THE CAPTURE OF HAMBURGER HILL
The 3rd Battalion of the 187th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, came onto Dong Ap Bia, a mountain in northern South Vietnam, the morning of May 10, 1969. Most of the men were veterans of other assaults and this one, in the A Shau Valley near the Laotian border, seemed no different at first—except for its scale. John Snyder of Bravo Company recalled that this was “the biggest movement of troops I had ever experienced and the most helicopters I’d ever seen in one spot….you knew something big was happening but you didn’t know exactly what you were getting into—other than we already knew the A Shau was bad.” That suggested the approaching battle was not likely to be a “normal” engagement.
At least this was not a hot landing—no enemy fire met the Americans jumping off the helicopters. But that did not mean there was no enemy presence, as combat veterans well knew. As the men set up camp for the night, one officer looked at the forested hill above them and said, “I think we’re heading towards some pretty big shit.”
On the morning of May 11 the 187th Infantry prepared to move to the top of Dong Ap Bia, designated Hill 937 on military maps, about 3,000 feet above sea level. Bravo Company was assigned the lead, and company commander Capt. Charles Littnan told the men: “Go up that hill there and see what you can find, and then after that there’s a ridge that seems to lead in the direction we want. If all goes right, we should be on top of Dong Ap Bia by 1400,” or 2 p.m. Littnan knew from experience that in Vietnam things did not always “go right.” They would be on the top by 1400 hours—but 1400 hours, 10 days later. By then Dong Ap Bia had become a slaughterhouse better known to Americans as Hamburger Hill.
was a major part of Operation Apache
