The Fight For Hill 1154

The Fight for Hill 1154
The first real battle that I was involved in took place in the jungle around a otherwise featureless mountain top called "Hill 1154". This is how I tell the story of the fight to students.

March 1969-LZ Argonne is located near the border with Laos. It had been abondoned by us and now was occupied by the North Vietnamese. On 21 March 1969, Delta Company, First Battalion, Fourth Marines made a helicopter assault to retake the LZ. Delta managed to take the LZ with heavy casualties. Among the dead was the Battalion Commander, Colonel Sargent, who was killed in the assualt.


Alpha Company 1/4 was on "Sparrow Hawk". This meant we were ready to board helicopters and go to assist any unit in trouble in our area with 30 minutes. The call came and we boarded the helicopters and were taken to a landing zone near LZ Argonne. I was sitting next to the door gunner and I remember him turning to me and saying, "Pass the word...when we touch down...get out...the LZ may ...