Vietnam Wall Panel coords 38W 070

In 1966 the combat numbers increased to eleven major operations and thirteen major battles. On February 12, 1966, information was received that a Viet Cong heavy machinegun was holding up the advance of infantry near Bong Son. Major Roger J. Bartholomew, Charlie Battery Commander, located the 12.7-mm anti-aircraft gun, attacked it with rockets and killed all six crewmen. He then landed and captured the weapon to prevent the enemy from putting it back into service. By the time the campaign in the Bong Son area ended, ARA inflicted 574 casualties on the VC and destroyed 157 enemy fortified positions. Operation LINCOLN took place in March 1966 near the Chu Pong Massif on the Cambodian border. Several company-size units of the division were in heavy contact in the area where both extraction and reinforcement were difficult. At 5 p.m. ARA was committed. There were solid layers of fog and haze up to 5,000 feet, but the aircraft remained on station until 7:30 the next morning, firing 1,250 rockets to support the hard-pressed troops. ARA fire killed 138 enemies in the campaign. On May 16, 1966 the 2nd of the 20th ARA battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Morris Brady, and Major Bartholomew, the Charlie Battery commander, volunteered to fly two ARA birds in support of a company in contact and in danger of being overrun by a large VC force. They inched their aircraft through fog, rain and darkness up the slopes of a mountain peak east of An Khe, until they were hovering directly over the beleaguered company. Then, directed by the artillery forward observer below, unleashed ripple after ripple of rockets into an enemy assault force. Their timely fire support was credited by the ground commander with stabilizing an extremely grave situation. On May 22, 1966, the ARA battalion fired its 100,000th rocket in Vietnam.

Roger Jay Bartholomew