“Leghorn” was the name of a outpost and radio relay and mission support site on a near vertical peak on a mountain in Laos that dominated a large area with direct line of site. The fellas in the SOG group got talking about it over the last few days. Everything below are quotes from the discussion.

Always liked the ride off, didn’t mind the landing always had good pilots.

That postage stamp landing pad was always a challenge

Wasn’t that called Heavy Drop at an earlier time?

It was Heavy Drop in 67 when I was there. I remember one night when they got hit. Gunships in a blacked out stack, 500 foot separation. When you got to the bottom of the stack, it was your turn to shoot. They could only see you when you were shooting. The ground looked like Christmas tree winking lights.

Seems like there were 3 light fire teams. 6 gunships. I was still a Peter pilot and not an AC. Once you starting firing, the object was to be out of ammo as soon as possible and disappear in the dark. Head for Dak to and the next guy came down the stack.

Ya gotta love the XM-21. Each gun does 2,400 rpm. When you hit the inboard stop and that gun stops as you traverse, the outboard gun steps up to 4,000 rpm.

Never understood the MACV logic of starting a Mission from this Site .. knowing you had a 1,000 eyes scrutinizing every inch of your Decent and Ascent ..

it was supposedly a Classified Site .. why the additional exposure baffles me .. the Morons at The Department of State and DOD Defy Frigging Logic ..

basically to see if there were any plans to try and take Leghorn. We basically spent 5 days circling the site between 1 and 2 Klicks out

certainly wasn’t questioning my Special Forces Brotherine assigned to the task .. but .. it appears the place could’ve been made Impregnable with little effort .. consequently .. turning any Assault Attempt into a Killing Field ..

believe MACV had intel that an assault was in the works. I was a lowly 1-0 so just followed orders.

A spooky place to be

There when resupply chopper caught a runner on the sand bag pad and crashed just outside the wire.

sent me to leghorn to dry out, and i kinda didnt mind being there, nice and quiet, long chats at nite with moombeam , saw lots of convoys at nite, down the ho che min trail , was wild to say the least

Those patrols were basically clearing patrols like any fire base or infantry perimeter did. LP/OP were not optional so patrols were the next answer. Still, I wonder why McNamara did not install his impregnable and inescapable sensors to cover it all!? LOL Like he did to the trail.

Walked off on a 5 day mission in 69. Team Hawaii. Not fun coming down until the bottom. Mines (ours) and watchers (theirs).

dropped off then started mission that morning. We last 5 days. Only time we lasted that long.

Like Tom Batchlor, I was sent there to dry out. I got drunk and naked in the club. I stayed up there for eighteen days.

I remember a resupply, and there was WO in the door gunners seat, and a Staff Sergeant in the pilot’s seat, and was flying the shit out of that Slick.

The day we returned, someone took my picture. It’s shown up in a few SOG books.