morning, 5th Cav troopers found the bodies of 138 enemy soldiers.
  On 13 September 1966, the US Army launched Operation Thayer, the largest air assault operation of the entire war. On 2 October, other elements of the 1st Cavalry Division were engaging in heavy combat, and A and C Companies, 1-5 Cavalry were sent east of the main forces to contain enemy movements. On the morning of 3 October, the two companies attacked south and drove the enemy into blocking positions set up by the 12th Cavalry; a classic hammer and anvil attack.
  On 31 October, Operation Paul Revere IV was launched near the Cambodian border, and until 21 November, 1-5 Cavalry only received light contact with the enemy. On the morning of 21 November 1966, C Company, 1-5 Cavalry was operating on the northern edge of the IaDrang Valley and came into contact with a much larger enemy force. 2nd Platoon made the initial contact but was soon pinned down and called on 3rd Platoon for assistance. As 3rd platoon started to move towards 2nd platoon, it was in turn ambushed. The two platoons were significantly outnumbered and fought desperately to survive. 3rd Platoon was overrun, with only 2 survivors, and 2nd Platoon took over 50% casualties, avoiding destruction only by calling for airstrikes with napalm on its perimeter before being reinforced by C Company's 1st platoon. As was common in the first years of the Vietnam war, many of the troopers' early model M-16 rifles malfunctioned early in the battle. Despite the harrowing ordeal of C Company, they managed to inflict 150 casualties on their adversaries.<1st Cavalry after action report and personal recollections of survivors>
  On 13 February 1967, 5th Cavalry Regiment elements took part in Operation Pershing, the longest operation of the 1st Cavalry Division. It ended on 21 January 1968, and resulted in the capture of 2,400 prisoners, 1,500 individual and 137 crew weapons from the enemy, as well as inflicting 5,401 casualties. On 30 January 1968, the PAVN/VC launched the Tet Offensive during the Vietnamese New Year's celebrations. Near Quảng Trị, Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) troops were surrounded by VC, and 1-5 Cavalry and 1-12 Cavalry were airlifted to Thon An Thai Valley to the east. These cavalrymen broke the enemy siege and for ten days, the troopers would houn
caption: The area of Operation Thayer, Binh Dinh Province, South Vietnam.
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