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into three landing zones at the same time to the northwest of the 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry. Popular Force platoons joined each of the rifle companies after the combat assaults.

All personnel encountered were detained for questioning by the Special Branch Police. These police interrogated detainees immediately and were able to classify innocent civilians on the spot. The latter were then escorted to safe areas. All other detainees were evacuated to the combined intelligence center. Here those classified as Viet Cong of North Vietnamese soldiers were moved to a Prisoner of War compound and evacuated through U.S. channels after interrogation. Members of the Viet Cong infrastructure and civilian dependents were evacuated through province channels. Hamlet and village chiefs were used to assist in the identification.

An interesting ruse was perpetrated on the enemy by the district S-2. As darkness approached on 11 September, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam cavalry troop and infantry battalion had 231 detainees to be evacuated to the combined intelligence center. Beginning at 2220 hours, CH-47 helicopter arrived to transport these personnel to the center. As the first lift landed and the detainees began disembarking, the district S-2 was waiting for them. Amid the dust and confusion, he commanded in a loud voice, "K4B (battalion) over here, C117 (company) over there, C118 (company) over there." To the surprise of everyone, except perhaps the S-2, sixty-three of the detainees segregated themselves as he had directed. The S-2 then took personnel from those who had obeyed his command to those who had not responded and asked, "Is there anyone from your unit who did not fall out?" Additional prisoners were thus identified.

Numerous Eagle Flights were used to conduct ambushes and to rapidly exploit intelligence as it developed. Each company conducted detailed searches in its zone. While ground forces were ferreting out the enemy, the Navy and the 2d and 3d Battalions, 54th Army of the Republic of Vietnam Regiment, maintained an effective cordon of the island. The results of this relatively small operation, which ended on the 20th of September, were very impressive. One hundred and fifty-four enemy were killed, 370 were captured (including 116 members of the infrastructure), and 56 Viet Cong rallied to the government cause. Only two friendly troops were killed and nine wounded.

Equally important, it should be noted that the destruction of civilian property and the danger to the civilian populace were held to an absolute minimum. Preparation fires for the combat assaults were limited to barren areas near the landing zones. Though sup[porting]