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The 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry got into a ferocious fight at the Loc Ninh Rubber Plantation on 11 June 1966.
As part of Operation EL PASO II, elements from 2/28 planned to sweep Village #10 in the rubber plantation northwest of Loc Ninh. Their two-platoon air assault was delayed for two hours by morning fog and the rest of A Company moved by foot to establish blocking positions. The battle was joined when a battalion from the 273d VC Regiment, dug in on a nearby hill, opened fire on A Company. A new LZ was selected to engage the enemy and additional troops brought in. C Company, manuevering to join the battle, found more dug-in VC on Hill 177 nearby.
Based on a member of the Recon Platoon, Lee Kantner, and other 28th Infantry members research and recollections,
they provide an account of what happened as historically accurate as one can get
"The battle between the 28th Inf and the 273rd Viet Cong Regt, took place on a foggy morning, The fight started with A and B company,
later joined by C company and Recon. C company assaulted Hill 177 on line from east to west, Recon moved on the VC west along a ridgeline
running north. The VC opened up with intense automatic rifle fire and grenades. With no cover the Recon Platoon and part of C company
rushed toward a trench. Unknowing to them the VC had placed a machine gun at one end of this trench. The VC fire took a heavy toll on
the men of Recon and C company. The enemy over ran the Recon platoon, C company called up their reserve platoon and they captured Hill 177."
Both hills were taken and the VC left 98 bodies on the field - but there were 34 American dead as well:
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