PARTICULAR BRAVERY: The Battle of Xa Cam My and the Death of a Grunt Company

One hundred thirty six American soldiers, isolated from supporting units, hunted the dark jungles of Phuoc Tuy Province for the Viet Cong main force battalion D-800. The enemy found Charlie Company first. Surrounded; then gutted, these Americans had been used as bait to draw out the enemy. Charlie Company's heroic but doomed stand did not go according to American plans.

General William Westmoreland called the disaster a "serious blow." The Army Chief of Staff, Harold K. Johnson, personally f...