In the early afternoon of April 11, 1966, Charlie Company, an element of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division, flushed a Viet Cong (VC) platoon, killed several of the VC, and pursued the others deeper into the dense jungle east of Saigon. The Americans had no idea they were walking straight into the base camp of the Viet Cong battalion known as D-800, a first-line unit with 400 troops, plus available backup. Charlie Company, with a strength of 134, was soon isolated and encircled. The fighting grew desperate. Before it was over, all but 28 of the U.S. troops would be wounded or killed. The triple-canopy jungle was too thick for Huey reinforcement helicopters to land, but there was a gap nearby just wide enough to lower a litter on a hoist line 100 feet to the ground.
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