Currahee is a Cherokee word meaning, "stand alone." The 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment adopted this motto during World War II when it was undergoing rigorous pre-airborne training at Camp Toccoa, Georgia.


In early March 1970, Lt. Col. Andre C. Lucas took command of the 2d Battalion, 506th Infantry, at the rear base at Camp Evans, near Phong Dien on national highway (QL) 1. QL-1 had been made famous in Bernard B. Fall's book Street Without Joy, a factual account of the fighting between French and Viet Minh forces 20 years earlier. Lucas was a West Pointer, class of '54. Lean, athletic and with a boyish grin, Lucas looked and acted the part of commander.

Lucas could not have known it at the time, but he would soon lead his currahees into the teeth of fierce enemy resistance--fighting as difficult and bloody as any the division had experienced in World War II.

The 2/506 consisted of Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), A, B, C and D Companies were the "line" outfits, and Echo Company had the reconnaissance (recon) and mortar platoons. The battalion was authorized a strength of 960 men, and line companies 136, but at the time soldiers were leaving South Vietnam faster than replacements were coming in. Battalion strength stood at roughly 600 troopers in early March. A line company was lucky to count 90 men in its ranks. Before long, even that number would seem large.

Fire Support Base Jack was the battalion forward base at the time. Situated in the piedmont area along the coast it was just a few miles west of Camp Evans. Beyond lay Rocket Ridge and the increasingly rugged mountains of western Thua Thien province.

The 2/506's direct artillery support was provided by Bravo Battery, 2d Battalion, 319th Artillery, commanded by Capt. Dave Rich. The relationship was habitual, almost familial. Rich's redlegs provided swift, timely and accurate support when the infantry ran into enemy contact in the bush.

Rich himself was a wiry fellow, short and with an acerbic manner. I used to quip that he "looked like he might weigh 110 pounds soaking wet with a flack jacket on." He had come up through the ranks, earning a battlefield commission to 2d lieutenant from specialist fourth class. He knew artillery and infantry tactics stone cold. Anything his men could do, so could he, and he often did. Few loved him, but all respected the hell out of Dave Rich. At age 27, Rich was on his fifth tour in Vietnam. "I'm in for the duration [of the war]," he liked to say.

Lucas was ably assisted in commanding the 2/506 by several majors, Lawrence Law (executive officer until he was severely wounded during the April Fool's Day Assault) who was replaced by Sid Davis as the executive officer, and Herb Koenigsbauer, the operations officer. Davis was a crusty veteran who looked like a bear in jungle fatigues, in an Ernest Borgnine sort of way. He could chew out a lieutenant one minute and the next be giving fatherly advice. Koenigsbauer was tall and slender, which belied his physical strength. His handshake, to the unwary, could become a crushing, vice-like grip. His grasp of infantry tactics and operations was complete. Lucas would need these two men for the operations that were forthcoming ... more than they or he could know.