The Men of St Idaho

We pause to remember the men of ST Idaho who disappeared on or about 20 May 1968 after insertion into Laos. (Their casualty date in official military records is given as 23 May 1968, the day they were reported as MIA.) SFC Glen Lane and SSG Robert D. Owens were the only two U.S. members of the 6-man Spike Team “Idaho” assigned to infiltrate a denied area across the Lao border west of A Loui.

The team was inserted early in the morning of 20 May by helicopter, and was heard from only once thereafter by a Forward Air Controller (FAC) about 10:24 A.M. the same day. Numerous attempts to make radio contact with the team were made to no avail.

Early morning on the 22 May it was decided to send ST Oregon in on a Bright Light Mission in an effort to learn what had become of ST Idaho.

Mike Tucker and George Sternberg were the veteran recon members of ST Oregon. Tucker was a no-nonsense One-Zero who had many missions under his belt. Sternberg had run several missions from FOB 3 at Khe Sanh during the highly publicized siege of the Marine base in early 1968. For the Bright Light, former Idaho team member and medic Stephen Perry was added to their team. Tucker opted to take one Vietnamese team member from ST Idaho, Ha, on the mission. Ha was highly respected by the veteran SF men. He was fearless in the battlefield, but more importantly, he could provide insight into ST Idaho’s tactics.

Spike Team “Oregon” was inserted into the same landing zone, and after finding a trail, searched about 50 meters from the area and noticed signs of a fire fight. The team then encountered numerous NVA troops, some armed with American weapons, firing Colt CAR-15s and throwing M-26 hand grenades. The team retreated into a huge bomb crater as the NVA closed in on them, close enough to throw hand grenades into the crater. Fortunately, Air Force A-1 Skyraiders arrived and began making gun runs so close to the team’s perimeter in the bomb crater, the men of ST Oregon could count the bolts in the single-engine propeller-driven war plane as exploding rounds from it killed NVA soldiers charging the team. The rounds were so close to the team, they covered the team members with dirt, wood chips, stones, and leaves.

During the intense fire fight, one Vietnamese was killed, all of the Americans—Sternberg, Tucker, and Perry—were wounded from shrapnel and/or bullet wounds. One hand grenade literally tore Sternberg’s jungle boot off of his foot. The indigenous soldier, Ha, suffered 94 separate wounds, while Perry was the most seriously injured American on that Bright Light mission. They were rescued by two heroic Kingbee crews who pulled out the heavily wounded team. Upon extraction, an AK-47 round tore through the thin wall of the H-34 and struck a battery Sternberg was carrying in his vest. The impact of that round lifted Sternberg out of his seat, slammed him to the floor amid the hydraulic fluids that were leaking inside the helicopter, breaking two ribs. The URC-10 battery was a lifesaver for Sternberg.

The final count: One KIA, every American and indigenous troop wounded. Dozens, if not several hundred NVA were killed. Hopes to find clues as to the whereabouts of ST Idaho were dashed. Tucker and Sternberg told S-2 debriefers that they had found what appeared to be a trail in the grass that went away from the LZ, which ST Idaho may have used. That was the only possible clue they found. Getting hit with M-26 grenade fragments and CAR-15 gun fire meant ST Idaho had either been wiped out or captured.

Because enemy activity in that target remained highly visible, and due to the extreme casualties that ST Oregon took in its valiant attempt to help ST Idaho, no further attempts were made to find the lost team.

(Thank you to John S Meyer for his help with this story.)