Mike Company came to this area in late 1966, staying til October, 1967 before moving farther North, then coming back in the latter part of 1968 and staying around til late September, 1969 when 3/3 left Vietnam for good.
The countryside althought very pretty ( if not for a few bomb craters ) was pure hell to the average skinny Grunt. The complete area is nothing but mountains, in full combat gear they were mighty big and very muddy during monsoon season.
Fighting in this area was always against NVA and mostly on the larger scale. Operation Beacon Star ( better known as The Hill Battles of 881 in 1967 ) took place here along with several other major battles along Highway #9. The 1968 TET Offensive also took place at Khe Sahn in the begining of 1968. 3/3 did not participate at Khe Sahn as we were fighting our own TET farther North in the A-3, Gio Lihn area.
