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Summary - May 1968

During the first week of May 1968, C Company continues search and clear operations in the area south of the Marines' base at Khe Sanh. The company is then airlifted to Dong Ha Marine Base near the coast as part of Operation Concordia Square helping the Marines combat the 320^th NVA Division during the Battle of Nhi Ha. C Company operates near Highway 1 just south of the DMZ and once again experiences serious Communist artillery fire.

After aiding the Marines, 2/5 Cav begins Operation Jeb Stuart III on 17 May 68 and C 2/5 Cav returns to rice-denial search and clear operations along the coast in Thua Thien Province. This area, known as the "Street Without Joy" by French troops during the First Indochina War, consists of large expanses of rice paddies crossed by slow-flowing rivers and canals. Villages are generally strung along the watercourses and large cemeteries dot the paddies. The cemeteries are often the only dry land aside from the villages. These search operations will continue until the end of July 1968. (Written by Ken Burington)

May 20

While operating out of LZ Jane in extreme northern Thua Thien Province, Company C was on routine movement when it received sniper fire.  A short time later, machine gunner PFC Clarence Ray Warrick stepped on a booby-trapped mortar or artillery round, killing him instantly.  Not long after the Medevac bird had departed with his body, the Company was lifted into a hot LZ, resulting in one man wounded.  Comanche was then sent on still another combat assault, this time into the cemetery near a Vietnamese village nicknamed "Churchville" in Quang Tri Province (actually Ap Trach Pho (1) at YD485435, Map 6442-2 on the north side of the Song O Lau (song meaning river in Vietnamese), the boundary between Quang tri and Thua Thien provinces.).  A short while later, PFC Jerry Bockbrader was also killed.   Richard "Doc" Bovie, the medic assigned to 3rd Platoon, recalls "That evening Bockbrader approached a suspicious civilian to see what he was doing there and the man turned and threw a grenade at him, killing him. The "civilian" escaped in the confusion."  In one day, the company had two KIA in two different locations, and one WIA in a third location.  (Sources:  Bob Hutton, Ken Burington, and Richard Bovie)

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Click on Photo to See Larger Version Courtesy  Richard Bovie "The NDP (night defensive position) where Jerry Bockbrader was killed.  It was a small cemetery in the middle of rice paddies, just outside the village nicknamed 'Churchville' because of its steeples.  The photo was taken several months after the incident." From an email by Richard "Doc" Bovie

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May 1968 - Exact Date Unknown

The picture on the left of Luther Martin and Ken Lorenz shows the the terrain of Churchville in the background - flooded rice paddies

Click on Photo to See Larger Version Courtesy Bob Hrncirik

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May 1968 - Exact Date Unknown

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Updated January 25, 2003