Company Area

This is a working history, recalled by those who were there. It also reflects the 4^th Infantry Division Organization official history of the division, we extracted the aviation portion. If you have any additions or corrections please email them to us at webmaster@armyflightschool.org

The 4^th Infantry Division was tasked to Viet Nam in 1966. Shortly thereafter small advance units arrived "in country" and were sent to the II Corp area south of Pleiku and assigned to the Dragon Mountain area as their base. The new base camp became known as Camp Enari. One east-west runway was created at Hensel Army Airfield. This runway was made of PSP. The 4^th Aviation Battalion was given the area just north and east of the runway. The operations shack, radio room, etc. were assigned on the north side north of the revetment area (aircraft parking) and along the main road, running east and west, on the south side of Camp Enari.

Two Air Cav units were assigned to the 4^th Infantry. One was put south of the runway and the second was assigned an area east of the Battalion area and a north south, sod strip was built for their use. Each had their won set of revetments, bunkers and company areas.

The early advance unit came on a ship with the aircraft. The name of the ship was the US ??. They shipped out of Washington State and arrived at Quin Hon.

The 4^th Aviation Battalion was formed with HHC, A Company, B Company. Other aviation elements were the Brigade support aircraft, which used the OH-6A Cayuse observation aircraft, Artillery Aviation section referred to as Dvarty and the two CAV units, 1/10^th Cav and the 7/17^th Cav.

“A” Company had several call signs, they were Renegade, Blackjack, and Lizard.

Jere Polman, crew chief said, "Originally, the Gambler Guns , the name, and the Ace of Spades was started back in 1966. Capt. Ferren, who was the commanding officer of our little unit, and like I said the best pilot that I ever flew with, asked for us Crewchiefs and gunners to come up with a name, and a way to identify each other while flying, when radio silence was on., or off. The Ace of Spades, was our choice. I remember painting the Ace of Spades on our Gunship. The nose, sides on the tail, and top of each ship. We each had a name of our Huey,.. 7/11 with dice on my main ship. That Huey, was lost to gunfire in May of 67 ... We were a young bunch , who got to be the best of friends and comrades..I only wish we were together today."

Revetments were built to protect aircraft from sapper attacks. They were five foot high and each wall was three foot wide. The shell was made of PSP and the inside was filled with sandbags of dirt and sand. Each parking space were designed either parallel or in L shape.

The 4^th Infantry Division area covered the entire II Corp area, Central Highlands by 1967. This was an area that was considered the highway for the Viet Cong forces to transport supplies from the north to the south.

4^th Aviation Battalion moved to An Khe with the Division in 1970 after the 1^st Cavalry pulled out in 1969.

The division returned home in late 1970 and was sent to Fort Carson, Colorado until they later spread out to Fort Hood Texas.

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