We were an airborne infantry battalion--the 3^rd Battalion (Airborne), 506^th Infantry (Currahees), 101^st Airborne Division (Screaming Eagles), commonly known as the 3-506th. The 3-506^th consisted of a headquarters command group, a headquarters company, as well as three rifle companies—Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie—each at full strength had six officers and 176 enlisted men. Each rifle company had three rifle platoons plus a weapons platoon—first, second, third, and fourth. Each rifle platoon in turn, had three rifle squads plus a weapons squad of machine-guns and grenade launchers (grenadiers). The rifle companies were the maneuver elements of the battalion. Assigned to each rifle platoon was platoon medic. This story is about one of these platoon medics, Corporal Floyd Peter Skaggs, who was assigned to Lt. Ronald Newton’s 2^nd Platoon, Charlie Company.

Prologue To Battle

    Our story begins in mid-December of 1967, when our battalion was assigned the task of finding and destroying an enemy main force Viet Cong Battalion that was operating in the Bao Loc area of Lam Dong Province. On the morning of December 21, 1967, aerial reconnaissance had spotted a Viet Cong roadblock along a major roadway near the village of Heip Thuan. Since the enemy activity had occurred within the assigned Area of Operation (AO) of the 3-506^th, responsibility for investigating the incident was immediately passed on to our battalion, specifically to the men of Charlie Company, commanded by Captain Nicholas Nahas, to investigate the roadblock incident. The orders for Cpt. Nahas and Charlie Company would set them on a course toward their "Rendezvous with Destiny" into the "hive" of the 186^th Main Force Viet Cong Battalion.

    Once Charlie Company reached their destination by helicopter; the Currahees immediately commenced search and destroy operations along the major roadway where the Viet Cong roadblock had been spotted. A general sweep of the area determined that the enemy had fled south into the nearby mountains. In pursuit of the enemy, Cpt. Nahas instructed his platoon leaders to move their men toward the foothills of the Di Linh Plateau. Charlie Company had entered a varied landscape of rough mountainous terrain with numerous streams and beautiful waterfalls, contrasted by rolling hills and grassy openings of elephant grass and other unfamiliar vegetation. It was a well-known fact that Main Force Viet Cong units normally moved and established bases in the more remote areas and took maximum advantage of heavily vegetated terrain, which provided them concealment from aerial observation.

    This was the defining factor for Charlie Company as they moved from the foothills of the Di Linh Plateau, through the rolling hills and canyons, and ascended the steep slopes toward the plateau above them. As they set up their night defensive position (NDP), little did they realize that in the days ahead, they would be lured into a well-established nest of enemy forces, teeming with Viet Cong from a reinforced company of the 186^th Main Force Viet Cong Battalion.

    The refreshing coolness of the night dissipated quickly as the sun brought back the heat and humidity of the daylight hours. It was the middle of winter in Vietnam—a period of very hot, humid weather conditions. Each platoon set out for their daily arduous trek through the mountainous terrain in search of the enemy. The Currahees were anticipating the battalion stand down for Christmas. News from Battalion Commander that operations would cease for the observance of the holiday lifted everyone’s spirits as Christmas Eve drew closer to the Currahees in the field. The men were looking forward to this much needed, yet brief opportunity to rest and relax.

    On the afternoon of December 23, 1967, Charlie Company finally made first contact with the enemy. Third Platoon encountered three Viet Cong Guerrillas while following a well-traveled trail. The enemy acted quite surprised to find the paratroopers along the trail. After a brief exchange of gunfire, the guerrillas broke contact and fled south toward the high plateau.

   Meanwhile, Lt. Ronald Newton’s 2^nd Platoon came onto another well-used trail, which led them into a large abandoned battalion-sized enemy base camp. The surroundings had concealed the camp so well that the paratroopers were not aware that they had entered a campsite until they actually found themselves inside the camp. Fortunately, the Viet Cong had abandoned the camp, which was carefully hidden under the thick tree canopy of the area. There were kitchens and mess areas with well-constructed ovens dug back into the hillside. A camp this elaborate had definitely been constructed to accommodate a lot of men. After completing a thorough search of the area, the Currahees destroyed as much of the base camp as possible before moving on to rendezvous with the rest of Charlie Company for the night.

    Things didn’t remain as quiet and peaceful as the men of Charlie Company had hoped for Christmas Eve—December 24—Lt. Cox and his 3^rd Platoon were instructed to continue their investigation of the trail where they had encountered the enemy the day before. Shortly before noon, 3^rd Platoon engaged the enemy once again along the trail. Two Viet Cong were killed and enemy weapons were captured. Luckily, there were no Currahee casualties—just a grazing wound to the shin of one soldier that required only a large band-aid. The incidents that occurred during the last two days were the first up close engagements with the enemy for Charlie Company. They had taken no causalities, but the exhilarating feeling of being victorious against the enemy would be short-lived.

    Christmas Day 1967 was unlike any Christmas that the men of Charlie Company had ever experienced and would ever experience again. They remained "on guard" out in the jungle because the Viet Cong could not be trusted to abide by the Christmas Cease Fire Truce. The men had a hot meal delivered to them in the field. They also received mail and Christmas packages from home.

    The guys all spread out their ponchos on the ground and opened their presents while they ate their Christmas  

Their search yielded evidence that several enemy troops had recently stopped to rest, leaving behind blood-soaked bandages and penicillin wrappers. All signs indicated that the enemy group was moving toward higher terrain.

    During the last days of December, Charlie Company continued their push southward in search of the enemy, saturating the area with patrols as they moved along the well-used trail and higher onto the slopes of the plateau. The only significant memory of December 27-29 for the Currahees was sore feet, cuts and bruises, insect bites, and blisters on their feet from miles of tracking through the arduous terrain.

    December 30, 1967 continued the physical misery of the men of Charlie Company, and Captain Nahas felt that it would be just a matter of time before his men would meet the enemy again. He decided to conduct some night ambushes on the trail to pinpoint enemy movements. Things were definitely about to change for Charlie Company. Lt. Moore’s 4^th Platoon chose a suitable spot on the well-used trail for the night ambush. The selected ambush patrol squad arrived at the pre-selected ambush site just before noon. Within ten minutes, the squad had set up a linear ambush with the primary killing zone oriented across the trail. Claymore mines were set in place and camouflaged with natural vegetation.

    Even though the rest of Charlie Company was located not too far away, everyone in the ambush squad was quite nervous as they waited for night to come. The night of December 30 was extremely dark, with no moonlight. The Currahees waited patiently, relying solely on their hearing ability and listening for any discernible enemy noises. The wait was very brief, as the team soon began to hear faint noises coming from the trail. An unknown-size Viet Cong element were making their way down the trail and not too concerned about the noise of clanking cooking pots in their packs as they moved along.

    The Currahees activated their ambush, but were unable to determine the resulting number of casualties until daylight. A thorough search of the ambush site the following morning revealed four enemy bodies, along with several enemy weapons and enemy gear, plus blood trails leading away from the ambush site. At this point, Captain Nahas felt that the mission could benefit from the knowledge of an experienced tracker. Later that morning, Lt. Steve Williams, a tracker with Combat Tracker Team #9, 101^st Airborne Division, linked up with Charlie Company and went immediately to the ambush site. The trail he pursued with 4^th Platoon was faint, but fairly easy to follow. Evidence left behind by the enemy indicated that a group of 15-20 surviving Viet Cong were traveling single file quite rapidly along the established dirt path back to their main base area. It was on into the afternoon before the unit caught up with the fleeing Viet Cong.

    Fourth Platoon was moving along a narrow, open ridge when they suddenly spotted three to four Viet Cong jump to their feet on a small hill about 100 yards ahead of them. A brief firefight ensued, but by the time the Currahees were able to maneuver up the hill, the Viet Cong had fled. Further pursuit of the fleeing enemy was halted abruptly by the stand down for observance of the New Years Cease Fire Agreement. Lt. Williams was disappointed that the tracking mission had been brought to a standstill. The Currahees were ordered to "stay put" for New Year’s Day, giving the Viet Cong a full day’s head start and a chance to possibly set up an ambush against them.

    On the morning of January 2, 1968, Lt. Newton’s 2^nd Platoon set out once again with Lt. Steve Williams (the combat tracker) to pick up where they had left off on December 31 in pursuit of the remaining Viet Cong survivors of the Currahee ambush of December 30. At about noon, the platoon came to a fairly narrow saddle connecting two hills, one slightly higher than the other. As the Currahees entered the clearing of the saddle, they could barely see the top outline of a hill off to the right through the trees. This hill was the infamous "Knoll", where 2^nd Platoon, Charlie Company would experience their first encounter with death and destruction since arriving in South Vietnam.

    The platoon had been flushing and pursuing the enemy for several hours. They knew that the saddle was clearly a major trail junction for the Viet Cong and that the area was undoubtedly "crawling" with enemy troops. By late afternoon, a search of the area had resulted in small skirmishes with the Viet Cong. The afternoon sun had begun to drop behind the distant hills and at this point, Lt. Newton definitely felt as though his platoon was up against something bigger than they could handle without support. He requested that two helicopter gunships be sent near his location and remain on standby. In order for the gunships to be effective, Lt. Newton knew that he would have to get to some high ground to spot the enemy and direct the gunships. The nearest high ground—the knoll immediately in front of him—unfortunately belonged to the enemy.

   At the base of the hill, the main trail split into two trails leading off on either side. Lt Newton made the decision to divide his platoon into two elements to skirt the base of the hill in front of him and use its summit as an observation vantage point. As the two elements of 2^nd Platoon headed down their assigned trails, they quickly lost sight of each other. First squad, with fifteen members, including Lt. Williams (combat tracker) and the platoon medic, Floyd P. Skaggs, a nineteen-year-old Currahee from Springfield, Ohio, proceeded down the east side trail. Second and third squads of the platoon, along with Lt. Newton, moved along the other side of the hill. About mid-way around the west side of the hill, Lt. Newton headed uphill toward the summit of the knoll. After advancing only a short distance up the hill, shots were fired from enemy snipers above them. Within seconds, enemy fire spread down the entire hillside in a full-fledged roar.

   Unaware of the imminent danger facing his platoon, Lt. Newton had decided to ascend a hill were a dug-in, well-fortified enemy was waiting in bunkers strategically located along the length of the ridgeline.    First squad, still moving in formation around the east side of the hill, heard the rifle fire and ensuing explosions.

    The entire east side of the hill suddenly erupted with the sound of Viet Cong charging down the hill toward the men in 1^st Squad.

    By 5:15 in the afternoon, the infamous "Battle at the Knoll" was raging furiously. The two elements of 2^nd Platoon had been separated by the ominous hill between them. Within the first few minutes of the intense enemy fire, both elements took casualties. Second and Third Squads on the west side of the hill were more able to withstand the murderous barrage of enemy gunfire and grenade explosions, but 1^st Squad on the east side of the hill bore the brunt of the intense battle. They were caught out in the open, and their only hope for survival was to fall back into the thick vegetation below the trail. Those members of the squad who were able to maneuver assisted the wounded and continued to pull back down the hill to safety in the bamboo thicket below them. Nearly half of 1^st Squad had either been killed or wounded.

    By this time, Medic Floyd Skaggs had begun to work his way through the scattered troopers giving first aid to the wounded. He was dashing back and forth treating his comrades in an open area in plain view of the enemy. He knew that several wounded Currahees still needed his help further up the hill, and he made his way on up the hill without hesitation. According to surviving Currahees, Medic Skaggs moved up the hill under heavy enemy fire from one wounded man to the next, working quickly and meticulously to patch up their wounds. Maneuvering on up the hill, Medic Skaggs reached Squad Leader Johnson. As he was working to help Sgt. Johnson, his body suddenly jerked backward. He was killed instantly.

    Enemy fire had eased up on the west side of the hill, but Lt Newton could still hear heavy firing from 1^st Squad’s position on the other side of the hill. He knew that 1^st Squad was in desperate need of help, and he was faced with the dilemma of calling in the gunships on standby to put some fire on top of the hill and not inflicting further casualties on his platoon from their own gunships. Second Platoon was also in desperate need of medevac helicopters for the wounded, but the enemy fire was still too heavy.

    The fractured 1^st Squad was literally "hanging on by a thread". At this point, only three members of this small group remained unwounded. They huddled together with the wounded, hiding in the grass as darkness began to fall, keeping quiet, watching for the enemy, and hoping that relief would come soon.

     It took a good hour for 3^rd and 4^th Platoons of Charlie Company to come to Lt. Newton’s rescue. As they moved to gather up the wounded, enemy mortars rained down on their position. According to the evacuated wounded men, several Currahees were still missing and could not be accounted for. They were presumed killed in action (KIA). The platoons of Charlie Company waited out the night as artillery continued to pound the top of the knoll. They thought about the battle, their comrades who were missing, and the realism of war.

    The next morning, the remaining men of 2^nd Platoon, along with 3^rd and 4^th Platoons, began a massive assault on the hill. As they moved uphill, the Currahees began to discover the bodies of their dead comrades. The search for the missing Currahees continued throughout the morning. One by one, the missing troopers became KIAs, as their bodies were retrieved from the hillside. Some of the bodies were unrecognizable because of their fatal wounds and were identified by the dog tags worn around their necks. It was a horrible experience for the Currahees of 2^nd Platoon to collect up the bodies of those comrades they had been in battle with the day before.

    The men of the Charlie Company had been bloodied severely, were numbed from battle, and had smelled death for the first time. The elusive enemy had abandoned their hilltop stronghold sometimes during the night, leaving behind only bloody bandages and empty ammo casings. There were many blood trails, but no dead Viet Cong. The survivors of the Battle at the Knoll on January 2, 1968 remember that day as an unforgettable; lasting memory that forever haunts them and lives on in their hearts and souls.

    Final statistics for the "Battle at the Knoll" list the cost in casualties as six killed in action and sixteen wounded. Five of those killed in action were in the 1^st Squad of 2^nd Platoon. Six of the wounded were also from the 1^st Squad. The fifteen-member squad of Currahees on the east side of the knoll sustained over seventy percent casualties. Great heroism was witnessed that day. Many of the wounded are credited for saving the lives of their more severely wounded comrades, but the bravery of those young paratroopers who gave their lives in the face of the enemy are duly esteemed by their fellow Currahees. Such is the esteem that the Currahees hold for Medic Floyd Peter Skaggs, who gave his life while giving medical aid to his comrades against overwhelming enemy fire. 

    The Silver Star, the Army Commendation Medal, and the Purple Heart were awarded posthumously to Medic Skaggs and presented to his mother, Mrs. Christine Skaggs of Springfield, Ohio. His name appears on Panel 33E, Line 23 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., along with his fellow Currahees and thousands of other brave heroes who gave their all in the fight for freedom.

   Jerry Berry is currently writing a book about those killed in action from the 3-506^th, entitled "My Gift To You". His recent book, "The Stand Alone Battalion" is available for sale at Cabinet Books and Music or from the Currahee Website: www.currahee.org.

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    Jerry Berry served as a paratrooper with the 3-506^th during the battalion’s first year in combat in Vietnam. After arriving with his unit in Vietnam in October 1967, he became the battalion combat photographer/ reporter. A retired U.S. Forest Service wildlife biologist, he lives in Libby, Montana with is wife Donna. Berry has written several books about Vietnam and currently working on several others, including "They Called Us Currahees" about the day-to-day activities of the 3-506^th during its first year in Vietnam, October 1967-October 1968, including the infamous Tet Communist Offensive.