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THE PEAK YEAR
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COMBAT ASSAULT—TROOPS MOVING OUT TO SECURE THE LANDING ZONE


of the 25th Division, under Colonel James G. Shanahan, which had been under the operational control of the 1st Cavalry Division for some months. The 3d Brigade of the 25th would soon become part of Task Force OREGON, the first division-size U.S. Army force to be formed in the I Corps Tactical Zone.

Operation LEJEUNE was unique in many ways. The deployment of the 2d Brigade to the I Corps Tactical Zone was the first commitment of any large U.S. Army unit in that area. More importantly, the engineering effort, including the lifting of 30 tons of equipment to build two tactical fixed-wing airstrips in a matter of a few days, was unparalleled in Army engineering history. Finally, the demonstrated "fire brigade" reaction capability of deploying a large task force in a day and a half to an entirely new area of operations proved again the flexibility of the airmobile division. At Duc Pho the 1st Cavalry left behind two airstrips, an impressive sea line of communications, several critical connecting roads, and a damaged Viet Cong infrastructure. In light of the

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