Update on SoFi Stadium Construction in Inglewood
SoFi Stadium, the NFL venue at the heart of the massive Hollywood Park development in Inglewood, is slated to become the new home of the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers upon completion later this year. Here’s a look at the pace of construction on the project, which will
reportedly be the most expensive stadium ever built in the United States, with a price tag of approximately $5 billion. Source: LA Rams Facebook Page
Vietnam 19 June 1967
A Day at War
By Milford E. Traber
(PARENTAL WARNING:
Graphic and Violent Content)
I was active with The 9th Infantry Division
Company B 3rd Battalion 47th Infantry in the
Mekong River Delta from 28 January through
31 December 1967. Our duties were to search
for, route out and destroy the Vietcong and
North Vietnam Regular Divisions who had
operated for 40 to fifty years unchallenged
and firmly implanted in the rural areas around
and south of Saigon. On this particular day,
we were targeting an area around the town/
hamlet by the name of Tan An located just
18 miles southwest of Saigon. The operation
was a search and destroy mission. We were
looking for a division of NVA (North Vietnam
Army) regulars and their VC (Viet Cong)
support groups, which were estimated at about
10,000 people. There were about 2000 (two
Battalions) of us (3rd battalion 47th infantry
and 4th battalion 47th infantry). We were to
be assisted by a battalion of 101st airborne
(Screaming Eagle) and a Battalion of ARVN
(Army of the Republic of Vietnam), which
brought us to about 4,000 men. Soon after
we left the village contact was made with the
enemy. Company A 4th battalion 47th infantry
was the first. While in the process of clearing
an extremely large rice paddy, they came under
fire by a hostile and numerically superior force.
The NVA were entrenched in the wood line,
and Company A was standing knee-deep in
mud and water. The NVA used a couple of
snipers to lure them into the killing zone.
When Company A 4/47 was standing in the
middle of the killing zone, the NVA opened
up with everything they had. Company A was
slaughtered in less than 90 seconds. Everyone
was hit, and only eight people came out alive.
The Battalion Commander gave orders for
Company B and Company C 3/47 to attack from
our position, which was slightly to the west
and north of A-Company’s 4/47 position. We
literally ran down trails that were marked Tu Dai,
which was a warning to locals that this trail is
booby-trapped. I was carrying the M60 machine
gun and just happened to be the first one in
our group to go down that trail. Everyone who
followed did so by stepping exactly in my
footprints. I got lucky and did not step on or
fall into a booby trap, and as a result of everyone
waling in my tracks, nobody got hurt on that
trail. We hit the rice paddy and jumped in the
mud up to our knees and came on line for
what is known as a final assault (i.e. everybody
shoots laying down a base of fire sufficient to
make the enemy keep their heads down long
enough for us to walk over the top of them
and then eradicate them). We started shooting
and walking toward the enemy as fast as the
knee-deep mud would allow us. The enemy
watched as we advanced, and when we were
in their killing zone, all hell broke loose.
The enemy opened up on us with everything
they had, and people started dropping like flies.
We had to keep moving because we were out
in the open with no cover or concealment.
Our only chance at this time was to walk over
the top of these people, route them and kill
them. I had already gone through most of my
ammo when my assistant gunner brought the
last belt. I deliberately left about six rounds
hanging out of the gun to make it easier and
faster to clip on another belt. I had the gun
over my arm and knee to keep it out of the
mud. My assistant gunner clipped on the last
belt and then took a round from an AK47 in
the chest, did a backflip, and landed face up
in the mud. I immediately yelled for a medic.
As I looked around, I noticed that everybody
else was about 40 to 50 yards to my rear. At least
half of our force was either dead or wounded,
and the rest were pretty much out of ammo. I
saw the Doc coming, so I stood up and began
to shoot some more. The Doc started to work
on my assistant gunner while I provided cover
fire. I was raking the field shooting from the
hip and following my tracers when I was hit in
See Vietnam, page 6
The Weekly Newspaper of Inglewood
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 69, No. 3 - January 16, 2020