140 I Village at War
However, one phase of the 101st Airborne's activity stands out. People
pointed to 1968-1970 as the years of heaviest direct American involve-
ment in their midst. No one seemed aware of the name 101st commanders
gave their increased military actions during part of this period-Operation
Nevada Eagle.
Nevada Eagle occurred in 1968-1969, and was a 288-day series of
military operations throughout Thua Thien' s lowlands, and later its moun-
tains and valleys. It came again and again to the village. Details of numer-
ous specific military incidents from the Nevada Eagle period were clear in
many individual villagers' minds, but no one had an overall view of all
local Nevada Eagle operations. There remains, however, a detailed rec-
ord of Nevada Eagle in the 101st Airborne archives. That document
shows that the operation involved extensive daily fighting, with large
numbers of casualties.
Nevada Eagle activities in the village were primarily by company-sized
101st units. The operations, according to the official battle record, came
frequently, and they took a high toll. American soldiers killed, wounded,
and detained many villagers, including some local insurgents. They also
seized rice and guerrilla supplies, and destroyed guerrilla tunnels. Opera-
tions were particularly intense in the area of the ricefield hamlets, which
had long been Front strongholds. Nevada Eagle and other operations of
early 1968 prompted people living in those hamlets to abandon homes and
move into more central parts of the village, where they remained until
1972.
The exact frequency of Nevada Eagle operations in the village cannot
be determined from the battle record, for the 101st only reported opera-
tions with '.contacts." The probably large number of uneventful,
"routine" operations went unrecorded. It is impossible to determine
whether the 101st exaggerated battle statistics, or whether it failed to
report tactical aberrations, such as summary executions of prisoners.
Even if flawed by exaggeration or underreporting, the battle record
nevertheless verifies villagers' statements about frequent, intense, and
destructive U .S. military operations near their homes. That record is
summarized in Table 10. ] .29
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