1st Cavalry Div Red White Vietnam War Magnets

The division's first major operation was to help relieve the Siege of Plei Me near Pleiku and the pursuit of the withdrawing North Vietnamese Army which culminated in the Battle of Ia Drang, described in the book We Were Soldiers Once...And Young, was also the basis of the film We Were Soldiers. Because of that battle the division earned the Presidential Unit Citation (US), the first unit to receive such in the war. In 1966, the division attempted to root the communist Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese army (PAVN) out of Binh Dinh province with Operation Masher, Operation Crazy Horse and Operation Thayer. 1967 was then spent conducting Operation Pershing, a large scale search and destroy operation of communist base areas in II Corps in whi

1st Cavalry Div Airmobile w Air Assault Badge during the Vietnam War, American soldiers were to war on helicopters - airmobile - riding their metal horses into battle

1st Cavalry Div Airborne w Basic Airborne Badge, 8th Cavalry Regiment.

Specialist 4th Class Jim Brannen who served in Vietnam during 1969 and 1970 in the Military Assistant Command Vietnam (MACV) and later the 4th Infantry Division agrees: Not a lot of people actually know that the whole decks were aces. I knew. I saw many of them in the Pleiku area since the 1st Air Cavalry was at An Khe. The 4th Infantry took over An Khe in March 1970. There were plenty of those ace of spades decks around. I wish I had kept some. I did see a few of the cards used. It is hard to talk about it now but during the war things were different. Some soldiers would place the cards on the eyes of a dead Viet Cong. It meant that the card was the last thing they saw. The Viet Cong really feared the Air Cavalry.

Specialist 4th Class Jim Brannen who served in Vietnam during 1969 and 1970 in the Military Assistant Command Vietnam (MACV) and later the 4th Infantry Division agrees: Not a lot of people actually know that the whole decks were aces. I knew. I saw many of them in the Pleiku area since the 1st Air Cavalry was at An Khe. The 4th Infantry took over An Khe in March 1970. There were plenty of those ace of spades decks around. I wish I had kept some. I did see a few of the cards used. It is hard to talk about it now but during the war things were different. Some soldiers would place the cards on the eyes of a dead Viet Cong. It meant that the card was the last thing they saw. The Viet Cong really feared the Air Cavalry.

1st Cavalry Div Air Assault w Air Assault Badge during the Vietnam War, American soldiers were to war on helicopters - Air Assault - riding their metal horses into battle

1st Cavalry Div Airmobile w Basic Airborne Badge

On 29 July 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered the 1st Air Cavalry Division to Vietnam 1st Brigade (Airborne), 1st Cavalry Division 1st BN-8th Cavalry (Airborne) 2nd BN-8th Cavalry (Airborne) 1st BN-12th Cavalry (Airborne) 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 19th Artillery (105mm) Aerial Equipment Supply Company (Airborne)

On 29 July 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered the 1st Air Cavalry Division to Vietnam 1st Brigade (Airborne), 1st Cavalry Division 1st BN-8th Cavalry (Airborne) 2nd BN-8th Cavalry (Airborne) 1st BN-12th Cavalry (Airborne) 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 19th Artillery (105mm) Aerial Equipment Supply Company (Airborne)

On 29 July 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered the 1st Air Cavalry Division to Vietnam 1st Brigade (Airborne), 1st Cavalry Division 1st BN-8th Cavalry (Airborne) 2nd BN-8th Cavalry (Airborne) 1st BN-12th Cavalry (Airborne) 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 19th Artillery (105mm) Aerial Equipment Supply Company (Airborne)

On 29 July 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered the 1st Air Cavalry Division to Vietnam 1st Brigade (Airborne), 1st Cavalry Division 1st BN-8th Cavalry (Airborne) 2nd BN-8th Cavalry (Airborne) 1st BN-12th Cavalry (Airborne) 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 19th Artillery (105mm) Aerial Equipment Supply Company (Airborne)

The 1st Cavalry next fought as a heavy division, during Operation Desert Storm in January and February 1991. It participated in the Battle of Norfolk. The 1st Cavalry Division deployed in October 1990 as part of VII Corps. The division's 'round-out' formation, the 155th Armored Brigade was not deployed in a surprise political decision.[citation needed] It was planned to augment the division by attaching the Tiger Brigade from the 2nd Armored Division, but that brigade was attached to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (1st & 2nd Marine Divisions) to add heavy armor support to that force. Consequently, the 1st Cavalry Division was assigned the role of the VII Corps' reserve for much of the ground war, but was crucial in the movement of groun